Cargando…

The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?

This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that c...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Zagheni, Emilio
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3059757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21328039
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13524-010-0004-1
_version_ 1782200445788225536
author Zagheni, Emilio
author_facet Zagheni, Emilio
author_sort Zagheni, Emilio
collection PubMed
description This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that can be obtained in the context of stable population theory. Second, I suggest a statistical model of household consumption as a function of household size and age structure to quantitatively evaluate the extent of economies of scale in consumption of energy-intensive goods, and to estimate age-specific profiles of consumption of energy-intensive goods and of CO(2) emissions. Third, I offer an illustration of the methodologies using data for the United States. The analysis shows that per-capita CO(2) emissions increase with age until the individual is in his or her 60s, and then emissions tend to decrease. Holding everything else constant, the expected change in U.S. population age distribution during the next four decades is likely to have a small, but noticeable, positive impact on CO(2) emissions.
format Text
id pubmed-3059757
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher Springer US
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-30597572011-04-05 The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter? Zagheni, Emilio Demography Article This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that can be obtained in the context of stable population theory. Second, I suggest a statistical model of household consumption as a function of household size and age structure to quantitatively evaluate the extent of economies of scale in consumption of energy-intensive goods, and to estimate age-specific profiles of consumption of energy-intensive goods and of CO(2) emissions. Third, I offer an illustration of the methodologies using data for the United States. The analysis shows that per-capita CO(2) emissions increase with age until the individual is in his or her 60s, and then emissions tend to decrease. Holding everything else constant, the expected change in U.S. population age distribution during the next four decades is likely to have a small, but noticeable, positive impact on CO(2) emissions. Springer US 2011-02-17 2011-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3059757/ /pubmed/21328039 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13524-010-0004-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2011 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
Zagheni, Emilio
The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title_full The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title_fullStr The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title_full_unstemmed The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title_short The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
title_sort leverage of demographic dynamics on carbon dioxide emissions: does age structure matter?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3059757/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21328039
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13524-010-0004-1
work_keys_str_mv AT zagheniemilio theleverageofdemographicdynamicsoncarbondioxideemissionsdoesagestructurematter
AT zagheniemilio leverageofdemographicdynamicsoncarbondioxideemissionsdoesagestructurematter