An Evaluation of Standby Losses Effect in Power Demand in Greek Urban Households

Standby consumption is a global phenomenon because the largest ＂leakers＂ are internationally-traded appliances usually line-powered electronic equipment. Currently, it represents 5%-11% （depending on the region and related estimations） of the total electricity demand in European households, mostly concentrated in entertainment and office equipments. This paper is focused on the evaluation of the standby losses in typical urban areas of Greece. The results of an analytical survey in urban households located in different areas of region of Attica-Greece are presented and analyzed. This survey is taking under consideration the type and the quantity of electric/electronic devices used, power consumption measurements concerning different standby modes of operation as well as people＇s habits in relation to the way they used the devices. Furthermore, recent and old detailed power consumption measurements of the most common modes of operation （on, offand standby）, in other member states of Europe are presented and analyzed giving the opportunity to compare the situation in a typical urban Greek area and the respective in other parts of Europe. The presented data reveal the magnitude of the standby losses problem in Greece and the potential benefits gained by the enforcement of recent EU （European Union） policies.

CO_2 Emission Induced by Urban Household Consumption in China

Household consumption is one of the important factors that induce COL emission. Based on input-output model, this article calculated the intensity of CO2 emission of different income groups and seven provinces in China, and then estimated total CO2 emission induced by urban household consumption from 1995 to 2004 in China based on statistic data of household living expenditure. The results show that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption had increased from 1583 to 2498 kg CO2 during 1995-2004. The ratio of consumption-induced CO2 emission to total CO2 emission had risen from 19% to 30% in the past decade. Indirect CO2 emission accounted for an important part of the consumption-induced emission, the ratio of indirect emission to consumption-induced emission had risen from 69% to 79% during the same period. A significant difference in consumption-induced CO2 emission across different income groups and different regions has been observed. COs emission per capita of higher income groups and developed regions increased faster than that of lower income groups and developing regions. Changing lifestyle has driven significant increase in CO2 emission. Especially, increases in private transport expenditure （for example, vehicle expenditure） and house building expenditure are key driving factors of growth in consumption-induced COL emission. There are big differences in the amount of CO2 emission induced by change in lifestyle across different income groups and provinces. It can be expected that lower income households and developing regions will increase consumption to improve their livings with income growth in the future, which may induce much more CO2 emission. A reasonable level of CO2 emission is necessary to satisfy human needs and to improve living standard, but a noticeable fact is that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption in developed areas of China had reached a quite high level. Adjustment in lifestyle towards a low-carbon society is in urgent need.

Calculation and decomposition of regional household energy consumption in China:based on perspectives of urbanization and residents' consumption

Demographic urbanization caused great changes in scale of residents' consumption and residents' lifestyle and then impacted changes of regional household energy consumption. This paper expanded Logarithmic Mean Decomposition Index method through introducing variables of urbanization and residential consumption into the model. It also analyzed the influences of six factors as energy structure, energy intensity, population scale, urbanization, residential consumption, and consumption inhibit on regional household energy consumption. Results showed that in 2003-2012, impact of urbanization on regional household energy consumption of Chinese three areas was significantly higher than population size. The "population gathered in eastern region" phenomenon caused eastern region getting the largest population scale effect. Driving force of residential consumption on regional household energy consumption was much higher than the other five effects. Due to the comparative advantage of residential consumption compared with government consumption, investment, and net export, the decrease of consumption ratio promoted the growth of regional household energy consumption. Energy intensity in Chinese three regions kept reducing in 2003-2012. The progress of energy utilization technology slowed the growth of regional household energy consumption, and energy intensity effect was most significant in the central region.

Multi-Actor Geo-Collaborative Device for Collecting Household Waste in Urban Areas: A Case Study of Lamkansa District, Casablanca, Morocco

The aim of this paper is to develop a Multi-Actor Geo-Collaborative Device to improve the processes of household waste collect (HWC) in urban areas. The proposed device will be tested in the Lamkansa district, in the southwestern part of Casablanca city, Morocco. The approach used is a systemic analysis of communication in order to act on a territory. We have been inspired by several methodological developments concerning multi-actor processes of land use planning. We focused our work on the involvement of the inhabitants in the process of household waste collect. The results show that the urban population can help and contribute to the development of complementary solutions to improve the urban environment and their living environment. Moreover, by integrating citizens in HWC processes, as well as decision communication, we can reduce household waste management costs and make it faster and more efficient, through a geo-collaborative, participatory and incentive logic. The approach described in this article is original, not only considering the technologies used to present and share the collected information, but also regarding the concept of integrating several actors in a collaborative/incentive mode. It arouses great interest by combining geomatics with communication and information sciences. It contributes to improve the participation of the inhabitants in the life of their urban environment in order to establish a reinforced dialogue on the future of their city and public health. Also, it involves the development and testing of new devices and tools for multi-actor collaboration.

New-Type Urbanization will be Advanced in Five Aspects in 2016

On the afternoon of April 19,National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）held a press briefing.Xu Lin,Head of Planning Department,introduced major tasks for advancing new-type urbanization in2016.

Breakthrough and New Projects for Reform of Household Registration System

Under the comprehensive deepening reform and promoting new urbanization,China launched a new round of reform of household registration system.Reform has a major breakthrough in five areas:to implement new urbanization strategy of human-centric,to achieve equalization of basic public services gradually,to break up land rights and rural migrants,to provide protection for family migrants,and to increase financial support by governments.But the reform still faces many difficulties,how to determine the conditions settled by city size is difficult to implement effectively,financial transfer payment system reform is facing enormous diffi culties,as well as the size of the urban population is diffi cult to determine etc.

Modeling urban housing price： The perspective of household activity demand

Existing studies about the modeling of urban housing price have figured out sets of factors and the main focus is on the relative spatial location. Generally, this line of research is descriptive rather than modeling in nature. The underlying reasons for the distribution of housing price are largely unexplored and more research is needed. The paper therefore attempted to systematically explore the spatial heterogeneities of urban housing price based on the urban activity interaction rule. Using Beijing as a case study, this study first developed a new measurement of accessibility which directly depicts the cost and possibilities to access opportunities of different activities such as employments, educational, shopping and medical services. From the perspective of demands of different households, the paper then modelled the relationships between urban housing price and these accessibilities and found that the distribution pattern of housing price can be relatively well represented by this model that the R^2 could achieve 0.7. We investigated the relationship between housing price and the demands of different kinds of households categorized by households of one-generation, two-generation, three-generation and four-and-plus-generation and found that the demands of household of four-and-plus-generations is the most highly correlated with housing prices. The reason might be that this kind of household has more household members and the demands are more diverse and complex, which is more similar to the distributions of all kinds of activity opportunities in the real world. In the end of the paper, some implications for policy-making are proposed based on the results of the analyses.

Living together with children and elderly:the impact of family structure on the consumption of migrants and residents in urban China

Using data from the first wave of the“China Family Dynamic Survey”conducted in 2014,this study compares the impact on consumption of the presence of children or elderly people in migrant households and to that in urban resident households,and then examines the extent to which lack of access to public services might explain the differences in consumption patterns that do exist.The results indicate that migrant households with infants and toddlers increase their consumption of healthcare services,while those with preschool children increase their consumption of educational services.Migrant households with elderly members significantly increase their consumption of healthcare services.The comparison of migrant households with urban resident households shows that there are considerable differences between migrant households and urban resident households in terms of how educational and healthcare expenditures are affected by the presence of children and elderly.The differences grow out of a huge gap in the accessibility of low-cost,subsidized public preschool education and government-funded health insurance programs.

直接和间接消费所引起的中国城乡空气污染相关过早死亡不平等性

Household consumption in China is associated with substantial PM_(2.5)pollution,through activities directly(i.e.,fuel use)and/or indirectly(i.e.,consumption of goods and services)causing pollutant emissions.Urban and rural households exhibit different consumption preferences and living areas,thus their contributions to and suffering from air pollution could differ.Assessing this contrast is crucial for comprehending the environmental impacts of the nation’s ongoing urbanization process.Here we quantify Chinese urban and rural households’contributions to ambient PM_(2.5)pollution and the health risks they suffer from,by integrating economic,atmospheric,and health models and/or datasets.The national premature deaths related to long-term exposure to PM_(2.5)pollution contributed by total household consumption are estimated to be 1.1 million cases in 2015,among which 56%are urban households and 44%are rural households.For pollution contributed indirectly,urban households,especially in developed provinces,tend to bear lower mortality risks compared with the portions of deaths or pollution they contribute.The opposite results are true for direct pollution.With China’s rapid urbanization process,without adequate reduction in emission intensity,the increased indirect pollution-associated premature deaths could largely offset that avoided by reduced direct pollution,and the indirect pollution-associated urban–rural inequalities might become severer.Developing pollution mitigation strategies from both production and consumption sides could help with reducing pollution-related mortality and associated urban-rural inequality.