china's rural energy system and management

China's rural energy system and management

Peter Catania*,1

International Energy Foundation, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2

Abstract

The issues related to rural energy development and the corresponding escalating economicactivities have given rise to a complex, interrelationship among societal, economics, energy,

environment and rural policies. With 7% of the world's farm land to produce food for 23% ofthe world's population, combined with the increasing energy demands for modernized farminghas resulted in a dynamic rural energy policy for China. This paper discusses the characteristics of

a rural society, outlines the relationship of rural energy supply and demand management, anddiscusses the interrelationship between energy and the environment utilization. An illustrationof the di�usion of biomass as a success story highlights some of the policies related to self-building, self-managing and self-using. Also discussed in this paper are the results of the

integrated rural energy-policy, that is, the social bene®ts to farmers and the decrease of energyconsumption per unit of output. Emerging nations must undertake a comprehensive analysisand synthesis of their respective rural energy developments and the corresponding inter-

relationships between technology, economics and the environment. # 1999 Elsevier ScienceLtd. All rights reserved.

1. China's rural energy system

The issues related to rural energy development and corresponding escalating economicactivities has given rise to a complex interrelationship among societal, economics, energy,environment and realistic rural energy policies. Changes in energy supply anddemand in rural areas in developing countries require rural energy policies asopposed to the urban energy policies. Furthermore, rural energy managementimpacts directly on the rural system and energy conservation potentiality needs to beaddressed as well as continually updating the evaluation, energy forecasting andplanning methods.

Applied Energy 64 (1999) 229±240

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0306-2619/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

PI I : S0306-2619(99 )00065 -3

* Tel.: +1-306-585-4364; fax: +1-306-585-4855/2677.

E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Catania).1 Program Chair, Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina, Canada.

Energy is fundamental to the process of economic development and in somecountries, like China for example, the rapid economic development in rural areashas resulted in a substantive increase in demand and resulting consequences in ashortage of energy supply.A rural area is a geographical de®nition and it is an administrative division of

energy management incorporating the exploitation and utilization of various regionaland imported energy sources. In general terms, it is de®ned as an area of low-densitypopulation and farming communities. In 1993, for example, 72% of the populationin China lived in rural areas. This has decreased from 82% in 1978 (Table 1).In developing countries, rural energy systems are similar to urban ones and there

is no need to develop a special rural energy research and management approach. Onthe other hand, the rural areas of developing countries have certain characteristicswhich clearly distinguishes them from the urban areas. These characteristics are.

1. Energy resource distribution is dispersed and the rural population density islow.

2. Rural energy resources are closely related to agricultural production and therural ecological environment. This varies from country to country, as shown inTable 2.

3. Rural energy presents opportunities which may be classi®ed as advantages.These are:

. energy conservation scale is small;

. low-level energy technologies;

. low investment;

. short-term investment period; and

. signi®cant impact on economics and the environment.

4. Rural residential energy is a major consuming sector, e.g. in 1993, the totalrural energy consumption in China was 585 Mtce with the residential con-sumption being 59.8% of this total. Table 3 details the supply trend of ruralenergy consumption.

Table 1

Ratio of urban and rural populations in China (taken from A statistical survey of China, China: The

Statistical Press Beijing, 1994)

Year Total population Urban Rural

(Million people) Population

(million people)

Ratio

(%)

Population

(million people)

Ratio

(%)

1978 962.59 172.45 17.92 790.14 82.08

1985 1058.51 250.94 23.71 807.57 76.29

1990 1143.33 301.91 26.41 841.42 73.59

1993 1185.17 333.51 28.14 851.60 71.86

230 P. Catania /Applied Energy 64 (1999) 229±240

Table 2

India rural energy consumption 1982±1983 (taken from Stephen et al., The greenhouse e�ect: science and

policy, 10 February 1989)

Energy

resources

Resident Agriculture The other

sectors

Sum

(%)

Ratio of rural

energy consumption

to total national

consumption (%)

Traditional fuel

Firewood (Mt) 124 ± 4 128 (31.2) 83

Crop residue (Mt) 33 139 5 177 (38.3) 99

Dung (Mt) 101 ± ± 101 (13.3) 100

Sugarcane residue (Mt) ± ± 42 42 100

Sum (Mtce) 117 (95.0) 69.49 (90.5) 26.0 (81.9) 212.4 (91.7) 92

Commercial energy

Coal (Mt) 0.96 ± 3.98 4.94 (1.5) 6

Oil (Mt) 3.50 3.58 1.57 8.65 (5.3) 27

Electricity (TW.h) 4.07 177.9 54.0 272.6 (1.5) 24

Sum (Mtce) 6.2 (5.0) 7.3 (9.5) 5.7 (18.1) 19.2 (8.3) 16

Total (Mtce) 123.2 (100) 76.7 (100) 31.7 (100) 231.6 (100) 66.3

Ratio of sectors

Traditional energy (%) 55.1 32.7 12.2 100

Commercial energy (%) 32.2 38.0 29.8 100

Average (%) 53.2 33.1 13.7 100

Table 3

Changes of the Chinese rural energy consumption (taken from Ministry of Agriculture and the State

Statistics Bureau, 1994)

Year Type Commercial energy None-commercial energy

Coal

(Mtce)

Oil

(Mtce)

Electricity

(Mtce)

Coke

(Mtce)

Straw

(Mtce)

Firewood

(Mtce)

Total

(Mtce)

Share

(%)

1979 Resident 32.58 1.51 3.10 113.69 103.77 254.65 83.1

Production 25.57 12.76 13.48 51.81 16.9

Sum 58.15 14.27 16.58 113.69 103.77 306.46 100

1987 Resident 59.58 1.89 4.98 130.32 132.63 329.40 64.7

Production 123.62 22.75 25.05 8.64 180.06 35.3

Sum 183.20 24.64 30.03 8.64 130.32 132.63 509.46 100

1991 Resident 77.52 1.34 11.64 164.13 103.03 357.66 63.2

Production 112.59 38.01 29.26 7.64 20.68 208.18 36.8

Sum 190.11 39.35 40.90 7.64 164.13 123.71 565.84 100

1992 Resident 78.89 1.41 11.20 135.50 93.47 320.47 56.2

Production 150.11 30.98 41.96 9.45 16.82 249.32 43.8

Sum 229.00 32.39 53.16 9.45 135.50 110.29 569.79 100

1993 Resident 91.43 2.85 12.86 153.54 89.43 350.11 59.8

Production 126.56 33.94 47.83 10.47 16.09 234.89 40.2

Sum 217.99 36.79 60.69 10.47 153.54 105.52 585.00 100

P. Catania /Applied Energy 64 (1999) 229±240 231

2. Rural energy system

The energy ¯ow chart in Fig. 1 demonstrates a relationship of energy supply anddemand. From the demand side leftward to the supply side one can evaluate theenergy ¯ows. From the supply to the demand one can estimate the cash ¯ow of thesystem. Every sector in the system can also be addressed for an environmentalimpact, since energy will be lost in every section. This procedure is consistent withthe International Energy Systems Standard, ISO/TC/203. This ®gure also outlinesthe complex nature of the interrelationship of energy supply-demand in rural areasand the implication on the energy-environmental assessment.

3. Rural energy and the environment

The widespread renewable energy programme implemented to complement theshortage of commercial energy in rural areas in China has scored a great success. Cur-rently, the Government of China has controlled the event of gradually cutting andrevamping forestation in areas where they have e�ectively promoted rural energydevelopment. The di�usion of ®rewood plantations, coal-savings techniques and biogas

Fig. 1. The Chinese rural energy system ¯ow chart (taken from Ref. [3]).


utilization could protect an estimated three million hectares of young forests from beingdamaged. There is strong support for the increase in forest coverage in the country andthe forest coverage has risen from 12 to 13.4% during the last 13 years [1].By di�using energy saving techniques and exploiting and utilizing various kinds of

renewable energy resources, carbon dioxide emissions from energy used in produc-tion and households in rural areas was reduced by 82 Mt annually. Sulphur dioxideemissions were reduced by 2.6 Mt and there was a corresponding reduction in par-ticulate emissions. Thus, rural energy development in China has made invaluablecontributions to the protection of the atmospheric environment.Rural energy development also assisted the ecological environment by controlling

water loss and soil erosion and by increasing organic material content in some areas.In 1982, all households in Chuanziying Village in Tianjin used coal-saving stoves,improved biomass stoves and biogas. A portion of crop straw was returned to thesoil as fertilizer. Therefore, by 1989, organic fertilizer utilization in farmland wasincreased by 74% from that in 1982. On the contrary, chemical fertilizer usage wasreduced by 57%. Organic material content in farm land was increased by 0.6%; thisstrengthened agricultural production [2].Biomass is the most important source of energy in the rural areas of China. Crop

residues have a total exploitable potential of 0.54 Gt or the equivalent of 0.28 Gtce[3]. Firewood is a traditional source of fuel energy and in 1987 provided China with140 Mt of ®rewood or the equivalent of 80 Mtce, whereas 90 Mtce of human andanimal dung are available as a fuel and biogas raw materials annually.

4. Rural energy-policies in China

China relies on 7% of the world's farm land to produce food to supply 23% of theworld's population. Furthermore, modernized agricultural production consumesmore and more energy: therefore, the energy demand will certainly increase. Underthese conditions, the strategy and policy for rural energy development in China canbe outlined as follows.

1. Emphasize equally the development and conservation of energy.2. Improve the energy structure and distribution.3. Enhance energy management and promotion of the technical renovation for

energy savings.4. Develop energy in such a pattern so that electricity is regarded as the key issue

of the whole energy sector; coal should serve as the foundation; vigorouse�orts are desirable for oil and gas exploitation and strong support shouldencourage hydropower and nuclear power development.

5. Develop the exploitation of various renewable-energy resources in addition tohydropower, and in particular, wind, solar and geothermal wherever feasible.

6. Rationalize energy pricing.7. Alleviate atmospheric pollution caused by direct and extensive coal burning and

reversing the vicious circle upon ecology due to the overuse of biomass energy.


In the Seventh Five-Year plan period (1986±1990), China continuously di�used foursingle rural energy technologies, that is, biogas units, ®rewood forest plantations, smallhydropower generations and improved biomass stoves. Simultaneously, China con-tinued to develop the integrated rural energy construction pilot projects. On the basis ofhaving been successful in the trial work in 12 counties, the decision was taken to developintegrated rural energy construction. China's government stressed the technologicaldi�usion of rural energy for exploiting and utilizing various local energy resources thatcan remedy the shortage of commercial energy supply. In the Eighth Five-Year plan(1991±1995), China decided to completely di�use integrated rural energy construction.Integrated technologies can e�ciently develop integrated energy utilization and this canresult in integrated pro®ts for energy, ecology and social development.The three basic levels of management are the state, provincial and county levels.

The state or central government responsibilities for rural energy are outlined in Fig.2. The provincial sector not only manages at the provincial level but also assists thecounties in accomplishing the state rural energy policies [4]. The county level utilizeslocal ®nancial and natural resources and mobilizes mass enthusiasm. This isaccomplished through the establishment of Leading Groups.

5. Rural energy supply-and-demand management

This is a series of activities such as policies, measures and methods for accom-plishing rural energy-planning. The goal is to in¯uence, direct, and control rural

Fig. 2. Responsibilities in state and provincial rural energymanagement (taken fromGu S,HuangK, SmithK.

One hundred million improved stoves in China: how was it done? East West Centre Research Report, 1991).


energy production, supply, consumption and markets for realizing the energy pro-jectional targets. Rural energy supply±demand management is an approach whichguarantees the supply±demand balance for the projectional scenarios for short ormiddle term activities. The activities also tally with the long-term target and policy.The supply±demand management involves various measures of rural energy pro-duction and supply. Among other factors, energy demand management activitiesinclude measures to in¯uence the user's energy consumption. In order to in¯uencethe user's energy consumption quantities and to extend the energy use functions,rural energy demand management needs to guide sound rural energy utilization anddesign various measures of increasing e�ciency for energy end-uses.Rural energy demand has many venues. The measures result in the bene®ts in the

short term, such as the government strictly controls the energy supply. The measuresare to carry out energy rations, execute the regulations for limiting energy use, andimplement improved energy savings. The e�cient measures of medium-term man-agement include energy price and taxation policies, punishments, awards, and sub-sidies as well as promotion and education [3].The economic coercive method is one of the rural energy demand measures. It

covers price, taxation, energy material rewards, subsidies and credit funds. For ruralresidential consumption, energy price a�ects the di�erent income consumers. High-income consumers do not reduce commercial energy consumption when energy pricesincrease, whereas low-income consumers depend primarily on non-commercialenergy such as straw or ®rewood. This results in deforestation and overuse of strawand thus, ecological environmental deterioration occurs. In order to reduce theimpact for low-income residents, the government may adopt a subsidy policy forprotecting the resident's basic-energy demand.China's rural energy characteristics are multi-resources, multi-assortments and

multi-distribution channels. Thus, rural energy is a multi-unit supply framework,which includes local energy self-supply and external energy supplies (Fig. 3). Thedi�usion of technologies in rural areas is complex and one example is used to illus-trate a success story, that is, biomass in China. In this programme, the Governmentproposed the policy of self-building, self managing, and self using. This means thatthe government conducted extensive publicity and training courses, so as to stimu-late the farmer's enthusiasm thus relying on the farmer's own e�ort with the aid ofthe regions and state as supplements. See Fig. 4 for a schematic layout of the di�u-sion system utilized for the biomass improved ®rewood-stoves. To tackle the issuesof technology, a design criterion was developed and is highlighted in Fig. 5.This resulted in not only a savings of energy consumed but also improvedsafety, cost reduction and as a result less time needed for cooking, i.e. positivesocial bene®ts.Other aspects which were essential in this and in any other renewable energy pro-

ject are training at all levels, promotion in the changing areas of established cus-toms, development of a distribution channel, monitoring and performance testing.Various training courses were held by the state, provincial and county authorities inan e�ort to build local rural energy technology teams. The courses used on-the-spotteaching methods in pilot units, which emphasized the teaching of trainees the


know-how in building the kind of improved stoves suitable for the locality as well asexplaining the theory of thermal conversion, knowledge of stove construction, andperformance test measures. Each trainee upon completion received a certi®cate.These trained county teams became the technical force in improving stove e�-ciencies and in transferring the techniques to their peers.The funds for improved biomass stoves were obtained from the state as ®nancial

aid to the pilot counties. The provinces and municipalities also provided a speciallevel of funding which varied according to one's ability to pay. The pilot counties inturn raised funds from the public. In summary, the di�usion of the biomassimproved stove programme received funds (2.7%) from the state, (13.7%) from theregion and (83.9%) from the rural households.Biomass stoves have been used over the centuries. Thus, to change long estab-

lished customs the di�usion of improved biomass stoves required a strong

Fig. 4. Organizational system of di�usion of improved biomass stoves in a county (taken from Daxiong

Q. et al., Di�usion of improved ®rewood stoves in China general report, IDRC 3-p-87-0314, 1990).

Fig. 3. Rural energy-supply framework in China (taken from Ref. [4]).


promotional strategy and mobilization among the public. The signi®cance of energysavings had to be clearly presented and represented through pilot households. Theconsumers themselves were utilized in presenting their prior and improved biomassstoves. This resulted in not only visiting model households, but gave a hands-onexperience with one's peers. Thus, the promotional strategy became an action of theusers themselves instead of an administrative means.The distribution channel (Fig. 4) consisted of rural energy o�ces and rural energy

service companies. This network became the channel that transmitted the informa-tion from the top down or bottom up. It also provided installation and serviceequipment; helped ensure coordinated provisions of supplies, management, trans-port, and marketing; supported part of the funds for local di�usion for poorhouseholds and village demonstrations; and o�ered ways to harness the forces ofcompetition to improve quality and cost e�ectiveness.

Fig. 5. Characteristics and construction design criterion of improved biomass stoves (taken from Ron-

gyao C., Eco-technology evaluation for di�usion of improved biomass-stoves in China. Beijing Science

and Technology Press, 1992).


The monitoring and performance testing involved the inspection of 90% of thehouseholds using the improved biomass stoves in the counties and in excess of 90%of these stoves must have their thermal e�ciencies greater than 18%. Out of 200households, a sample of 30 were selected at random for a Boiling Water Test (StateBureau of Standards, Testing Methods of Biomass Stoves for Household Use andThermal Performance GB 4643-84, 1984). This method can demonstrate the prac-tical properties of the stoves without using theory, which is of little practical use tothe end user. The net result of the above is depicted in Fig. 6, where, by 1994, some65% of the households were utilizing the improved biomass stoves. In terms ofabsolute numbers, Table 4 indicates that this translated into almost 128 millionstoves which far exceeds that of all other countries combined.The correlation of the bene®ts of rural energy development is given in Fig. 7 and

the steps used to set up an integrated rural energy planning and implementation areoutlined in Fig. 8.

Table 4

The dissemination of improved biomass-stoves worldwide in 1991.

Country Number built

China 127.96 million households

India 8.00 million stoves

Bangladesh 1.20 million stoves

Kenya 0.55 million stoves

Burkina Faso 0.33 million stoves

Niger 0.20 million stoves

Tanzania 0.05 million stoves

Fig. 6. The life cycle of improved biomass-stoves in China.


Fig. 8. Steps of integrated rural-energy construction.

Fig. 7. Correlated bene®ts of rural energy development (taken from Keyun D. Strategic energy issues in

China: Proceedings of UNESCO Round Table. Beijing: Atomic Press, 1993).


6. Bene®ts

As a result of an integrated rural energy construction plan, the bene®ts experi-enced from 1983 to 1990 for China [2] are:

. The production of commercial energy increased by 16.2%, whereas the bio-mass energy increased by 40.3%.

. Energy conservation capacity increased.

. Energy consumption per unit of output value decreased with an annual rate ofsavings of 5.6%.

. Environmental bene®ts were accomplished through the decrease in the use of®rewood, as for example the reduction of carbon-dioxide gas, reduction indeforestation and reduced smoke within the households.

. Social bene®ts were received by farmers; 1.4 million households eliminated 4million working days per year in collecting biofuel. Therefore, the energy-saving technologies were welcomed by the women and children in particularwho had to undertake the associated chores.

7. Conclusion

Each emerging nations need to undertake a comprehensive analysis and synthesisof rural energy development and its interrelationships with technology, the envir-onment and the human dimension. Equally important, government, academia andindustry and the end users must cooperate. A transparent management, training andpromotional strategy is needed to ensure that the outcome of rural energy develop-ment will be bene®cial to all of the stakeholders. The example of an integrated planof action with the improved biomass stoves is but one of many examples where theresults are positive.

References

[1] Chengchun H. New energy and rural energy development strategy. China: The State Scienti®c

Commission, 1994.

[2] Keyun D. Coherent development of rural economy, ecology and energy: county level integrated rural

energy development has achieved obvious bene®ts, strategic energy issues in China. Beijing: Atomic

Energy Press, 1993.

[3] Daxiong O. et al. Integrated rural energy development planning and implementation. Tsinghua

University Press, 1991.

[4] Changle Y. editor. China's energy-development report. Beijing: Economic and Management Press,

1994.


china's rural energy system and management

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