Indirect Energy Use Research Articles

The impact of women's status on HCEs: Evidence from Chinese families

Amidst the intensification of global efforts to reduce emissions, China has prominently advocated for “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality” goals, and the issue of domestic carbon emissions has attracted widespread attention. Within this context, a thorough examination of energy consumption and carbon emissions within the household sector assumes paramount importance in delineating effective pathways for reducing Household Carbon Emissions (HCEs). Focusing on indirect energy use as a key representative, this article empirically investigates the influence of women's status on per capita HCEs and its underlying mechanisms, drawing on data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). The analysis reveals a notable finding: a higher women's status significantly correlates with increased per capita HCEs. Delving into the mechanisms at play, it becomes apparent that women's advancement correlates with heightened household income. This income augmentation, in turn, fuels consumption upgrades, thereby amplifying per capita HCEs, namely a phenomenon attributed to the “income effect”. Simultaneously, the advancement of women prompts households to adopt sustainable consumption patterns, representing a notable “substitution effect”. This shift in consumption preferences paradoxically contributes to increased per capita HCEs. Moreover, as women's status ascends, families display a proclivity towards sustainable consumption patterns, further accentuating the “substitution effect” and consequent reductions in per capita HCEs. Presently, in China, the “income effect” resulting from women's status holds a greater sway over per capita HCEs than the “substitution effect”. This nuanced analysis not only sheds light on the intricate dynamics governing HCEs but also furnishes policymakers with invaluable insights for crafting strategies aimed at mitigating such emissions.

A Study on Determination of Energy Productivity and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Wheat Production

In this study, energy use efficiency (EUE) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in wheat production were defined, and the energy equivalents (EE) of the inputs in production per unit production area, EUE and GHG values of the product were computed. The data used in the study were obtained from 175 different wheat producing enterprises in 2021 by conducting face-to-face surveys according to the proportional sampling method. In the study, the amount of direct (DE) and indirect energy (IE) use in wheat production and their shares in total energy consumption were defined. According to the results of the study, total energy input (EI) in wheat production was com-puted as 19,024.21 MJ/ha and energy output (EO) as 80,585.40 MJ/ha. It was defined that the input with the highest energy consumption was fertili-zation with a value of 8748.38 MJ/ha. This was followed by seed energy input 4626.79 MJ/ha (24.32%), fuel energy 2697.25 MJ/ha (14.18%), irriga-tion energy 2362.50 MJ/ha (12.42%), chemicals energy 269.19 MJ/ha (1.41%), machinery energy 309.52 MJ/ha (1.63%), human labor energy 10.58 MJ/ha (0.06%). EUE, energy productivity (EP), specific energy (SE) and net energy (NE) yield values were 4.24, 0.29 kg/MJ, 3.47 MJ/kg and 61561.19 MJ/ha, respectively. Total GHG emission for wheat production was computed as 3784.60 kgCO2-eq/ha. The highest share of total GHG emissions belonged to seed (59.41%). Seed was followed by irrigation (16.84%), nitrogen fertilizer use (14.60%), phosphate fertilizer use (3.99%), fuel use (3.49%), chemicals use (0.98%), machinery use (0.58%) and hu-man labor (0.10%). In addition, the GHG ratio in wheat production was computed as 0.69 kgCO2-eq/ha.

The grain Food-Energy-Water nexus in China: Benchmarking sustainability with generalized data envelopment analysis

Food insecurity can be considered as a significant cause to instability in some regions around the world. Grain production utilizes a multiple of inputs, such as: water resources, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, machinery, and labor. In China, grain production has led to huge irrigation water use, non-point source pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. It is necessary to emphasize the synergy between food production and ecological environment. In this study, a grain Food-Energy-Water nexus is delivered and an eco-efficiency sustainability evaluation metric is introduced, Sustainability of Grain Inputs (SGI), for investigating the sustainability of water and energy use in grain production across China. SGI is constructed by using generalized data envelopment analysis to comprehensively incorporate differences of water and energy inputs (including indirect energy use contained in agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural film, and direct energy use such as the electricity and diesel used for irrigation and agricultural machinery) in different regions across China. Both water and energy are considered by the new metric at the same time, which is built on the single resources metrices that are often used in the sustainability literature. This study evaluates the water and energy use of wheat and corn production in China. Wheat production uses water and energy sustainably in Sichuan, Shandong, and Henan; Corn production has the highest combined sustainability index in Shandong, Jilin, Liaoning, and Henan. In these areas, the grain sown area could be increased. However, wheat production in Inner Mongolia and corn production in Xinjiang rely on unsustainable water and energy inputs, and their grain sown areas could be reduced. The SGI is a tool that researchers and policy makers can use to better quantify the sustainability of water and energy inputs to grain production. It facilitates formulating policies about water saving and carbon emission reduce of grain production.

Can transitioning to non-renewable modern energy decrease carbon dioxide emissions in India?

Traditional discussions of the relationships between energy, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and human development fail to expose within country energy and CO2 emissions inequality. This work seeks to elucidate these inequalities in India and then investigate the consequential impacts on welfare and CO2 emissions of India's transition away from energy poverty. The study uses the India Human Development Survey and the EORA database to generate household Human Development Index scores, consumption and CO2 emissions distributions for India in both 2005 and 2012. Results suggest that addressing pressing welfare issues connected to energy use in India, such as indoor air pollution from solid fuels, can be aided by a transition to modern energy carriers, with little consequential increase in CO2 emissions. The richest 10 % of Indians only emitted 20 % more emissions from direct primary energy use than the poorest 10 % in 2012 (excluding direct emissions from transport). However, the wealth creation needed to sustain a modern energy transition will inevitably coincide with increased consumption, consumption which is supported by carbon intensive electricity and materials and represents the fastest growth area for CO2 emissions as incomes rise. The richest 10 % of Indians emitted five times more emissions from indirect energy use than the poorest 10 % in 2012. Addressing these challenges at the same time requires a coherent strategy that targets energy poverty and wealth creation in the poorest deciles, while reducing the emissions intensity of the sectors – notably transportation – of the Indian and global economies supporting increasing household consumption.

Environmental life cycle assessment of cow milk in a conventional semi-intensive Brazilian production system.

The environmental performance of cow milk produced in a conventional semi-intensive system was assessed using a cradle-to-farm gate attributional life cycle assessment. The impacts of 1 kg FPCM—fat and protein corrected milk were obtained considering six midpoint impact categories from the ReCiPe 2016 method: climate change (CC), terrestrial acidification (TA), freshwater eutrophication (FE), land use (LU), water consumption (WC), and fossil resource scarcity (FRS). The modeling of the product system and calculating the environmental impacts considered the use of SimaPro™ software. Enteric methane and nitrogen emissions and inputs for feeding animals (fertilization for pasture production, use of seed in corn crops, and milk replacer in calves feed) were the main contributors to impacts in milk production in most categories. In addition, the indirect energy use and wastewater generation in milking and milk cooling also were relevant. Literature-based strategies are suggested to mitigate the identified environmental impacts to achieve the best environmental performance without decreasing technical and quality milk production. We emphasize the importance of improving productivity per milk cow, knowing the origin of the supply chain inputs, and using it efficiently to produce animal feeds as the main strategies to improve milk's environmental performance. Changes in allocation methods did not substantially differ in impact categories. Sensitivity analysis foregrounds the consistency of results and conclusions of the current study despite the uncertainties associated with methodological choices, simplifications, suppositions, and the use and adaptation of international databases.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-17317-5.

Embodied Energy Use in China's Transportation Sector: A Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis.

Energy transition in the transport sector (TS) is important for the goals of achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 in China. A number of scholars have conducted studies to identify the potential energy savings of the TS and to improve its energy efficiency. Most of them concentrate on the direct energy use (EU). The indirect EU along the supply chain of the TS is often neglected. In this paper, the direct and indirect energy use, i.e., the embodied EU, of China’s TS is measured by applying a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model, where they are investigated from both the provincial and sectoral perspectives. Results show that intermediate use is the major driving force for the TS’s embodied EU in China. From the sectoral level, supply from sectors such as petroleum refining and coking and demand from the service sector are the main reasons of the TS’s embodied EU. From the provincial perspective, the TS’s embodied EU is driven by low transportation technologies in most provinces located in central and western China. By contrast, abundant economic and social activities are the primary reason for the TS’s embodied EU in most provinces in eastern China. In the terms of interprovincial transfer, the energy embodied in the TS flows from resource-intensive provinces located in central and western China to resource-deficient provinces in eastern China. In addition, a close geographical connection exists in the transfer. Finally, several strategies from the sectoral and provincial levels are provided for policymakers.

Direct and indirect energy consumption in farming: Impacts from fertilizer use

Indirect energy consumption represents a considerable amount of the energy used in the agricultural sector, but its assessment is not an easy task, due to the several dimensions, including those from dynamic externalities. The direct and indirect energy inputs assume special relevance within the frameworks related to fertilizers used in farming systems. On the other hand, the literature review shows that there is margin for further exploration into these domains for the context in the European Union. From this perspective, the main objective of this study is to quantify the direct impact on energy costs from the use of fertilizers in farming as well as the indirect impact on total energy consumption from the use of fertilizers in the agricultural sector. For this purpose, data were considered for European Union (EU) countries from; the Farm Accountancy Data Network, Eurostat, Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency. This statistical information was evaluated through descriptive approaches and panel data econometric methodologies. The results show that the direct impacts on farming energy costs from the use of fertilizers are modest (the energy costs increased by about 0.1% point, when the fertilizer costs grow by 1% point). In turn, the indirect impact on the total energy consumption from fertilizer use in the agricultural sector is null for nitrogen and similar for phosphate and potash (around 0.015% points). The literature review shows that there are few studies addressing direct and indirect energy use in the European Union framework and less so for the farming sector, highlighting the novelty of this research.

Embodied energy use of China's megacities: A comparative study of Beijing and Shanghai

Previous studies presenting city energy-use profiles generally disregard indirect energy use across global supply chains. Moreover, the distinct energy-use patterns of China's megacities remain unclear due to various urban functions and development strategies associated with urbanization. Therefore, a multi-scale single-region input-output model is devised to depict energy-use patterns in two representative Chinese megacities—Beijing and Shanghai. This model highlights the distinct upstream sources of city energy use, elucidating regional-international connections. The distinct evolutionary features of the two cities' energy-use structures are presented from a consumption-based perspective. The results show that the growth of Beijing and Shanghai depend heavily on embodied energy resources from other domestic or foreign regions. Further, as Beijing is the country's political center, a considerable amount of its energy use is attributed to government activities. In contrast, 6.05% of the energy consumption in Shanghai, China's financial center, depends on foreign energy sources, whereas the corresponding value in Beijing is only 4.2%. In terms of time-series evolutionary features, the growth rate of Beijing's energy use is notably lower than that of Shanghai due to different development modes during 2002–2012. Comparing these two typical cities' energy-use profiles highlights the urgent need for globally-oriented inclusive governance, and energy conservation policies based on distinct city functions and development plans.

Final energy footprints in Zambia: Investigating links between household consumption, collective provision, and well-being

Substantial literature exists on household lifestyles and related energy use and emissions in the global north, but little is known for many countries the global south. We estimate household-level energy footprints for Zambia covering direct (traditional and modern energy carriers) and indirect energy use, and adopting energy extended multiregional input–output. We employ final energy consumption, as it is closer to energy services and thus the purpose of energy use than the total primary energy use. The inequality in energy footprints differs from the inequality in incomes: the poorest half of the households have similar energy footprints and only high-income urban households have significant indirect energy footprints, associated with spend on goods and services. We examine the association between energy footprints and basic well-being measured in terms of physical health, education, nutrition and access to clean water using logistic regression, for a sub-sample of households with children under the age of five. We find that access to provisioning systems is more important than income for need satisfaction. Rural households have limited access to modern energy and provisioning systems and as a result fewer of them attain desirable well-being outcomes. We conclude that access to collective provisioning systems such as education, electricity and indoor sanitation is more important for household need satisfaction than individual provisioning in the form of ownership of durables, or even income. Further research is needed to improve the understanding of the association between energy use and needs satisfaction as it is crucial for addressing decarbonisation and human development agendas.

Environmental-Economic Assessment of the Pressure Swing Adsorption Biogas Upgrading Technology

A large-scale biogas upgrading plant using the CarboTech® technology with a treatment capacity of 1333 Nm3 biogas per hour was analyzed. Our scope of evaluation encompasses all technology steps that are necessary for upgrading biogas, i.e., both pretreatment and biogas upgrade. A cradle-to-gate life-cycle and life-cycle cost assessment (LCA and LCCA) methodology was used with the functional unit (FU) of 1 Nm3 of biogas upgraded in order to ease comparison with other biogas upgrading technologies. The calculation was made using the GaBi8 LCA software and databases of GaBi Professional, Construction materials, Food&Feed, and the ecoinvent3. We applied the CML characterization model with all its mid-point indicators. The mid-point indicators of the CML characterization model were aggregated after normalization by the CML2001 - Jan.2016 normalization factors. The normalized environmental impact was 541.74·10−15/Nm3 raw biogas. The highest environmental impacts were the marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential (15.705 kg dichlorobenzene-equiv./Nm3 raw biogas), the abiotic depletion potential (1.037 MJ/Nm3 raw biogas), and global warming potential (0.113 kg CO2-equiv./Nm3 raw biogas). The unit production cost of the PSA technology was 0.05-0.063 €/Nm3 raw biogas. The most considerable source of expenses was the operational cost from which 77% was spent on electricity. The initial investment, personal costs, and the reinvestment amounted to only 34% of the total costs for the whole life cycle. Strategies to lower the environmental burden of the PSA technology are to use green electricity and to optimize the size of the plant in order to reduce unnecessary material flows of building material and their indirect energy use. This can also lower investment expenditures while automatization and remote control may spare personnel costs.

Consumption substitution and change of household indirect energy consumption in China between1997 and2012.

With the rapid growth in the Chinese economy in recent decades, household incomes as well as consumption of goods and services have also steadily increased. This has resulted in growing demand for energy consumption across the economy. It has been suggested that consumption upgrades in tandem with substitutions might exert an impact on mitigating this growth. The input-output method was applied in this study to analyze variations in household indirect energy consumption between 1997 and 2012. The impact of consumption substitution on change was also determined using a two-tier structural decomposition analysis, in which the second-tier is a further decomposition based on first-tier results. The results show that the indirect energy use caused by household consumption makes up between 75% and 78% of total household energy demand and that this increased 161.2% over the study period. First-tier decomposition results reveal that this change was mostly caused by household consumption scale and energy intensity effects. Second-tier decomposition results reveal strong evidence for consumption substitution between energy-intensive industries and non-energy-intensive ones and that this can have an impact on reducing household indirect consumption. Household consumption therefore plays a prominent role in total energy consumption. Transforming to non-energy-intensive or services led consumption patterns should therefore be encouraged by the Chinese government in order to achieve conservation goals.

The energy footprint of automotive electronic sensors

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have emerged as one of the leading technologies to reduce global emissions, particularly in the mobility sector. Automotive electronics, such as sensors/actuators and microcontrollers (commonly known as electronic control units (ECU) which control one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a vehicle), play a key role in ICT. Sensors/actuators are key in electronic ICT devices, starting with the data collection and data communication with the internet. The latest two big trends of electrification and automation in vehicles, are projected to increase the use of worldwide automotive sensors from 7.5 billion units in 2017 to 11.0 billion units by the year 2024. A representative state-of-the art automotive sensor system, (i.e., an ultrasonic backup system), including the ECUs controlling the vehicle electrical systems/subsystems, has been considered to estimate the energy footprint in terms of manufacturing and operational energy of global automotive sensors use. A widely used life cycle energy assessment method (i.e., cumulative energy demand) was used as both direct and indirect (including the extraction, manufacturing, and disposal of the raw and auxiliary materials) energy use can be considered for the energy footprint estimation. The embodied manufacturing energy impacts of the system was estimated to be 559 MJ/system, compared to the 417 MJ/system for lifetime system power and additional gasoline use. The share of purchased energy to the embodied energy where the upstream energy isn't included in the former case, is less than 10% and ~ 85% for the component manufacturing and vehicle operation energy uses, respectively. As the purpose of this ultrasonic backup system is to prevent rear crashes, an estimated 1.0 MJ/system is avoided from reduced lifetime vehicular repairs (from an estimated 11% chance of requiring a rear bumper replacement). While all of this is small compared to the overall automotive manufacturing and use energy, the 11 billion automotive sensors expected to be produced in 2024 could require 1540 PJ for manufacturing and those sensors would require an additional 780–1150 PJ for lifetime energy use.

Improving energy and GHG performance of the rice-wheat rotation system: A life-cycle analysis based on a large-scale behavior investigation

Agricultural production is one of the crucial contributors to energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Understanding the various planting behaviors of farmers, instead of taking them as one, can be very helpful for improving crop management efficiency. This information can be used to relieve the pressures of direct and indirect energy use and GHG emissions. In this study, we took Jiangsu Province as an example to estimate the energy and GHG performance of the rice-wheat rotation system from a life-cycle perspective based on a large-scale behavior investigation of 409 samples in 2016. We further studied the influences of regional farmers’ planting characteristics on energy and GHG performance by regression models. The results indicated that farmers’ agricultural inputs varied widely among individuals and regions. Indirect energy consumption and GHG emissions, which are mainly caused by the use of fertilizers and pesticides and vary among farmers, contribute most to the life-cycle energy use and GHG emissions of the crop system in Jiangsu. The life-cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of rice systems in Jiangsu can be effectively reduced by increasing the planting scales. Statistically, by controlling household characteristics such as the number of farmers involved in agricultural activities, age and education level of the household head, a 1-ha increase in the planting scale would lead to approximately 14.07 J/kcal and 1.676 kg CO2-e/kcal decreases in life-cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions, respectively, in Jiangsu. Policy implications are proposed to reduce and rationally use fertilizer as well as to enlarge the planting scale for sustainable agricultural development in Jiangsu.

Energy intensity and embodied energy flow in Australia: An input-output analysis

Decoupling energy use from economic growth is critical for improving energy productivity and mitigating climate change. Input-output databases have been increasingly utilised for consumption-based energy accounting, and for exploring both the direct and indirect influence of energy use. This study performed an environmentally-extended input-output analysis of energy use in Australia from 2006 to 2015 to investigate the total energy intensity of industry sectors, and the embodied energy flow from sources of energy use to the final consumption of commodities. Between 2006 and 2015, the national direct energy intensity reduced by an average of 2% per annum. Nearly all industry sectoral groups reduced their total energy intensity because of direct energy intensity reduction from other or within industry sectoral groups. The difference between the embodied energy use in the import and the export had widened, making Australia a greater net importer of embodied energy with significant outsourcing of direct energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Despite a slight reduction in per capita direct household energy use (3%), the per capita indirect energy use embodied in household commodity consumption increased by 7%. As indirect household energy use is more than three times direct household energy use, improving end use energy efficiency should also consider the embodied energy in commodities. Structural decomposition analysis shows that for the studied period, population growth and per capita demand for imported commodities are two major contributors for the increased total embodied energy in Australia.

Evaluating the Energy Consumption of Mobile Data Transfer—From Technology Development to Consumer Behaviour and Life Cycle Thinking

Mobile data consumption in Finland is among the highest in the world. The increase in mobile data usage has been rapid and continual future growth is foreseen. Simultaneously, consumer behaviour is changing. While new end-user devices are more and more energy-efficient and energy consumption per transferred gigabyte has significantly decreased, people spend more time and consume more data via their mobile devices than ever before. Does the increased usage outweigh the energy savings that have been achieved? What options are available for tackling increasing energy demand? And should consumers have a role to play in this discussion? This paper examines the current and future trends that results from the energy consumption of mobile data transfer and mobile networks in Finland. The findings presented in this paper are based on a top-down energy intensity estimate and publicly available data, which was employed to construct an illustrative trend (kWh/gigabyte) for the energy consumption of transmitted mobile data for the years 2010–2017. In addition, energy consumption related to mobile data transfer is discussed from a life cycle perspective, considering both direct and indirect energy use. Finally, the challenges in conducting such assessments are examined.

Households’ Energy Consumption Change in China: A Multi-Regional Perspective

As China’s economy enters the “new normal” phase, its growth model has gradually changed to focus more on domestic consumption. In this paper, we examine regional disparities in households’ total (direct and indirect) energy use in China from 2002 to 2012. Using a structural decomposition approach, we examine how changes in China’s technology, economic structure, urbanization, lifestyle, and interregional trade affect household energy use across different regions. We find that rising income levels contributed most to energy usage. Improved energy efficiency offset the rising effects of heightened household consumption in most regions. Rural-to-urban migration played an important role in enhancing energy use in all regions from 2002 to 2012. Moreover, households started to rely more heavily on interregional trade of final goods and services to meet their consumption demands. Based on this multi-regional and multi-angle study, we provide some regional-specific policies that would help curb household energy demand and promote sustainable consumption in China.

Sick and stuck at home – how poor health increases electricity consumption and reduces opportunities for environmentally-friendly travel in the United Kingdom

Research on the determinants of direct and indirect energy use has identified a range of relevant socio-economic factors. However, we still know little about possible influences of people's health on their energy use. Do people in poor health use less energy because they are on lower incomes, or do they have additional domestic energy needs as they spend more time at home? Does poor health reduce mobility for all or just some (environmentally-friendly) modes of travel? This paper examines these questions through analysis of the representative UK Understanding Society survey. We find that poor health is generally linked to lower home energy use and lower engagement in all forms of travel. However, once we control for income and other socio-demographic factors, poor health is related to higher electricity consumption. These findings have important policy implications as it means that people in poor health would be additionally burdened by higher cost of electricity but, due to their low mobility, less so by higher cost of energy-intensive forms of travel. While promoting good health could support environmentally-friendly travel, additional measures would be required to prevent a rise of energy-intensive modes of travel.

A Part of the Energy \"In Crowd\": Changing People's Energy Behavior via Group-Based Approaches

One of the most critical and pressing solutions needed to address global climate change is the transition to secure, affordable, and sustainable-energy systems. This transition is usually considered a technological challenge because it involves the integration of renewable energy, a trend toward decentralizing energy generation, and more demandside participation. However, involving consumers in the transition is crucial for its success. For example, sustainable-energy transitions may require consumers to adopt sustainable-energy sources, technologies, and energy-efficiency measures as well as change their direct and indirect energy use behaviors to the limited and fluctuating supply of (renewable) energy. However, such behaviors may not always be easy for consumers to adopt, as they can entail personal sacrifice and discomfort or require them to change habits or infrastructure, which can be cognitively and financially demanding. To guarantee a sustainable future for all, it is critical that we understand what motivates consumers' energy behaviors and how we can promote consumers' motivation to engage in sustainable-energy behaviors and act beyond immediate personal interests.

Household Energy Consumption Behaviour for Different Demographic Regions in Thailand from 2000 to 2010

Since 1995, the residential sector has been a fast-growing energy consumption sector in Thailand. This sector contributes dramatically to the growth of Thailand’s electricity and oil demand. Our study analysed Thailand’s residential energy consumption characteristics and the seven underlying factors affecting the growth in energy use of five demographic regions using an energy input–output method. Embodied energy decomposition revealed that direct energy consumption accounted for approximately 30% of total residential energy use, whereas indirect energy consumption was at 70%. During the studied period, the growth in indirect energy use for all household groups was primarily the result of higher consumption of ‘commerce’, ‘air transport’, ‘manufacturing’, ‘food and beverages’ and ‘agriculture’ products. Moreover, each influencing driver contributes differently to each household’s growth in energy demand. The number of households was the leading factor that dominated the increases in residential energy use in the Greater Bangkok and Central regions. Growth in residential energy consumption in the Northern, Northeastern and Southern regions was strongly dominated by changes in income per capita. Consumption structure and using energy-efficient products had a moderate impact on all regions’ energy consumption. Thus, our findings provide additional energy-saving strategies to restrain further growth in residential energy demand.

Societal Dimension of Energy Consumption – Exploring Environmental Inequality in China

From the social-ecological nexus perspective, environmental inequality is embedded in its root of social problem arising from income inequality. “The urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together” (IPCC2011). This paper intends to explore the link between house income inequality and environmental vulnerability in Rural of China. In the process of rural to urban dominated economy transformation, social structures are changing, and ecosystems are facing stress. Given China's dynamic economic and environmental situation, we aim to provide an assessment in the inequality of energy use and environmental effects in two different systems of urban and rural region in China. The paper deals with three questions: 1. how has household expenditure linked with the energy use directly and indirectly; 2. how has China challenged by inequalities between rural and urban household on the residential energy consumption; 3. how high is the emission estimated in the rural residential energy use? The analysis results indicate obviously that almost half rural family still use no-commercial energy and thus coal is the main commercial energy sources; the per capital CO2 emissions of rural region is much higher than urban region, which is driven by low energy efficiency and less advanced public infrastructure. It address the equity issues that policy should focus on energy affordability and promoting a transition away from biomass to other modern energy sources in rural China. In the paper, the input-output table is employed for accounting the indirect residential energy use and emissions, which is associated with the eight sectors of household expenditure. The data sources are from various household serveries and energy statistics in the period of 1990 to 2016.