Domestic biogas in a changing China: Can biogas still meet the energy needs of China's rural households?

Reports/papers (non-specific)
, 30 pages
PDF (2.11 MB)
16553IIED.pdf
Language:
简体中文, English
Published: September 2013
Area(s):
ISBN: 9781843699552
Product code:16553IIED

China's domestic biogas programme has now reached around 100 million people, supplying a quarter of rural households with biogas digesters. This technology allows households to convert manure into clean cooking fuel and organic fertiliser, providing an effective and non-polluting alternative to fossil fuels, firewood, and chemical fertilisers. Strong investment from the national and local governments and financial assistance from international organisations have played an important role in the large-scale dissemination of biogas technology, and a variety of biogas digester models have been developed in different regions of the country.~ ~It seems that domestic biogas development in China is now at a crossroads, and government investment is likely to decline. Government subsidies can be a double-edged sword – they may promote social welfare by correcting market failures or distort the behaviour of market players, which in turn may lead to inefficiencies. Without one-size-fits-all solutions, due efforts should be made to maximise the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of government subsidies. ~ ~From a broader perspective, small-scale biogas digesters can be an appropriate technology for rural areas of many developing countries. Leaving aside biogas's multiple benefits, if the majority of the rural population in developing countries were to shift their primary energy supply from local renewable energy sources to commercial fossil fuels, it would have a huge economic and environmental impact; it could affect the security of energy supplies at a national or even global level. For this reason, due efforts should be made to overcome the various barriers and emerging difficulties to create a more favourable enabling environment for the robust and sustainable development of the biogas sector.

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Cite this publication

Zuzhang, X. (2013). Domestic biogas in a changing China: Can biogas still meet the energy needs of China's rural households? . .
Available at https://www.iied.org/16553iied