Quality of Life and Relative Household Energy Consumption in China
中国的生活质量和相对家庭能源消耗
中国の生活の質と相対的な家庭のエネルギー消費
중국의 삶의 질 및 상대적 가계 에너지 소비
Calidad de vida y consumo energético familiar relativo en China
Qualité de vie et consommation énergétique relative des ménages en Chine
Качество жизни и относительное потребление энергии домохозяйствами в Китае
Xunpeng Shi 施训鹏 ¹, Tsun Se Cheong 张俊狮 ², Jian Yu 俞剑 ³, Xiaoguang Liu 刘晓光 ⁴
¹ Australia–China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
² Department of Economics and Finance, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, China
中国 香港 香港恒生大学经济及金融学系
³ School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, China
中国 北京 中央财经大学经济学院
⁴ National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China, China
中国 北京 中国人民大学国家发展与战略研究院
Increasing household energy consumption, mainly due to consumption upgrading, will create tough challenges for China if that country is to achieve peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060. However, this critical issue has not been explored comprehensively in the literature.
Using China Family Panel Studies data and the distribution dynamics approach, this article is the first study to examine the relationship between quality of life (QOL) (proxied by consumption upgrading) and relative household energy consumption (RHEC). The results show that convergence clubs exist in all QOL groups for the RHEC, but they are more evident in the groups with lower middle and low QOL. This is encouraging because they suggest that an improvement in QOL does not necessarily lead to a higher level of energy consumption.
The dataset was then divided into rural-urban and regional subgroups to further explore the impacts of these different characteristics on energy consumption. Significant disparities are found among the same QOL groups between urban and rural households and among different regions. The results derived from this study lead to pragmatic policy suggestions in areas including energy saving, emissions reduction, and particularly alleviation of inequality.
