Abstract: Abstract: An abundant supply of stover in northern China remains after corn grain harvest. The collected stover resources are about 6.74×108 t in 2017. Converting stover bales into renewable energy for clean heating is attracting much attention to save many stover resources, further possibly to replace coal, and thereby positively contribute to air quality, rural communities, and society at large. According to the whole life cycle in sustainable agriculture, in this study, a systematic evaluation was carried out to use a 3E (Economic, Energy and Environment) model, ranging from crop planting and harvesting to stover burning for heating, in order to explore the energy efficiency, economic benefits, and greenhouse gas emissions of baled stover burning boiler for clean heating. The results showed that the heating from baled stover burning has better energy and economic benefits, with less emissions of greenhouse gas. The clean heating can be expected suitable for the heating in winter in villages and towns with concentrated living, and for the urban district heating, such as agricultural and industrial parks. The heating area ranged from 5 000 to 100 000 m2, the net energy of baled stover for heating was 10 512-10 774.8 MJ/t, and the energy output-input ratio was 8.4-8.5, indicating that the energy conversion rate was relatively high. In addition, the greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 eq.) were 9.67-11.21 g/MJ. The total cost of heating by burning stover bales was 391.1 yuan/t (equivalent to 16.2 yuan/m2) -560.5 yuan/t (equivalent to 23.8 yuan/m2). Calculating at an 8% rate of return, the heating scale can be more than 20 000 m2. If only considering operating costs without the depreciation, the heating area can be more than 10 000 m2. The baled stover burning for heating can achieve the best energy efficiency, while the least emissions of greenhouse gas, compared with stover densified biofuel, and stover carbon-gas co-generation. The net energy output of three stover heating can be less than that of coal heating, but the greenhouse gas emissions can be only from 1/10 to 1/7 of that of coal, indicating the environmental benefits are significant. Therefore, it is highly recommended to further improve the heating facilities in villages and towns of northern China, and thereby promote the application of clean heating, such as baled stover burning, densified biofuel, and pyrolysis carbon-gas cogeneration. Stover clean heating can be used to effectively alleviate air pollution and reduce emissions of greenhouse gas in a renewable energy source.