Can Chinese families climb the energy ladder? New evidence from Internet use

Shuai Che () and Jun Wang
Additional contact information
Shuai Che: China University of Petroleum (East China)
Jun Wang: China University of Petroleum (East China)

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 27, issue 7, No 48, 16267-16293

Abstract: Abstract As an important source of global climate change, household energy consumption can successfully climb the energy ladder, which is the key to promoting sustainable development. In the digital age, the use of the Internet has provided new avenues for the energy transformation of households in developing countries. This study aims to use micro household data in China to explore the impact and underlying mechanisms of Internet use on household energy ladder, and provide experience for other similar countries. The results indicate that, first, Internet use can promote Chinese households to climb the energy ladder. The use of the Internet can reduce the probability of using initial energy and traditional energy, and improve the probability of using high-quality energy. Second, Internet use can weaken the phenomenon of energy stacking, reduce the consumption of straw, firewood, coal, and diesel, and increase the consumption of natural gas in pipelines. Third, the role of the Internet in households climbing the energy ladder exhibits regional heterogeneity. Compared to households in the eastern, urban, and central heating systems, the western, rural, and separate-household heating households have better results. Fourth, Internet use can achieve household energy ladder climbing by reducing social travel, increasing environmental awareness, and increasing happiness. Fifth, China’s peak valley electricity prices and tiered electricity pricing policies are not conducive to unleashing the energy transformation dividends of the Internet. In response to these research findings, this article proposes five suggestions to contribute more Chinese experience to promoting sustainable development of household energy use.

Keywords: Internet use; Energy ladder; Energy transformation; Electricity price policy; Chinese family (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-024-04602-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1007_s10668-024-04602-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-024-04602-9

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().