Energy poverty and thermal comfort in northern urban China: A household-scale typology of infrastructural inequalities

Cities in China have undergone considerable transformation in recent decades with unprecedented economic growth

, rural to urban migration

 and a rapidly emerging middle class all contributing to increased energy consumption

. In this context, we investigate the inability of urban households in the cold climate zone

 in northern China to access sufficient domestic energy

 services, and thus their vulnerability

 to energy poverty, focusing upon heating provision. Results of a questionnaire survey

 of households in the urban area

 of Beijing (n = 880) are analysed using Latent Class Analysis, a methodologically novel approach to developing a typology

 of energy poverty.

The analysis highlights

 vulnerabilities that increase the likelihood of a household being unable to access adequate

 heating in the home in this context. Despite provision of state-subsidies for heating in cities in northern China, a mechanism that might be anticipated to buffer households from energy poverty, these do not shield

 from the cold those households that lack access to efficient and flexible networked infrastructures

, or a high quality

, built environment. Our findings represent the first detailed study of energy poverty in relation to heating in this geographical context and have significant implications for domestic policy-making

 concerned with energy poverty, residential energy

 efficiency and energy consumption

.

Authors: Robinson, C., Yan, D., Bouzarovski, S., Zhang, Y.