A carbon footprint analysis of the redevelopment of former residential areas

The negative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO₂ emissions, have garnered widespread attention. Various old residential areas in China, built more than 20 years ago, have been undergoing urgent transformation to improve citizens’ quality of life, which may significantly reduce carbon emissions. This study developed a carbon emissions accounting framework for residential areas to account the emissions impact of residential transformation. The framework addressed the inventory classifications of landscape greening, residential buildings, water resources, solid waste, infrastructure and transportation. The consumption-based calculation model and bottom-up data collection methods were used. The results show that the transformation of two old residential areas achieved considerable carbon reductions of 17.16% and 33.37% in South and North China, respectively. The macro guidance of local policies, specifically those regarding local urban infrastructure construction, significantly aided the carbon emissions reductions. Based on the calculation results, a list of recommended technologies was proposed to reduce carbon emissions, and four measures (adding greening, improving the garbage recovery rate, separating rain and sewage and transforming envelope structures for energy savings in northern China) were recommended to promote low carbon development in residential areas.