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Qv, D. Rural clean heating project (RCHP). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/13624 (accessed on 20 April 2024).
Qv D. Rural clean heating project (RCHP). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/13624. Accessed April 20, 2024.
Qv, Dehu. "Rural clean heating project (RCHP)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/13624 (accessed April 20, 2024).
Qv, D. (2021, August 27). Rural clean heating project (RCHP). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/13624
Qv, Dehu. "Rural clean heating project (RCHP)." Encyclopedia. Web. 27 August, 2021.
Rural clean heating project (RCHP)
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su13158397

Rural clean heating project (RCHP) in China aims to increase flexibility in the rural energy system, enhance the integration of renewable energy and distributed generation, and reduce environmental impact.

rural clean heating project rural Gansu sustainability potential solutions benchmarking

1. Building Conservation-Minded Society

After the first two-decade development in the 21st century, many countries in the world regard “harmonious development between human and nature” as the key of state construction in the next stage, especially after the COVID-19 disaster [1][2][3][4][5]. Particularly, the developed countries in Europe put “renewable energy evolution based new-age industrial revolution” into their national development programs [6][7][8][9][10].

In China, people are confronted with three challenges and/or opportunities: the scientific and technological revolution, the energy revolution, and the ecological revolution. Based on the “development-improvement” experience by western world, Chinese people adopt a sustainable development strategy in building a conservation-minded society (CMS) [11][12][13][14][15].

Energy saving is an important part of CMS, and building energy saving (BES) is the substantial portion [16][17][18]. Therefore, BES as a national strategic support is in line with the scientific development law.

Through long-term, active, and extensive participation of the whole society, China has made an extraordinary progress in three major sectors of urban residential energy saving, public building energy saving, and central heating system energy saving in the north. However, rural China, being the key rear area supporting China’s reform and opening-up, faces many challenges from the clean heating project [17][18].

2. Rural Clean Heating Project

Since 2005, the characteristics of rural housing energy consumption and its composition have undergone profound changes with the promotion of New Rural Construction (NRC (The detailed information about NRC can be taken on http://qgxnc.org/, accessed on 3 February 2021)) and the improvement in peasant farmer’s living standards. The most conspicuous variation is rural energy-use structure. Over the past 20 years, the consumption of commodity energy in rural China has been increasing year by year. Meanwhile the consumption of non-commodity energy (biomass energy, especially) has been decreasing [17][18].Furthermore, the total energy consumption in rural areas continues to rise, although the resident population (composed mainly of old people, young children, and school-age children (More information on rural China can be gotten on http://www.gov.cn/, accessed on 3 February 2021)) in rural China continues to decline in the meantime, which means that the rural energy-use intensity tends to grow all the time.

On the one hand, increased rural energy demand may indicate the improvement in peasant farmer’s living conditions. On the other hand, the lower proportion of renewable energy in rural energy consumption is very worrying, since it works against the low-carbon development path advocated by the government. Therefore, the key to transform energy use in rural China lies in structural optimization of energy use and increase in renewable proportion [18].

Field research shows that the crucial domestic terminals of rural energy use consist of heating, cooking (including domestic hot water), and electricity consumption for household electric appliances and lighting. Among them, wastage from heating accounts for 53.6% and even more than 60% of waste in some areas in rural China [17][18]. Thus, the rural clean heating project (RCHP) is of great significance to the evolution of CMS in China.

3. Progress of RCHP in Rural Gansu

3.1. Current State of Rural Gansu

Information on the current state of Gansu Province can be found on http://www.gansu.gov.cn/col/col10/index.html, accessed on 3 February 2021. Gansu Province (Figure 1 (Gansu Province map can also be found on http://www.gansu.gov.cn/col/col10/index.html, accessed on 3 February 2021.)) is the provincial administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, and its capital is Lanzhou. It is located in the west of China, in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, with a vast area (more than 1600 km winding from the east to the west, with a total area of 425,900 km2, accounting for 4.72% of China’s total area). There are complex terrains, crisscross mountains, and great differences in altitude. Meanwhile, there are rich mineral resources, wind resources, hydro-power resources, and solar energy resources. The province has a variety of climate types and abundant wildlife. As the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilisation, it has contributed extremely important history and culture to the world.

Sustainability 13 08397 g001 550

Figure 1. Gansu Province map. Note: This map is provided by http://www.gansu.gov.cn/col/col10/index.html, accessed on 3 February 2021.

However, as obvious as the above advantages are, its natural ecology is fragile, the economic development is lagging behind, and the living standard of peasant farmers is low (e.g., the per capita GDP ranking of Gansu Province in China is 31/31 (http://www.gov.cn/shuju/chaxun/index.htm, accessed on 3 February 2021.)). Hence, determining how to carry out RCHP in the complex human and geographical environment, while taking into account the regional political and economic characteristics, is the core of RCHP in rural Gansu.

3.2. Living Energy-Use Reality in Rural Gansu

Table 1 details the annual consumptions of diverse energy resources in rural Gansu [17][18]. Figure 2 depicts the commercial energy consumption in a comparison with the north average [17][18]. It can be found in Table 1 that the total annual energy consumption in rural Gansu is lower than that in the north average, which implies that the peasant farmers’ living standard in rural Gansu is lower than that in northern rural China. Fortunately, this living-standard gap has been narrowed since 2006.

Sustainability 13 08397 g002 550

Figure 2. Commercial energy consumption in rural Gansu; (a) the percentage of commercial energy consumption to total energy consumption; (b) the increasing ratio of coal consumption; (c) the increasing ratio of liquid gas consumption; (d) the increasing ratio of power consumption; Note: The complete data can be found in References [17][18].

Table 1. Annual consumptions of diverse energy resources in rural Gansu.

Year Name Unit Value Average Deviation
2006 Total building area 108 m2 3.4 5.3 −35.8%
Coal 104 t 779 1018.9 −23.5%
Liquefied gas 104 t 1.2 13.5 −91.1%
Power 108 kWh 15.7 29.4 −46.6%
Firewood 104 t 55 287.6 −80.9%
Crop straw 104 t 92 357.1 −74.2%
Commercial energy 104 tec 610 849.4 −28.2%
Non−Com. energy 104 tec 79 348.4 −77.3%
Sum 104 tec 689 1200.5 −42.6%
2014 Total building area 108 m2 3.7 5.9 −37.3%
Coal 104 t 890 1056.1 −15.7%
Liquefied gas 104 t 3.5 14.8 −76.4%
Power 108 kWh 16.3 46.4 −64.9%
Firewood 104 t 45 329.7 −86.4%
Crop straw 104 t 80 352.9 −77.3%
Commercial energy 104 tec 695 928.1 −25.1%
Non−Com. energy 104 tec 67 383.1 −82.5%
Sum 104 tec 762 1311.1 −41.9%
2018 Total building area 108 m2 3.4 5.3 −35.8%
Coal 104 t 918.8 803.6 14.3%
Liquefied gas 104 t 4.3 13.5 −68.1%
Power 108 kWh 20.7 58.3 −64.5%
Firewood 104 t 46.5 265.5 −82.5%
Crop straw 104 t 82.6 315.5 −73.8%
Commercial energy 104 tec 723.6 818.5 −11.6%
Non−Com. energy 104 tec 69 317.1 −78.2%
Sum 104 tec 792.6 1135.5 −30.2%

Note: the commercial energy mentioned in this table includes coal, liquefied gas, and power electricity; the non-commercial energy (Non-Com.) includes firewood and crop straw. The source of data in Table 1 is Reference [17], National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistical Yearbook. http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/; accessed on 3 February 2021.

On the other hand, in terms of annual commercial energy consumption, its proportion in total energy use in rural Gansu is dramatically higher than that in north average, and this percentage still increases (Figure 2a). Although the coal consumption in the northern rural China has been dropped since 2014, the peasant farmers living in rural Gansu tend to consume more (Figure 2b). The liquefied-gas consumption shows a similar trend in past years as Figure 2c depicts. By contrast, the increasing rate of power consumption in rural Gansu is accelerating, which is contrary to the slowing-down tendency in the northern rural China (Figure 2d) [17][18].

Based on the other studies we can understand that there is a significant gap between energy-use demand and energy supply in rural Gansu, and there is a great divergence between its energy structure and the sustainability goals of China [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Furthermore, the contradictions existing in the peasant farmers’ living conditions and their health targets are obvious [18]. In particular, the indoor air temperatures in rural Gansu are generally low with cold air infiltration, and the indoor air quality is poor caused by coal combustion [18].

References

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  2. Rojas, C.N.; Peñafiel, G.A.A.; Buitrago, F.L.; Romero, C.A.T. Society 5.0: A Japanese Concept for a Superintelligent Society. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6567.
  3. Dantas, T.E.T.; de-Souza, E.D.; Destro, I.R.; Hammes, G.; Rodriguez, C.M.T.; Soares, S.R. How the combination of Circular Economy and Industry 4.0 cancontribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 2021, 26, 213–227.
  4. Ding, Y.-J.; Li, C.-Y.; Wang, X.; Wang, Y.; Wang, S.-X.; Chang, Y.-P.; Qin, J.; Wang, S.-P.; Zhao, Q.-D.; Wang, Z.-R. An overview of climate change impacts on the society in China. Adv. Clim. Chang. Res. 2021, 12, 210–223.
  5. Mofijur, M.; Fattaha, I.M.R.; Alam, M.A.; Islam, A.B.M.; Ong, H.C.; Rahman, S.M.A.; Najafi, G.; Ahmed, S.F.; Uddin, M.A.; Mahlia, T.M.I. Impact of COVID-19 on the social, economic, environmental andenergy domains: Lessons learnt from a global pandemic. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 2021, 26, 343–359.
  6. Asante, D.; He, Z.; Adjei, N.O.; Asante, B. Exploring the barriers to renewable energy adoption utilising MULTIMOORA-EDAS method. Energy Policy 2020, 142, 111479.
  7. Matthäus, D. Designing effective auctions for renewable energy support. Energy Policy 2020, 142, 111462.
  8. Gozgor, G.; Mahalik, M.K.; Demir, E.; Padhan, H. The impact of economic globalization on renewable energy in the OECD countries. Energy Policy 2020, 139, 111365.
  9. Clausen, L.T.; Rudolph, D. Renewable energy for sustainable rural development: Synergies and mismatches. Energy Policy 2020, 138, 111289.
  10. Haar, L. An empirical analysis of the fiscal incidence of renewable energy support in the European Union. Energy Policy 2020, 143, 111483.
  11. National Development and Reform Commission of China. Action Plan of Energy Revolution and Innovation (2016–2030). Available online: http://www.nea.gov.cn/2016-06/01/c_135404377.htm (accessed on 1 June 2016).
  12. National Energy Administration of China. 13th Five-Year Plan for Biomass Energy Development. 2016. Available online: http://www.nea.gov.cn/2016-12/14/c_135904504.htm (accessed on 14 December 2016).
  13. Qi, Y.; Zhang, X.L. Blueprint of Low Carbon Development; Social Sciences Academic Press: Beijing, China, 2018.
  14. National Development and Reform Commission of China. Strategy of Revolution of Energy Production and Consumption (2016–2030). Available online: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2017-04/25/5230568/files/286514af354e41578c57ca38d5c4935b.pdf (accessed on 25 April 2017).
  15. National Development and Reform Commission of China. Notice on the Establishment and Improvement of Renewable Energy Electricity Consumption Guarantee Mechanism. 2019. Available online: http://zfxxgk.nea.gov.cn/auto87/201905/t20190515_3662.htm (accessed on 15 May 2019).
  16. National Development and Reform Commission of China. Overall Plan of Green Life Creation Action. 2019. Available online: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2019-11/05/5448936/files/7a105ee3d9b24dec8a430dd9f64ef97f.pdf (accessed on 5 November 2019).
  17. National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistical Yearbook. Available online: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/ (accessed on 3 March 2021).
  18. Chinese Society for Urban Studies. 2020 Annual Report on China Building Energy Efficiency; China Architecture & Building Press: Beijing, China, 2020.
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