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. 2019 Jul 30;10(1):3405.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11453-w.

Impacts of air pollutants from rural Chinese households under the rapid residential energy transition

Guofeng Shen  1 , Muye Ru  1   2 , Wei Du  1 , Xi Zhu  1 , Qirui Zhong  1 , Yilin Chen  1   3 , Huizhong Shen  1   3 , Xiao Yun  1 , Wenjun Meng  1 , Junfeng Liu  1 , Hefa Cheng  1 , Jianying Hu  1 , Dabo Guan  4 , Shu Tao  5   6
Affiliations

Impacts of air pollutants from rural Chinese households under the rapid residential energy transition

Guofeng Shen et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Rural residential energy consumption in China is experiencing a rapid transition towards clean energy, nevertheless, solid fuel combustion remains an important emission source. Here we quantitatively evaluate the contribution of rural residential emissions to PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) and the impacts on health and climate. The clean energy transitions result in remarkable reductions in the contributions to ambient PM2.5, avoiding 130,000 (90,000-160,000) premature deaths associated with PM2.5 exposure. The climate forcing associated with this sector declines from 0.057 ± 0.016 W/m2 in 1992 to 0.031 ± 0.008 W/m2 in 2012. Despite this, the large remaining quantities of solid fuels still contributed 14 ± 10 μg/m3 to population-weighted PM2.5 in 2012, which comprises 21 ± 14% of the overall population-weighted PM2.5 from all sources. Rural residential emissions affect not only rural but urban air quality, and the impacts are highly seasonal and location dependent.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Contributions of rural residential emissions to the overall population-weighted ambient PM2.5 concentration (PWC) in mainland China from 1992 to 2012. The results are presented as the national total and for the rural and urban areas, in absolute a and relative b contributions, respectively. Source data are provided as a Source Data file
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Spatial distribution of rural residential emission contributions in 2012 in mainland China. Results are shown as absolute contributions to provincial mean air quality concentrations a and population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations b. Source data are provided as a Source Data file
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Model-calculated population risk associated with exposure to PM2.5 originating from rural residential emissions from 1992 to 2012. The results are shown for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), ischaemic heart disease (IHD), lung cancer (LC), and acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs). Source data are provided as a Source Data file
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Dose-response relationship and the cumulative frequency distributions of the total PWC from all sources in 1992 and 2012. The results are shown for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), ischaemic heart disease (IHD), lung cancer (LC), and acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs). Source data are provided as a Source Data file
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Radiative forcing associated with emissions from rural residential sector. a Radiative forcing caused by CO2, BC, POA, sulfate, and nitrate originating from rural residential emissions in 1992, 2002, 2007, and 2012. b The net forcing of these components. Error bars indicate standard deviations generated from the Monte Carlo simulation. Source data are provided as a Source Data file
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