Measurement of effective energy consumption in China's rural household sector and policy implication

• Published in: Energy policy 2019-05, Vol.128, p.553-564
• Main Authors: Niu, Shuwen, Li, Zhen, Qiu, Xin, Dai, Runqi, Wang, Xiang, Qiang, Wenli, Hong, Zhenguo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Biogas; Clean energy; Dung; Effective energy; Efficiency; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Energy management; Energy measurement; Energy policy; Energy transition; Fuels; Household energy consumption; Households; Measurement; Renewable energy; Residential energy; Rural areas; Rural communities; Solar energy; Solid fuels; Statistics; Structure change; Thermal efficiency; Thermodynamic efficiency; Time series
• ISSN: 0301-4215; 1873-6777
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.01.016

To facilitate energy system transition, China needs to further optimize energy structure and improve energy efficiency. Compared with physical energy consumption, effective energy consumption can better reflect the actual household energy consumption level. Based on a review of relevant literatures and official statistics, we first estimated the amounts of biogas, dung and solar energy utilized by rural households, and set up the time series of actual rural household energy consumption. The effective energy consumption was measured by the thermal efficiency of fuels from existing literatures, and main characteristics and trend of energy structure change were revealed. Finally, possible scenarios of energy use in 2030 were analyzed. The results show that per capita physical energy consumption and effective energy consumption reached 546.4 kgce and 142.5 kgce in 2015, respectively. The multiple thermal efficiency of all fuel increased from 16.02% in 1990 to 26.08% in 2015, to which the main contributor was energy structure change rather than physical energy consumption growth. The trends including total energy consumption declining and per capita energy consumption growing will continue until 2030. The shares of clean and efficient non-solid fuels in total energy consumption will further increase, whereas the share of renewable energy will decline. •Biogas, dung and solar energy are constituent part of rural households energy consumption.•Effective energy consumption can better reflect the actual household energy consumption level.•Main contributor of thermal efficiency increase was energy structure change rather than physical energy growth.•In total energy consumption, the share of non-solid fuels increases, the share of renewable energy declines.•To facilitate energy transition needs to optimize energy structure and improve energy efficiency.