Carbon emissions in rural areas have increased significantly, resulting in huge emission reduction potential, but research on carbon accounting at the courtyard scale is insufficient. To fill the gap in micro-level carbon management and support the green transformation of rural areas, this study focuses on the planning and design of rural carbon-negative courtyards, aiming to achieve negative emissions in courtyards through carbon accounting and strategic design. This conceptual design was developed for rural areas in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta region with a subtropical monsoon climate. The favorable climatic and ecological conditions provide a suitable context for integrating renewable energy systems and ecological resource management within courtyard spaces. We establish a carbon accounting list and model at the courtyard scale; divide this into five functional zones, planting, residential, breeding, pond, and woodland areas; propose targeted carbon-reduction strategies applicable to courtyards such as photovoltaic and ground-source heat pump technologies; and systematically calculate courtyard carbon sources and sinks. The comprehensive carbon sink of the courtyard in this study removes 2173.27 kg CO2 per year; the residential area is the main carbon source, accounting for 81.8% of total emissions, while woodland is the core carbon sink, accounting for 11.2% of the total carbon reduction; the emission reduction contributions of PV and ground-source heat pump technologies account for 65.2% and 22.9% respectively. We clarify the spatial types of carbon sources and sinks and propose implementation paths to achieve carbon-negative emissions, such as green buildings and energy optimization. By situating the design in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, this study provides region-specific support for achieving China’s “dual carbon” goals and promotes the transformation of rural courtyards from carbon emission sources into carbon sink carriers.
Chen et al. (Tue,) studied this question.