Abstract:
Abstract: The rural household energy plays an important role in national energy consumption. The rural energy consumption has an important impact on social and economic development, ecological security and residents' physical health. The survey was conducted based on 429 households in 25 administrative villages, 8 townships (towns), 4 counties, in Karst rocky desertification control demonstration area of Guizhou province. The correlation between rural energy consumption and a scale of karst rocky desertification in southwest China was investigated. The results show that: 1) Firewood and coal are still main energy consumption structure in study area. Due to the overall low level of economic income, farmers have to continue to use traditional firewood, resulting in the formation of firewood + commodity energy consumption model, namely, firewood + coal, firewood + electricity, firewood + petroleum, petrochemical, and other energy modes, and showing a pattern of multi-energy complementarity. 2) The rural energy using tends to be clean and efficient, but the energy consumption transformation is a slow process. Due to the influence of demographic characteristics and traditional culture, the electricity is still not the main energy in the study area. Meanwhile the influence of migrant workers, the rural population is dominated by the elderly, women and children, and "hollow villages" appears in study areas, which complicates the rural energy consumption. 3) Regional differences in energy consumption model are significant. Bijie-salaxi demonstration area have formed model of "firewood + coal" for life energy, "coal" for heating and "firewood" for production energy (cooking pig food). Guanling-huajiang demonstration area and Zhenfeng-beipanjiang have formed model of "firewood + electricity" for life energy and "electricity" for heating. In Shibing Karst demonstration area have formed model of "firewood + electricity" for life energy, "firewood + coal" for heating and "coal" for production. 4) The firewood consumption in potential rocky desertification areas is the highest, but it is within the reasonable ecological threshold and there is no risk of rocky desertification. Its firewood consumption is related to higher biomass, population characteristics, heating, resource availability, lower population density and tourism development. Although the consumption of firewood is the lowest in slight rocky desertification, it has exceeded the reasonable ecological threshold and is at the risk of aggravation and expansion of rocky desertification. Its firewood consumption is related to the abundant coal and living habits. The firewood consumption is lower in moderate-intensity karst rocky desertification, but it has exceeded the reasonable ecological threshold and is at the risk of aggravation and expansion of rocky desertification. The firewood consumption is related to the lower forest coverage, biomass and stand biomass, low income level, historical factors and loss of opportunity cost. 5) The rural energy poverty in karst rocky desertification areas is serious. The economic unaffordability is mainly found in Bijie-salaxi and Zhenfeng-beipanjiang. Indoor environmental pollution was serious in four study areas, especially in Bijie-salaxi and shibing Karst. 6) This study reveals differences in energy consumption level and structure of rural households in karst rocky desertification areas in southwest China. Through comparative analysis, it is found that energy consumption of rural households is mainly subject to the comprehensive influence of the income level of farmers, the availability of energy and resources, heating, traditional culture, industrial structure, policies and other factors. This study provides theoretical basis for understanding the current situation and development trend of household energy consumption in rural region of southwest China and formulating relevant policies of energy and environmental.