Substantial transition to clean household energy mix in rural China

Guofeng Shen; Rui Xiong; Yanlin Tian; Zhihan Luo; Bahabaike Jiangtulu; Wenjun Meng; Wei Du; Jing Meng; Yuanchen Chen; Bing Xue; Bin Wang; Yonghong Duan; Jia Duo; Fenggui Fan; Lei Huang; Tianzhen Ju; Fenggui Liu; Shunxin Li; Xianli Liu; Yungui Li; Mu Wang; Ying Nan; Bo Pan; Yanfang Pan; Lizhi Wang; Eddy Zeng; Chao Zhan; Yilin Chen; Huizhong Shen; Hefa Cheng; Shu Tao

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwac050

Substantial transition to clean household energy mix in rural China

Natl Sci Rev. 2022 Mar 14;9(7):nwac050. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwac050. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Authors

Guofeng Shen¹, Rui Xiong¹, Yanlin Tian¹, Zhihan Luo¹, Bahabaike Jiangtulu², Wenjun Meng¹, Wei Du³, Jing Meng⁴, Yuanchen Chen⁵, Bing Xue⁶, Bin Wang², Yonghong Duan⁷, Jia Duo⁸, Fenggui Fan⁹, Lei Huang¹⁰, Tianzhen Ju¹¹, Fenggui Liu¹², Shunxin Li¹³, Xianli Liu¹⁴, Yungui Li¹⁵, Mu Wang¹⁶, Ying Nan¹⁷, Bo Pan¹⁸, Yanfang Pan¹⁹, Lizhi Wang²⁰, Eddy Zeng²¹, Chao Zhan²², Yilin Chen²³, Huizhong Shen²³, Hefa Cheng¹, Shu Tao¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
² Institute of Reproductive and Child Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China.
³ Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
⁴ The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK.
⁵ College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
⁶ Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
⁷ College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China.
⁸ Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Bioremediation, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
⁹ School of Geography and Tourism, Anhui University, Wuhu 241000, China.
¹⁰ School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210033, China.
¹¹ College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
¹² College of Geographical Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China.
¹³ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Environment, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou 363000, China.
¹⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hubei Polytechnic University, Huangshi 435003, China.
¹⁵ Department of Environmental Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
¹⁶ College of Food Science, Tibet Agricultural and Animal Husbandry University, Linzhi 860000, China.
¹⁷ College of Geography and Ocean Sciences, Yanbian University, Yanji 133002, China.
¹⁸ Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China.
¹⁹ College of Geography and Environmental Science, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China.
²⁰ College of Ecology and Environment, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
²¹ School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
²² Institute of Coastal Research, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China.
²³ College of Environmental Science and Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.

Abstract

The household energy mix has significant impacts on human health and climate, as it contributes greatly to many health- and climate-relevant air pollutants. Compared to the well-established urban energy statistical system, the rural household energy statistical system is incomplete and is often associated with high biases. Via a nationwide investigation, this study revealed high contributions to energy supply from coal and biomass fuels in the rural household energy sector, while electricity comprised ∼20%. Stacking (the use of multiple sources of energy) is significant, and the average number of energy types was 2.8 per household. Compared to 2012, the consumption of biomass and coals in 2017 decreased by 45% and 12%, respectively, while the gas consumption amount increased by 204%. Increased gas and decreased coal consumptions were mainly in cooking, while decreased biomass was in both cooking (41%) and heating (59%). The time-sharing fraction of electricity and gases (E&G) for daily cooking grew, reaching 69% in 2017, but for space heating, traditional solid fuels were still dominant, with the national average shared fraction of E&G being only 20%. The non-uniform spatial distribution and the non-linear increase in the fraction of E&G indicated challenges to achieving universal access to modern cooking energy by 2030, particularly in less-developed rural and mountainous areas. In some non-typical heating zones, the increased share of E&G for heating was significant and largely driven by income growth, but in typical heating zones, the time-sharing fraction was <5% and was not significantly increased, except in areas with policy intervention. The intervention policy not only led to dramatic increases in the clean energy fraction for heating but also accelerated the clean cooking transition. Higher income, higher education, younger age, less energy/stove stacking and smaller family size positively impacted the clean energy transition.

Keywords: clean heating; energy transition; household energy mix; modern energy; sustainable development.