Sustainable Energy Strategies Enable the Green Transition of China’s Copper Tube Industry

Copper tube (CT) is an indispensable material for space cooling. However, under the urgent requirements of cooling-related emission reduction, the environmental impacts and effective emission reduction strategies associated with CT manufacturing have not been investigated. This study quantified the environmental impacts of China’s CT manufacturing and further explored the emission reduction potentials. Key findings are (1) almost all of the considered types of the environmental impacts of CT manufacturing are from electricity use, with melting as the largest contributing process. The gate-to-gate carbon emission intensities of inner-grooved CT, coiled CT, and straight CT are 1018, 747, and 499 kg CO2 eq, respectively. (2) The cumulative carbon emissions of China’s CT manufacturing from 2022 to 2050 will reach 47.5 Mt CO2 eq in baseline scenario, of which 50% from inner-grooved CT is due to its increasing use in air conditioners. (3) About 27 Mt CO2 of the cumulative carbon emissions of CT manufacturing can be reduced, with 60% contributed by sustainable energy strategies (incl., energy efficiency improvement, energy substitution, and electricity transition). Accordingly, the impacts of other environmental issues will also be decreased by 14%–66%. This study provides an important scientific basis for the green transition of the CT industry.