Forums | HES 健康与环境科学

05 November 2025, 6:32 PM

Speaker: Dr. Jing Huang

Title: Planting for Power and Planet

Date: 2025-11-14

Time: 14:00-15:00 

Room: ES354

Tencent Meeting ID: 979-1135-5376

Abstract: 

Reducing energy consumption from buildings' operations is a sine-qua-non for achieving a future with net-zero emissions. Could urban trees play a role? Several observational and simulation studies demonstrate the effect of vegetation on reduced energy consumption and this study confirms it, this time looking at densely populated areas in diverse climate zones. A comprehensive multi-year monthly electricity consumption data set representative of all of China, together with high-resolution NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data, reveal the relationship between an urban area's greenness and its residents' domestic electricity consumption. Findings show that for every 0.1 increase in the cities' NDVI, urban per-capita residential electricity consumption decreases by 1.76% (95% CI: 1.11-2.42%). This cut in electricity consumption results in life-cycle power-sector CO_2e annual emissions reductions of 23.05-45.52 Mt, equivalent to 2.85-5.63% of China's total residential sector CO_2e emissions in 2020, depending on assumptions on urban population's size and electricity sector's carbon intensity. Moreover, these cities' trees can store 247-284 Mt CO_2e over 30 years, so the present value of the net benefits, equal to monetized electricity savings plus carbon emissions' reductions and carbon storage minus tree planting and maintenance costs, is positive for 29 Chinese provinces (except Chongqing and Tibet) ranging between -0.84 USD and 21,000 USD per tree (-6-156,485 CNY/tree). If not planted exclusively in urban areas but all over China, a carbon price of 267-1,339 CNY/ton is needed to ensure the benefits cover the costs of planting and maintaining the trees.

Biography:

Dr. Huang's work operates at a crucial nexus: where environmental science meets economics, and where climate action meets social equity. She leverages econometric modeling and cost-benefit analysis to develop data-driven decarbonization pathways, with focused expertise in residential energy and climate resilience.

She earned her PhD from Renmin University of China in 2024. During her doctoral studies, a China Scholarship Council fellowship took her to Duke University, where a pivotal collaboration with Prof. Dalia Patino-Echeverri added a critical policy dimension to her research. This partnership, which continued into her postdoctoral work at Duke, now fuels her ongoing mission to build strategies for a resilient and equitable future.

Look forward to seeing you!

Liwen Wu