How to promote rural household energy transition in energy poverty area? Evidence from the Pumqu River Basin, Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Rural household energy transition from biomass energy to modern energy is essential for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Existing studies have explored the determinants of rural household energy transition, but few of them consider household energy availability for modern energy, which is crucial for rural household energy consumption especially in energy poverty areas such as the Tibetan Plateau. This study establishes an analytical framework for exploring the determinants of rural household energy transition by considering household energy availability and household characteristics. By employing the Tobit model, the empirical analysis of Pumqu River Basin (PRB) of the Tibetan Plateau is conducted. The results show that (1) biomass energy is still the dominant energy source in the PRB, with 99.27% of users and 90.77% of rural household energy consumption. (2) The limited energy accessibility in the PRB plays a significant negative role in accelerating rural household energy transition. (3) Educational level of householder, per capita living space, the number of rural household appliances, and community organizations are the drivers for rural household energy transition, whereas per capita livestock number and per capita grassland areas are the constraints. The findings of this study can help decision makers formulate effective measures to promote rural household energy transition in energy poverty area. The framework introduced can be extended for application to examine the determinants of rural household energy transition in other regions.

Keywords

• Rural household energy transition
• Household energy availability
• Household characteristics
• Tibetan Plateau