Research on Land Carbon Equilibrium of New City during Initial Stage of Urban Plan: A Case in Panjin New City, China

Abstract

The construction of a new city will change the use of land and break the original balance of carbon circulation. The carbon emissions will significantly increase duo to the human activity. The authors study the master plan of Panjin New City at the initial stage, calculate the carbon emissions and fixations on the basis of official statistics and relative formulas, and give the suggestions to adjust the project from the perspective of establishing carbon equilibrium. After calculation, the authors find:(1) Agricultural land, whose quantity of carbon fixations is 314.59 thousand tons per year, is the main carbon sink;(2) Urban land which mainly consists of residential land, industrial land and public facilities land is the main carbon source and release 813.12 thousand tons carbon per year; (3) The average per capita figure of carbon deficit is as much as 4.38 tons, which is 2.39 times as much as the standard level put forward by the United Nations. According to the data analyzing, the authors suggest that adjusting the proportion of the urban land, increasing the areas of green space and developing the ecological agriculture will be effective solutions to increase carbon surplus.