Developing a Screening and Assessment System for Low-Carbon Technologies:A Case Study Based on Urban and Rural Construction in Tianjin

ZHANG He; ZHANG Lisha; WANG Rui; DONG Hongjie; FAN Li

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2025.10.001

Abstract：Currently,the promotion of low-carbon technologies in China's urban and rural construction sector faces two major challenges.First,technologies span multiple fields and are highly fragmented,making it difficult to systematically identify practical and effective carbon-reduction technologies in the sector.Second,there are significant regional disparities in China,and currently there is no method for screening suitable technologies for differentiated assessment according to different urban development levels,resource endowments,and construction conditions.To cope with these challenges,this study aims to establish a systematic low-carbon technology list for urban and rural construction and to build a comprehensive evaluation screening system that can effectively couple technological characteristics and specific urban conditions.It is expected to provide theoretical and practical guidance for scientifically informed decision-making about carbon-reduction methods in local regions. This study begins by systematically reviewing relevant national policy orientations and industry standards to clearly define the carbon-emission accounting boundaries of the urban and rural construction sector.On this basis,a list of low-carbon technology clusters was developed.This list covers three core categories-building energy efficiency,municipal energy conservation,and green carbon sinks-and it encompasses 12 representative technologies.For assessment methodology,a comprehensive evaluation system composed of implementation effectiveness and implementation compatibility was built innovatively.On the dimension of implementation effectiveness,economic and environmental performances were evaluated through quantitative assessment of the benefits and costs of carbon-reduction technologies.On the dimension of implementation compatibility,two quantitative indicators of technical compatibility and policy support level were introduced.The former indicator evaluates the feasibility and suitability of technological applications according to specific parameters of target cities,such as climate conditions,resource endowment,and existing construction scales.Technologies were divided into high level,middle level,and low level based on their indicator scores.The second type of indicator measures the support level and clarity of specific technologies through an in-depth analysis of local policy texts.Then,the composite weights of both indicators were determined by an expert scoring method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP),and these weights were in turn used to build a comprehensive evaluation model that integrates quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subsequently,a case study based on Tianjin was conducted to verify the technology list and assessment system.According to evaluation results,the low-carbon technologies most suitable for priority promotion in Tianjin primarily fall into three categories:waste recycling technologies(including construction waste recycling,municipal solid waste recycling,and wastewater recycling treatment);green building and new energy technologies(including green buildings,ultra-low/nearly zero-energy buildings,building energy efficiency retrofits,rooftop photovoltaic technology,and distributed energy supply);and urban ecological environment construction technologies(primarily urban green space development).These results clearly demonstrate that the assessment system can effectively identify low-carbon technologies that are highly compatible with the specific conditions of a given city,overcoming the previous limitation of overemphasizing technological factors while neglecting regional characteristics. Some major conclusions can be drawn from this study.The proposed low-carbon technology list and the assessment system coupled with urban characteristics provide urban managers a set of scientifically verified and operable methodological tools.The case study proves that the system can help cities to screen and prioritize the promotion of suitable low-carbon technologies based on their own characteristics,optimize resource allocation,and thereby facilitate the green and low-carbon transition of the urban and rural construction sector more efficiently.In these respects,the study offers solid practical support for achieving the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.The results have important theoretical and methodological implications for low-carbon development planning in Tianjin and similar cities.