Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T01:32:03.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Greening China's rural energy: new insights on the potential of smallholder biogas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2013

Luc Christiaensen
Affiliation:
Office of the Chief Economist, Africa Region, The World Bank, 1818 H street, NW. E-mail: lchristiaensen@worldbank.org
Rasmus Heltberg
Affiliation:
The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. E-mail: rheltberg@worldbank.org

Abstract

This study assesses a new generation of smallholder biogas, an applied sustainable energy technology currently being rolled out on a massive scale in rural China. In the past, the implementation of biogas programs has been largely disappointing, in China (and elsewhere). User satisfaction with the new program is high, based on purposively collected data from 2,700 households in five provinces, and the available evidence suggests tangible environmental and economic benefits. There are strong indications of fuel switching away from fuelwood and crop residues. Less time is spent on fuelwood collection and cooking, which benefits women especially. Adopters save on fertilizers by using biogas residues. Finally, problems with suspension and interrupted supply appear lower than in earlier studies. Overall, these initial findings are grounds for optimism about the potential for scaled-up smallholder biogas to deliver safe and clean rural energy, in China and beyond, provided critical conditions are met.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angrist, J, and Pischke, J.S. (2008), Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y., Yang, G., Sweeney, S., Feng, Y., and Huod, A. (2010a), ‘An assessment of the availability of household biogas resources in rural China’, International Journal of Energy and Environment 1(5): 783792.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Yang, G., Sweeney, S., and Feng, Y. (2010b), ‘Household biogas use in rural China: a study of opportunities and constraints’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14(1): 545549; 10.1016/j.rser.2009.07.019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christiaensen, L. (2012), ‘The role of agriculture in a modernizing society – food, farms and fields in China 2030’, Sustainable Development East Asia and Pacific Discussion Paper, World Bank, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke-St. Clair, P.C., Köhlin, G., and Hyde, W.F. (2008), ‘Fuelwood, forests and community management – evidence from household studies’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 103135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duflo, E., Greenstone, M., and Hanna, R. (2008), Indoor Air Pollution, Health and Economic Well-being, Cambridge, MA: MIT.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ezzati, M. and Kammen, D.M. (2001), ‘Quantifying the effects of exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass combustion on acute respiratory infections in developing countries’, Environmental Health Perspectives 109(5): 481488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heltberg, R. (2004), ‘Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries’, Energy Economics 26(5): 869887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heltberg, R. (2005), ‘Factors determining household fuel use in Guatemala’, Environment and Development Economics 10: 337361.Google Scholar
Heltberg, R., Arndt, C., and Sekhar, N.U. (2000), ‘Fuelwood consumption and forest degradation: a household model for domestic energy substitution in rural India’, Land Economics 76(2): 213232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, M.W. (2005), ‘Biogas bonanza for third world development’, Science in Society 27: 2628.Google Scholar
Hsiao, C. (1986), Analysis of Panel Data, Econometric Society Monographs, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jiang, L. and O'Neill, B.C. (2004), ‘The energy transition in rural China’, International Journal of Global Energy Issues 21(1/2): 226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katuwal, H. and Bohara, A. (2009), ‘Biogas: a promising renewable technology and its impact on rural households in Nepal’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13(9): 26682674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Köhlin, G., Sills, E.O., Pattanayak, S.K., and Wilfong, C. (2011), ‘Energy, gender and development: what are the linkages? Where is the Evidence?’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5800, World Bank, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lancaster, T. (2000), ‘The incidental parameter problem since 1948’, Journal of Econometrics 95: 391413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Z., Tang, R., Xia, C., Luo, H., and Zhong, H. (2005), ‘Towards green rural energy in Yunnan, China’, Renewable Energy 30(2): 99108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parawira, W. (2009), ‘Biogas technology in Sub-Saharan Africa: status, prospects and constraints’, Review of Environmental Science Biotechnology 8: 187200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitt, M., Rosenzweig, M., and Hassan, N. (2010), Short- and Long-Term Health Effects of Burning Biomass in the Home in Low-Income Countries (mimeo), [Available at] http://www.brown.edu/research/projects/pitt/sites/brown.edu.research. projects.pitt/files/uploads/iapchild7.pdf.Google Scholar
Rehfuess, E.A., Bruce, N.G., and Smith, K.R. (2011), ‘Solid fuel use: health effect’, in Nriagu, J.O. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, Volume 5, Burlington, MA: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Reuters News (2011), ‘China's corn rush to redraw global food landscape’, Reuters News, 3 October 2011.Google Scholar
Smith, K.R., Samet, J.M., Romieu, I., and Bruce, N. (2000), ‘Indoor air pollution in developing countries and acute lower respiratory infections in children’, Thorax 55(6): 518532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walekhwa, P.N., Mugisha, J., and Drake, L. (2009), ‘Biogas energy from family-sized digesters in Uganda: critical factors and policy implications’, Energy Policy 37: 27542762.Google Scholar
World Bank (2007), World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2008), ‘Project appraisal document on two proposed loans in the total amount of US$120.0 million to the People's Republic of China for an Eco-farming Project’, Report No. 39781-CN, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2007), Indoor Air Pollution: National Burden of Disease Estimates, Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Zhang, J. and Smith, K.R. (2007), ‘Household air pollution from coal and biomass fuels in China: measurements, health impacts, and interventions’, Environmental Health Perspectives 115: 848855.Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Yang, J., and Wang, S. (2011), ‘China has reached the Lewis turning point’, China Economic Review 22(4): 542554.Google Scholar
Zheng, Y., Minying, Y., and Zhen, S. (undated), ‘Rural energy policy in China’, Research Group of Energy Policy, Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, [Available at] http://iis-db. stanford.edu/evnts/3920/ZHENG_paper.pdf.Google Scholar