A survey on energy consumption in rural households in three regions of China

Abstract

A survey focusing on energy consumption in rural households in three typical areas of China was conducted in the form of questionnaire. Nearly 800 households were sampled in the survey. The purpose of the survey was to find out some unreasonable energy consumptions and offer some practical solutions. The results indicate that: firstly, in rural areas, energy consumption level is quite low, meanwhile, the non-commercial energy consumption accounts for a large percent, and this even occupies more than 90 % in Pu'er; secondly, the use ratio of solar energy in rural households is very low and has no correlation with availability of local solar energy resources, for example in Xinzhou, the use rate of solar water heating is less than 5 %; thirdly, in rural areas of Xinzhou, household energy consumption per capita is 1.24 times of the national rural average, and it is less than the average in Jingzhou and Pu'er. Fourthly, the use ratio of energy-saving lamp is lower than 50 % in all three areas; finally, there is a certain correlation between income level and commercial energy consumption, and the correlation coefficient for each area is 0.36697, 0.29312, and 0.45456, respectively. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.