The analysis of low-carbon consumption abroad

Abstract: With global warming, carbon consumption, new academic research in recent years become one of the hot of the article on low-carbon consumption abroad conducted a systematic literature review, focus on carbon consumption and the relationship between resources and the environment, carbon consumption patterns and low-carbon consumer behavior research, with a view to provide for domestic carbon consumption of some reference.

Keywords:: low carbon consumption; energy and environment, consumption patterns, consumer behavior

I. Introduction
16th century, Western European countries began to develop a market economy, to make the whole society from an agricultural civilization into the industrial civilization, to be completed mid-19th century industrialization. Modern large-scale industrial production methods to meet the needs of the community to become the dominant mode of industrial civilization, consumption patterns also will be generated. consumption patterns of industrial civilization is a "linear" consumption, the economic system of natural resources into products to meet the needs of the people to improve the quality of life, followed by items will be used and discarded as waste, the basic characteristics of : high energy consumption, high emissions and high pollution, and thus to the nature of air, soil and water pollution caused by the unprecedented, the earth's ability to support life seriously weakened.

Out of continued population growth, energy supply crisis and the deteriorating environmental concerns, foreign scholars from the early 1970s, the rise of interest in the study of human low-carbon consumption, especially the first oil crisis, prompting foreign scholars energy and environmental protection, and how to encourage people to reduce energy consumption and waste emissions, conducted extensive research if the majority of earlier studies of low-carbon consumption by high oil prices and energy security concerns drive, then from the 1990s 21st century research is more affected by sustainable development and climate warming. Overview of foreign scholars on the consumption of low-carbon research, we can put them into the following topics.

Second, low-carbon consumption and the relationship between resources and environment research
British economist Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos of the American microbiologist <<Only One Earth>> (1972, review of the traditional industrial civilization from the consumer impact of the different countries of departure, called on people of all countries attach importance to the preservation of human life on Earth. U.S. environmental theorists Bill Mckiben the <<End of Nature>> (1989, introduced the greenhouse effect caused by global warming have many consequences, and further that: "environmental issues, in essence, not a physical or chemical problem, but population and economic issues. "in the late 1990s, consumption and the relationship between resources and the environment the main focus on food consumption, energy consumption and water consumption. Some researchers believe that: Most of the damage to the environment, including Climate warming can be traced directly to the consumer behavior, such as waste disposal and car use, or their indirect behavior, such as the products must meet consumer demand (Rees W E., 1995, Daly H., 1996, Duchin F., 1998.2000 years later, the relationship of people to study consumption and greenhouse growing gradually. Weber (2000) evaluation model were analyzed with Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, France and other countries on consumer behavior and lifestyle factors energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions impact, Kim (2002 对 1985-1995 Korean residents consumption patterns of CO2 and SO2 emissions were studied, the results show that greenhouse gas emissions mainly by residents of the direct energy consumption and residents of the strong emission of the impact of consumer demand for above reflect the human consumption of literature on the one hand the stress effect on the environment, it also reflects the resource constraints of the environment on human consumption and feedback. 2003, out of global warming concerns, the British government issued a <<Our energy future: creating a low carbon economy>> White Paper, for human consumption activities provides a new point of consideration, so that the "carbon footprint" and all resources and environmental issues together. Since then, many foreign scholars began a life-cycle perspective, the use of "carbon footprint" to study a particular product or service system in its full life cycle carbon emissions (Druckman and Jackson, 2009 In fact, economic development is the main form of human activity, to improve the living standards of the rapidly expanding demand for consumer goods is increasing pressure on the root causes of environmental resources, so a low-carbon consumption and the relationship between resources and the environment a more fundamental role in research and significance.

Third, the consumption patterns of low-carbon
With the large number of consuming natural resources and ecological damage to the environment continue to increase the momentum spread, foreign scholars began to make natural resource constraints in the consumption patterns of seeking new ideas In 1994, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP defines sustainable consumption as a first "services and related products to meet basic human needs, improve quality of life, while natural resources and reduction in the use of toxic materials, so that service or product life cycle of waste and pollutants generated at least, so as not to endanger needs of future generations. "Clearly, sustainable consumption patterns is a low-carbon future consumption patterns. 2000, for" sustainable consumption "further study, leads to" weak sustainable consumption "and" strong sustainable consumption "two consumption patterns. consumption efficiency means lower unit consumption of resource consumption, that the decline in carbon emissions, many international scholars to improve the efficiency of this simple called "weak sustainable consumption" (Spangenberg, 2002, Princen, 2003, Fuchs, 2005). However, the consumption efficiency and the surface of the green consumer preferences will continue to contribute to a rebound in consumption, so only far enough to improve the efficiency of consumption, each consumer's consumption patterns change, reduce consumption physical size and total carbon emissions is necessary and sufficient condition to achieve sustainable consumption. take into account the efficiency, but the ecological transformation of consumption patterns focus on the consumer is called "strong sustainable consumption." Links to free download http : / / www.hi138.com
At the same time, many scholars from other angles the consumption patterns of low-carbon research for an important feature reflecting the consumption patterns of consumption structure and content, Mikael and Hmo (2000) study suggests that long-term prevention of environmental laws, including production and consumption model long-term structural changes. Gert (2000 considered the ecological modernization of production and consumption in the environment is conducive to the development of consumer-oriented structure. Carmen (2003 from the consumer personal factors and factors associated with both the analysis that over-consumption in the industrialized countries important reason for environmental degradation, must be turned into an ecological-oriented consumption structure as well as scholars study the consumer the specific carbon consumption, such as recycling, buying energy efficient appliances, waste and green transport modes (Geller, 2002. In addition, sustainable and low carbon consumption in terms of impact factors, Hensen and Schrader (1997, Heiskanen and Pantzer (1997, Burgess (2003, respectively, from the consumer ethics, evolution, and social structures, and other qualitative research point of view of the traditional consumption patterns transformation of the main barriers.

Fourth, low-carbon consumer behavior research
How to reduce it high energy consumption, high pollution and high emissions of carbon consumption patterns has long been the focus of consumer research, although it attention because of the low-carbon consumption from the 1970s to shift the energy supply security to today's climate impact , but all is still the core of the problem how to make people shift from carbon-carbon consumer behavior consumer behavior.

For personal and family study of consumer behavior can be traced back in the 1920s. Ramsey (1928 first proposed the optimal consumption choice model family since the 1970s onwards, with the energy, resource and environmental problems of the highlights, some economists began to resources, energy and environmental issues into the best-known family consumer choice model (Foster, 1973, Becker, 1982, Selden and Song, 1994, Stokey, 1998, that the pollution of the stock or flow as independent variables into the representativeness of the consumer's production function and utility function due to people's carbon consumption behavior in addition to economic factors but also by a variety of factors, including many irrational factors, there is a big difference in the degree of influence, the role of the process is very complex, so factors affecting consumer behavior on low-carbon analysis of the diversity in the 1970s years developed in the United States, after the 1990s, this new trend in Western countries have accumulated a great deal of empirical research results.

From the existing research literature, scholars have primarily studied the internal (attitudes, values, habits and personal norms and external (economic incentives and rules, institutional and social constraints on people's low-carbon lifestyle factors influence consumer behavior, such as Stern ( 2000 that the personal values, ecological worldview, the value of the object of the negative consequences of reducing the threat perception and pro-environmental personal norms five factors determine people's pro-environmental behavior because of the individual in a complex social network, so external factors on people's consumption behavior of low-carbon can not be ignored if the consumers of information that he is a low-carbon consumer, he will be a more positive attitude to continue his behavior (Katzev et al., 1981) In the realized energy savings of 118 civic responsibility is a high power group of the study, those who know their attitude and the actual consumption gap between the consumer more than the control group to reduce electricity consumption (Kantola et al ., 1984). Synodinos et al (1990 analysis shows that by increasing consumer awareness of environmental issues, will lead to pro-environmental behavior of consumers more positive attitude.

V. Conclusion
By combing foreign research literature can be found: low-carbon consumption is a post-industrial level of development of social productive forces and relations of production and consumption under the concept of consumer spending data supply, combined with the use of a civilization based on science and health eco-consumer way, but also to future generations of contemporary consumers and socially responsible attitude in the process of actively pursuing the consumer low power consumption, low pollution and low emissions in order to achieve their own scientific development and harmonious coexistence with nature, but the key to achieve low-carbon consumption is to change consumer behavior from high-carbon to low carbon consumption, consumer behavior, which is socio-economic development, culture and people's consumption habits, and many other factors in China since reform and opening up have made remarkable achievements in economic construction, but there are resources increasingly tight supply and increasing environmental degradation of critical issues, therefore, domestic consumption of the carbon is in the ascendant, this low-carbon consumption through the study of foreign literature were reviewed with a view to doing some basic research related to work.

References:
1, (United States) Barbara Ward, 雷内杜博斯 book; foreign pollution data compiled assembler Only One Earth [M]. Jilin People's Publishing House, 1997. Links to free download http:/ / www.hi138.com
2, (U.S.) with Bill McKibben; Sun Xiaochun, Ma Shulin translation. The End of Nature [M]. Jilin People's Publishing House, 2000. Links to free download http://www.hi138.com