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Abstract:What factors determine the spatial heterogeneity of household energy consumption (HEC) in China? Can the impacts of these factors be quantified? What are the trends and characteristics of the spatial differences? To date, these issues are still unclear. Based on the STIRPAT model and panel dataset for 30 provinces in China over the period 1997-2013, this paper investigated influences of the income per capita, urbanization level and annual average temperature on HEC, and revealed the spatial effects of these influencing factors. The results show that the income level is the main influencing factor, followed by the annual average temperature. There exists a diminishing marginal contribution with increasing income. The influence of urbanization level varies according to income level. In addition, from the eastern region to western region of China, variances largely depend upon economic level at the provincial level. From the northern region to southern region, change is mainly caused by temperature. The urbanization level has more significant impact on the structure and efficiency of household energy consumption than on its quantity. These results could provide reference for policy making and energy planning.

Domestic solar water heating system (DSWHS) without auxiliary energy is widely used in loess hilly region of China. However, there is a lack of studies on DSWHS in this region. This article assessed the potential and benefits of DSWHS on the basis of field survey. Results indicate that a DSWHS with evacuated tube collectors (ETC DSWHS), with a collecting area of 2.09 m2 and an average thermal efficiency of 40%, can supply heat of 3661.7 MJ during its valid period of 263 d. A household with an average of 4.9 people consumes annually 11,043.5 kg of hot water supplied by DSWHS. A total of 1238.7 MJ of energy is needed to heat so much water. The actual thermal efficiency of DSWHS is only 13.53%. Clearly, there is a great potential to improve the energy efficiency of DSWHS. DSWHS has low economic benefit because of its low actual thermal efficiency. However, it has enormous environmental benefits and significant social impacts. The 1238.7‐MJ energy provided by it is equal to that provided by 211.6‐kg raw coal, which can emit 454.99‐kg CO2, 3193.79‐g SO2 during use. Rural residents are recommended to use more hot water supplied by DSWHS through increasing the frequency of bathing and cloth washing. The government should further promote DSWHS utilization by driving costs down. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1781–1791, 2018