Rural household energy consumption and its implications for eco-environments in NW China: A case study

• Biomass and fossil fuels are the main energy source for rural energy consumption.
• More households use biogas and solar energy to replace low-efficiency sources.
• The use of biogas and solar stoves makes a contribution to household energy bills.
• Biogas and solar stoves use is helpful to reduce GHG and AP emissions.
• Rural household energy consumption structure has improved in recent years.

Rural household energy consumption plays an essential role in the daily life of farmers, especially in developing regions. In this paper, we present a study of household energy consumption in terms of energy sources and energy end uses, and analysis of technical and economic issues associated with the use of biomass and renewable energy and the replacement of fossil fuels. Results show that energy from biomass represents the largest share of total energy supply, and that 41.15% of total energy is consumed for home heating and cooking. The average cost of household energy is 1259 RMB ($US193.6) and this expense is no longer subsidized by the government. It takes less than one year to make a solar stove profitable and less than two years to pay back the household cost of biogas digesters. An 8 m3 digester can produce as much energy as 500–550 kg of standard coal or 940 kg of firewood, while a solar stove can generate 1.76 × 103 MJ heat each year. Moreover, it is estimated that in rural China the annual reduction of CO2 and SO2 emissions in 2020, due to the replacement of fossil fuel by biomass, will be 68.86 × 106 and 54.37 × 104 tons, respectively. Overall, the investigations and analyses have revealed that the structure of rural household energy consumption is undergoing a transformation from traditional low-efficiency biomass domination to integrated consumption of traditional and renewable energies. Renewable energy will significantly contribute to the sustainable development of rural households.