Unclean but affordable solid fuels effectively sustained household energy equity

Ke Jiang, Ran Xing, Zhihan Luo, Yaojie Li, Jinghang Wang, Wenxiao Zhang, Yaqi Zhu, Yatai Men, Guofeng Shen () and Shu Tao
Additional contact information
Ke Jiang: Peking University
Ran Xing: Peking University
Zhihan Luo: Peking University
Yaojie Li: Peking University
Jinghang Wang: Peking University
Wenxiao Zhang: Peking University
Yaqi Zhu: Peking University
Yatai Men: Peking University
Guofeng Shen: Peking University
Shu Tao: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Extensive use of traditional solid fuels necessitates a clean transition to modern energy, yet rising costs hinder equitable progress, presenting a challenge that remains underexplored. Here we quantify household energy inequities in China and evaluate shifts during the cooking and heating transition by compiling data from nationwide questionnaire surveys and statistic datasets. We find that by meeting 42.6% of household energy needs at low costs, solid fuels sustain equitable energy consumption across different income groups, being measured by the Concentration Index (CI). However, energy burden inequity remains substantially with the CI value increases by up to 43% during the transition, particularly when moving away from biomass for cooking. Switching to electric heating with natural gas cooking would limit such increases by only 15.5%. The study underscores the negative equity impacts of solid fuel cessation, advocating for phased transitions and targeted subsidies to ensure a just clean energy transition.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54166-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54166-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54166-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().