Determining the dynamic of energy consumption in rural Heilongjiang Province from ecological footprint

Rapid rural development needs a great amount of energy, which conflicts with the demand of less CO₂ release for relieving global climate changing. Rural energy consumption is therefore important and is predicted to significantly increase energy demand. This paper used ecological footprint (EF) to evaluate and analyze energy consumption dynamics and efficiency in rural Heilongjiang Province in 1998~2007. Straw and biogas EF was also calculated and integrated into the total EF. The results suggested increasing trends in all forms of energy consumption during the 1998~2007 period. For all the forms of energy, the highest consumption increase was noted in electric power, increasing from 183.51 kWh per capita in 1998 to 279.03 kWh per capita in 2007. This was followed by biogas, increasing from 0.001 m³ per capita in 1998 to 2.445 m³ per capita in 2007. Because of the increases in consumption of these forms of energy, EF of all the forms of energy also increased over the period. Total energy EF per capita was 0.278 9 hm² in 1998 and 0.549 8 hm² in 2007. Under the same energy consumption dynamics, increase in electric and biogas energies were higher than in other forms of energy. This resulted from the development of government policies to regulate rural power and bio-energy consumption. Ecological efficiency increased with increasing energy consumption. It increased from 2 472.34 Yuan·hm^-2 in 1998 to 5 192.58 Yuan·hm^-2 in 2007 indicating improved resources efficiency. Because of continuous increase in energy consumption, government should institute regulation polices and adjust capital flow to support renewable energy technology and biomass energy development, which reduced petroleum energy consumption and improved energy efficiency.