IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i20p9209-d1773439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Game Analysis on Energy-Saving Behavior of University Students Under the “Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality” Goals

Author

Listed:
  • Qunli Zhang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Heating, Gas Supply, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China
    College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Chaojie Zhang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Heating, Gas Supply, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China)

Abstract

With the continuous increase in the number of university students and the improvement of living standards, energy waste in universities has become a significant challenge, hindering progress toward Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality (CPCN) goals. As universities serve as the final educational stage before students enter society, effectively integrating disciplinary research with energy-saving education has become a crucial topic in today’s world. The evolutionary game analysis reveals that three key factors—the severity of resource waste, the reputational benefits from sustainable education, and the enhancement of students’ self-quality—significantly drive the game equilibrium toward a positive outcome. Conversely, university indifference to energy-saving education and high behavioral constraint costs for students lead the equilibrium toward a negative state. Based on this, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions to promote the sustainable development of universities and help realize the CPCN goals. These suggestions are aimed at enhancing the importance of energy-saving education in universities, optimizing energy-saving management strategies and encouraging students to actively participate in energy-saving behavior, to provide practical reference for universities to promote social sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Qunli Zhang & Chaojie Zhang, 2025. "Game Analysis on Energy-Saving Behavior of University Students Under the “Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality” Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9209-:d:1773439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9209/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9209/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xuan Liu & Qiancheng Wang & Hsi-Hsien Wei & Hung-Lin Chi & Yaotian Ma & Izzy Yi Jian, 2020. "Psychological and Demographic Factors Affecting Household Energy-Saving Intentions: A TPB-Based Study in Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    2. Christoph Hauert & Michael Doebeli, 2004. "Spatial structure often inhibits the evolution of cooperation in the snowdrift game," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6983), pages 643-646, April.
    3. Castleberry, Becca & Gliedt, Travis & Greene, J. Scott, 2016. "Assessing drivers and barriers of energy-saving measures in Oklahoma’s public schools," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 216-228.
    4. Mats Alvesson & André Spicer, 2012. "A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1194-1220, November.
    5. Friedman, Daniel, 1991. "Evolutionary Games in Economics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 637-666, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silveira, Douglas & Vasconcelos, Silvinha, 2020. "Essays on duopoly competition with asymmetric firms: Is profit maximization always an evolutionary stable strategy?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    2. Lefeng Cheng & Pan Peng & Wentian Lu & Pengrong Huang & Yang Chen, 2024. "Study of Flexibility Transformation in Thermal Power Enterprises under Multi-Factor Drivers: Application of Complex-Network Evolutionary Game Theory," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Douglas Silveira & Izak Silva & Silvinha Vasconcelos & Fernando Perobelli, 2020. "The Brexit game: uncertainty and location decision," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(6), pages 1515-1538, December.
    4. Qianru Chen & Hualin Xie & Qunli Zhai, 2022. "Management Policy of Farmers’ Cultivated Land Abandonment Behavior Based on Evolutionary Game and Simulation Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Lichi Zhang & Yanyan Jiang & Junmin Wu, 2022. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Government and Residents’ Participation in Waste Separation Based on Cumulative Prospect Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.
    6. Sergio Currarini & Carmen Marchiori & Alessandro Tavoni, 2016. "Network Economics and the Environment: Insights and Perspectives," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(1), pages 159-189, September.
    7. Gu, Tianqi & Xu, Weiping & Liang, Hua & He, Qing & Zheng, Nan, 2024. "School bus transport service strategies’ policy-making mechanism – An evolutionary game approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    8. Wang Mingbao & Du Zhiping & Duan Hong, 2017. "Study on Participant Behavior Game of Electronic Products Reverse Supply Chain Based on ECP," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 5(5), pages 411-434, October.
    9. Sun, Yong & Liu, Baoyin & Sun, Zhongrui & Yang, Ruijia, 2023. "Inter-regional cooperation in the transfers of energy-intensive industry: An evolutionary game approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    10. Thomas, Rhodri & Wood, Emma, 2015. "The absorptive capacity of tourism organisations," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 84-99.
    11. Takahara, Akihiro & Sakiyama, Tomoko, 2023. "Twisted strategy may enhance the evolution of cooperation in spatial prisoner’s dilemma," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 629(C).
    12. Jialu Li & Meiying Yang & Wei Xing & Xuan Zhao, 2018. "Information Acquisition Behavior: An Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 434-455, June.
    13. Te Wu & Feng Fu & Long Wang, 2011. "Moving Away from Nasty Encounters Enhances Cooperation in Ecological Prisoner's Dilemma Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-7, November.
    14. Hongxia Sun & Yao Wan & Huirong Lv, 2020. "System Dynamics Model for the Evolutionary Behaviour of Government Enterprises and Consumers in China’s New Energy Vehicle Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    15. Song Yang & Jincai Zhuang & Aifeng Wang & Yancai Zhang, 2019. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Chinese Food Quality considering Effort Levels," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-13, November.
    16. Bergstrom, Theodore C & Stark, Oded, 1993. "How Altruism Can Prevail in an Evolutionary Environment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 149-155, May.
    17. Yinglin Wang & Leqi Chen & Jiaxin Zhuang, 2024. "Research on ESG Investment Efficiency Regulation from the Perspective of Reciprocity and Evolutionary Game," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(3), pages 1665-1695, September.
    18. Hopkins, Ed, 1999. "Learning, Matching, and Aggregation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 79-110, January.
    19. Zhou, Meng & Yang, Yanlong & Xiang, Shuwen, 2025. "Effect of community learning mechanism on cooperation in conflict societies," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    20. Mengyang Cui & Yuhong Wang, 2025. "Research on New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Recycling Deposit System Based on Evolutionary Game Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-22, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9209-:d:1773439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.