Green transition of energy systems in rural China: National survey evidence of households’ discrete choices on water heaters

Abstract

Energy systems in rural China are experiencing a transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewables. This paper aims to investigate the potential factors that influence the choices of rural residents regarding water heaters with a focus on the low-carbon transition to solar water heating systems. To this end, a face-to-face questionnaire survey is undertaken with 3404 rural households randomly selected among 12 representative provinces. A comprehensive set of discrete choice modelling approaches were used. The empirical results show that (1) sociodemographic variables have significant effects on residents' first-stage choice of a water heater (to buy or not to buy) but few effects on the second-stage decision to choose electric, LPG, or solar water heaters (which type to buy); (2) information spillover is important to facilitate the usage of water heaters, particularly of solar products; (3) the electricity price, which is regulated at a very low rate, has no apparent effect on the choice of solar water heaters; (4) government subsidy has a significant effect in the first stage but no differentiated effect on the decision choice in the second stage. Policy and managerial implications are presented to speed up the ongoing low-carbon transition of energy systems in China.

The effects of behavioral intention on the choice to purchase energy-saving appliances in China: the role of environmental attitude, concern, and perceived psychological benefits in shaping intention

“…Based on the feedback, we refined our survey questionnaire and decided on the final version during the spring of 2016. The respondents were recruited via WeChat, the most popular social media platform in Chinese consumers, urban residents in China often have more knowledge than rural residents and thus more likely to purchase and benefit from energy saving appliances (Ma et al 2018).…”

“…Therefore, a higher urban representation in our dataset enables us to gather as much as possible 10 information on how to promote energy-saving appliances. We recognize the cross-country heterogeneity in the urban-rural divide, for example between China (Ma et al 2018) and India (Parikh and Parikh 2016), and thus limit our interpretations only to what our sample represents. "…”

Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Household Access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Dodoma City, Tanzania

“…Similar findings were made by Shen, et al (2015) in China, who discovered a link between families using clean fuel for cooking and public awareness, household characteristics, family size and age. A different study carried out in China by Ma, et al (2018) found that socio-economic determinants had a favorable, significant impact on resident first-stage LPG and electricity choice. Zhang and Koji (2017) found that LPG was preferred as a cooking fuel in homes in Northern China with per capita incomes over 4,000 RMB.…”

Nonlinear Effect Analysis of Electricity Price on Household Electricity Consumption

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