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Measurement of inequality using household energy consumption data in rural China

Nature Energy volume 2, pages 795–803 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Measuring inequality can be challenging due to the limitations of using household income or expenditure data. Because actual energy consumption can be measured more easily and accurately and is relatively more stable, it may be a better measure of inequality. Here we use data on energy consumption for specific devices from a large nation-wide household survey (n = 3,404 rural households from 12 provinces) to assess inequality in rural China. We find that the overall inequality of energy consumption and expenditure varies greatly in terms of energy type, end-use demand, regions and climatic zones. Biomass, space heating and cooking, intraregional differences, and climatic zones characterized as cold or hot summer/cold winter contribute the most to total inequality for each indicator, respectively. The results suggest that the expansion of infrastructure does not accompany alleviation of energy inequality, and that energy affordability should be improved through income growth and targeted safety-net programmes instead of energy subsidies.

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Fig. 1: Lorenz curve of energy and household income/expenditure.
Fig. 2: Difference between Lorenz curves.
Fig. 3: Lorenz curve of energy with income on X axis.
Fig. 4: Lorenz curve of energy consumption by energy type and end uses.
Fig. 5: Decomposition of energy consumption-based Gini coefficient by energy sources and end-use activities.
Fig. 6: Lorenz curve by region and climatic zones.
Fig. 7: Decomposition of Gini coefficient by region and climatic zones.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Guo, Z.T. Huang, J.Q. Hu and J.S. Fu for their input in survey design and implementation and data collection. We are grateful to J. Tang and W.D. Wang for their technical guidance and Y.C. Liu, R.L. Yang and Y. Zhang for their support to CRECS. Funding for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 71622014, 41771564, 71774165), Ministry of Education of China (Grant nos 14JJD790033, 16YJA790049) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant no. 9152011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy Economics, School of Economics, Renmin University of China, No 59, Zhongguancun Street, Haidian district, Beijing, 100872, China

    Shimei Wu, Xinye Zheng & Chu Wei

Authors
  1. Shimei Wu
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  2. Xinye Zheng
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  3. Chu Wei
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Contributions

All authors contributed to survey design and data collection. S.M.W. conducted the data analysis. X.Y.Z. secured project funding. C.W. drafted the manuscript. S.M.W. and C.W. edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chu Wei.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–2, Supplementary Figures 1–6, Supplementary Tables 1–2, and Supplementary References

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Wu, S., Zheng, X. & Wei, C. Measurement of inequality using household energy consumption data in rural China. Nat Energy 2, 795–803 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0003-1

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