Measurement And Cause Analysis Of Rural Household Energy Poverty In China

Common prosperity requires eliminating poverty and improving people’s livelihood,which is also an inevitable requirement of socialism.After the overall victory of China’s fight against poverty in 2020,based on the new stage of development,our task will shift from conquering absolute poverty to eliminating relative poverty,and one of the outstanding manifestations of relative poverty is energy poverty.Energy is a typical and necessary "micro public goods".Under the guidance of relevant policies in the report of the 19 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the improvement of energy efficiency shoulders the dual task of reducing poverty and reducing emissions.Therefore,improving the energy use structure,especially the energy structure of rural poor residents,will become a necessary link to achieve targeted poverty alleviation.In particular,against the backdrop of complex international forms,the conflict between the Western world and Russia has continued to escalate,the price of natural gas has risen,and the risk of global energy shortage has intensified.More than half of Britain’s households have fallen into energy poverty because of the soaring energy prices.Energy poverty has undoubtedly become a key problem to be solved in the world.Under various backgrounds,studying the energy use of Chinese households,especially the energy structure of rural households,to achieve the upgrading of clean energy consumption is also an inevitable requirement for China to successfully achieve the goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutralization" under the background of global warming.The work of this paper is as follows:(1)Using the statistical yearbook data of each province from 2006 to 2021,from the perspective of household income and commodity energy consumption,the energy consumption expenditure and consumption of 31 provinces in China are calculated at the macro level,and the balance of energy consumption in rural areas in China is analyzed by using the methods of Thiel index and Gini index.(2)Based on the per capita commodity energy consumption in rural areas of each province calculated above,the invariants of per capita energy consumption in rural areas of the country at the current economic level are estimated using the ELES model.At present,there is no unified standard for the energy poverty line,which is of great reference significance for the establishment of the energy poverty line.(3)Based on 1284 micro sample data obtained from China Comprehensive Social Survey(CGSS)in 2018,FCT index is used to measure the incidence,intensity and depth of energy poverty of rural households at different poverty line levels,and to depict the energy poverty level of farmers from a micro perspective.(4)Using multiple linear regression model and threshold effect model,we empirically analyze the specific impact of income poverty on energy poverty at the micro level,and explore other factors that may affect energy poverty.(5)After confirming the impact of income poverty on energy poverty,this paper explores the formation mechanism of energy poverty from the perspective of opportunity access.Based on the structural equation model of potential variable intermediary effect,it explores the intermediary effect of income poverty and the adjustment mechanism of government transfer payment in the path of residents’ "opportunity access income poverty energy poverty".The research found that:(1)The energy consumption of rural households in China has shown an upward trend in recent years,but there is a slight downward trend in2020,and the "wealth gap" between the energy consumption of farmers in the economically developed eastern region and the underdeveloped western region is gradually narrowing.(2)The household income of farmers has a threshold effect on household energy poverty and has multiple thresholds.When the household income is below a certain level,the increase of household income will give priority to paying for food,and will not increase household energy expenditure.(3)When analyzing the causes of rural household energy poverty,it is found that married households consume more energy in total,but mainly composed of biomass energy.Married households have a more inefficient and high emission consumption structure.The proportion of electricity consumption of rural residents who choose to work in agriculture is more crowded out by biomass energy.The education level will not improve the household energy consumption structure,and in terms of geography,compared with the eastern region,the western region and the northeast region use less electricity.(4)When exploring the path of residents’ "access to opportunities-income poverty-energy poverty",it is found that the more residents actively obtain development opportunities,the more their "self hematopoietic" ability will be enhanced.On the one hand,they can obtain sustainable benefits through stable wages and venture capital,on the other hand,they can obtain employment and market information through the Internet,and learn new technologies to increase human capital,Get long-term return on investment and get rid of energy poverty.(5)The results of the regulatory effect model established by opportunity acquisition and government transfer payment show that although residents’ direct access to government transfer payment generates "welfare dependence" to a certain extent,their survival can be basically guaranteed,which alleviates their risk aversion and stimulates their own motivation to obtain development opportunities.Therefore,it is necessary to start from the level of farmers’ own energy use,take a multi pronged approach in terms of energy use concept,energy use structure,and farmers’ initiative and enthusiasm for clean energy use.At the same time,the government should increase poverty alleviation efforts,introduce policies to restrict the use of biomass energy,subsidize the use of clean energy,and implement energy conservation and emission reduction to fundamentally alleviate energy poverty.