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Solid fuels are still widely used as primary cooking fuel in rural China, which brings severe health, environmental and socio-economic consequences. A sound understanding of the energy transition pattern of rural households will provide valuable insights for policy makers aiming to facilitate transition towards cleaner fuels. The most relevant questions include whether measure of improving income could help facilitate transition and how quickly the transition would happen as household income grows. Using National Population Census data (2000–2010) for over two thousand Chinese counties, we estimated the income elasticities of primary cooking fuel substitution between traditional biomass, coal, gaseous fuels, electric power and others. It is found that the income effect is positive for the cleaner fuels gases and electric power but negative for dirty solid fuels like coal and biomass. However, our estimated elasticities show that the adoption of cleaner fuels (gases and electric power) as primary cooking fuel is income elastic (elasticity>1) for rural village households but income inelastic (elasticity<1) for township households whereas the substitution of dirty fuels are all income inelastic (elasticity<1). Our results show significant cooking fuel transition in China as well as substantial heterogeneity in the transition process. Our findings provide useful information for informed energy demand modelling and forecasting for rural residential sector in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is often a complicated process for planning and constructing rural housings under the influence of (mass)-tourism in reservoir areas, involving multiple evaluation criteria use and geographical information analysis. With some methodologies within a unique framework considering current increasing construction sprawls and ecological consequences, these approaches will overcome existing shortcomings, especially spatial decision and visual impact problems on sustainable rural housing planning and construction. This paper presents a distinct web-based graphic model of sustainable rural housing planning and construction with a Fuzzy-DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory/Multi-Criteria-Spatial Decision Support System (F-DEMATEL/MC-SDSS) method in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment applied to Alange, Spain as a case study. The aim of this methodology is to optimally eco-design rural housings under (mass)-tourism in reservoir areas, as for their sensitivity and effect. The methodology presents herein the combined method of GIS and Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) together with F-DEMATEL method. Because of the technological improvements in the area of information systems, it has a great necessity to study in what way to combine GIS, MCDA, Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), sensitivity analysis, the Internet, modeling, and database, targeting to generate MC-SDSS based on a web-based platform. A methodological framework named as web-based F-DEMATEL/MC-SDSS is suggested by means of a totally united GIS and definite MCDA model by programed in ArcGIS software’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and Model View Controller (MVC) to be an object-oriented system. These program languages interact on an algorithmic web server that processing the MCDA products. The model consists of four main modules: the general overview module, the F-DEMATEL/MC-SDSS module, the sensitivity analysis module, and, finally, the final result module especially with the buildings suitability option, which users can access consecutively. Through the web graphic model developed, seven rural housings constructed in the area can be checked their suitability based on the selected criteria of decision-makers. Therefore, the results can be used to verify sustainable housings’ sites and designs differentiated parts of space as the asynchronous process of decision-makings. Thus, this model can be a channel to collaborate and communicate the spatial design and visual impact strategies of sustainable housings for decision-makers, who have practical and specific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With over 70% of households without access to clean energy, Uganda presents a huge potential for increased adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. However, their uptake is relatively low. This study employs a nationally representative data set from Uganda's National Electrification Survey of 2018 to analyze factors influencing households' choice of solar PV system. Conditional mixed process model was estimated for quantification of associations between flexible payment mechanism, influential persons, access to grid electricity and solar PV adoption in the first stage, then type of solar PV adopted in the second stage. We find that, the determinants of adoption as well as type of solar PV adopted are heterogeneous. Specifically, flexible payment mechanism is positive for uptake of solar home systems and solar kit; Influential people were insignificant in all cases, while grid access was negatively associated with uptake of both solar kits and solar home systems. We further find that, rural residence, income, type of house are significant drivers of solar PV type adopted. Conversely, education attainment was positive and significantly associated with adoption but insignificant for type of solar PV adopted. Sex of household head was significant for uptake of solar kit. Our findings suggest that, solar PV uptake is a rural phenomenon and affordability is the main driver of solar PV type adopted. Flexible payment mechanism enhances the ability of income constrained households to afford relatively expensive solar PV systems. Hence, any policy interventions geared at scaling uptake of solar home systems should address affordability. Solar companies should continue to offer flexible payment modalities and target rural household. • Drivers for adoption solar photovoltaic (PV) devices in Uganda are examined. • Conditional mixed process model is used as main analysis tool in this study. • Flexible payment mechanism rises chance of households adopting solar home systems. • Solar PV devices adoption is largely a rural phenomenon in Uganda. • Policy intervention should focus on addressing affordability issues in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the subjective well-being (SWB) of a population has reached saturation in terms of consumption, it becomes difficult to increase SWB through consumption. Previous studies have shown the existence of such saturation in some developed countries. However, little is known about applications for developing countries due to a lack of data. Thus, this study investigates whether a difference in the relationship between consumption and SWB exists between urban and rural areas in Vietnam. We apply the generalized additive models that allow a non-linear functional form to demonstrate the detailed relationship between consumption and SWB. Our results for Vietnam show that saturation, in terms of material consumption, exists for urban areas, while there is a negative relationship between material consumption and SWB in rural areas. In addition, we find a positive relationship between relational consumption and SWB in rural areas and a slightly positive or flat relationship in urban areas. Overall, our estimation results imply that the saturation of the SWB with regard to material consumption can be observed even in developing countries. Furthermore, not only can individuals' SWB be significantly increased by relational consumption in the presence of a strong social capital, but the same result can be found with material consumption by bartering. Our findings imply that a sharing economy with strong social capital can be a key to sustainable consumption. [Display omitted] • SWB saturation through material consumption can exist even in developing countries. • Material consumption is negatively correlated with SWB in rural Vietnam. • Relational consumption affects SWB in rural, but not urban areas in Vietnam. • Social capital is key to improving SWB through material and relational consumption. • A sharing economy with strong social capital is a key to sustainable consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question about how to choose the best recycling policy is particularly relevant in developing countries. On the one hand, many of these countries have no national waste management strategies, with recycling programs emerging as an independent initiative financed by municipalities, mostly in urban areas. On the other hand, the municipal budget tends to be linked to the wealth of their inhabitants. Consequently, an efficient municipal resources allocation policy to support recycling programs is especially crucial for the most vulnerable population, often located in rural areas. In this paper, we address the problem of optimal allocation of resources for the adoption of a recycling program by municipalities located in both urban and rural areas of a developing country, determining the best combination between two options: increasing and redistributing existing resources. Our research methods involve comprehensive data collection and mathematical modelling, adopting a logistic regression model proposed in the literature, formulating a non-linear optimisation model, and implementing a resolution method. In addition, recycling policies with equivalent results are described and analysed, discussing their political feasibility and economic efficiency. To illustrate our proposal, the case of Chilean municipalities is considered. Chile is a country from the Global South that belongs to the OECD and can be therefore compared to other documented cases. Although no official national data is available, we were able to collect figures by requesting information from every municipality in the country. The obtained results show an important lack of resources at the national level in MSWM, especially affecting rural areas. In this context, equivalent recycling policies with combined options could better favour rural municipalities. However, the average probability for the adoption of a recycling program by municipalities, although shows slight increases, is not enough for a substantial change towards a more sustainable waste management model. Our results illustrate the gap between urban and rural municipalities, the need to inject important funds into the system as a whole, and open the question of whether a more direct 'command and control' policy is required instead of just trusting the individual initiative of each municipality, even if more resources are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the problem of global warming and achieve sustainable development of society, controlling carbon emissions becomes more and more important. The completed area of rural houses in China is growing fast, and emitting large greenhouse gases in construction. In this study, the hybrid life cycle assessment (Hybrid-LCA) is used to calculate the embodied carbon emissions (ECE) of straw bale rural houses. The results show that the carbon emissions of building materials accounts for 97% in the materialization stage, while the material transportation and construction stages contribute to only about 3%. The wood-structure and light-steel structure are worth recommend low carbon straw bale rural houses, the net carbon emission can be reduced by 96.75% and 76.92% compared with the reference rural houses. The structural type of the rural houses will influence the carbon emission of the full materialization stage. By replacing high carbon materials with low carbon materials such as straw bale in ordinary rural houses, the ECE of rural houses can be reduced by 39.54%. The findings of this study will shed important light on the low carbon construction of rural houses in the future. • Study on carbon emission in materialization stage of four structural forms of Straw Bale Rural Houses. • Hybrid life cycle assessment method. • Straw Bale can effectively reduce the carbon emission in the materialization stage of Rural Houses. • Provide guidance for low-carbon construction of Rural Houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use and ineffective management of agricultural mulch film in agricultural production have caused serious plastic pollution, thus, mulch film recycling is necessary. Previous studies have shown that formal institutions have a significant impact on mulch film recycling; however, the effect of informal institutions, which have a significant impact on pro-environmental behaviors, remains less explored. In this paper, 12058 pieces of cultivated land data from five representative provinces in China were used to study the impact mechanisms of environmental village regulations, a representative informal institution, on mulch film recycling behavior, by using the Probit model, Heckman two-stage model, and mediation effect model. The results indicated that there are both direct impact and indirect impact mechanisms of environmental village regulations on mulching film recycling. The environmental village regulations had a significant direct positive effect on the recycling of mulch film. In addition, the environmental village regulations had a significant indirect positive impact on mulch film recycling through the selection of mulch film with different thicknesses and the number of days the mulch film was used. Based on the findings, our recommendation is that specific environmental village regulations should be established in all villages to promote mulch film recycling. In addition, the government should further regulate the manufacturing, sale, and use of plastic mulch film. [Display omitted] • Farmland plastic pollution is increasing with the use of agricultural mulch film. • An empirical study focused on smallholder farmers with national representative samples. • National representative micro-level data was used to explore the effect of village regulations. • Village regulations have significant direct and indirect positive effects on mulch film recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is crucial to rural regions in China. Although previous studies have investigated the carbon emissions and costs of single-family and rural houses, relatively few studies have compared the characteristics of different structural forms and verified the reliability of their results. In light of sustainable development of rural building structures in China, this study assessed process-based and subproject-based emissions, as well as the costs associated with the construction of a rural residential house, with consideration of three common structural forms. Among the schemes designed using a reinforced concrete framed (CF), block masonry (BM), and prefabricated masonry (PM) structure, the BM scheme afforded the lowest emissions and costs, whereas the CF scheme led to the highest emissions and costs. To identify the key processes for measuring embodied emissions and costs, contribution indicators were proposed and an uncertainty analysis was conducted according to variations in emission factors. The results indicate that the comparison and findings are reliable with respect to current technical levels. A further sensitivity analysis revealed that the CF and PM schemes had the potential to be low-carbon alternatives if emissions from steel and cement production can be significantly reduced in a future scenario. This paper proposes relevant suggestions from the perspectives of material selection, structural member design, and structural form decisions and its findings can help improve the sustainability of rural houses. • Comparison on the emissions and costs of different structures for a rural house. • Detailed emission and cost analyses from both process and subproject perspectives. • Contribution analysis finds the key processes for the embodied emissions and costs. • Sensitivity analysis indicates the potential of framed and prefabricated structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regions exhibit. Starting from the most common definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic output to environmental input, this paper aims to investigate regional eco-efficiency patterns in Europe, paying particular attention to territorial heterogeneity. The study relies on the metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to (1) assess the comparative evolution of eco-efficiency in 282 European regions between 2006 and 2014, and (2) estimate the technology and conditional efficiency gaps that regions display considering their dominant territorial features (i.e. urban, intermediate and rural). The results show an overall upward trend in eco-efficiency across European regions recorded between 2006 and 2014. However, there is no evidence that regions are converging equally to similar levels of eco-efficiency. On the contrary, a rather complex EU core-periphery pattern seems to be emerging. Most of the Eastern regions have made significant progress in reducing the technological divide. However, the same cannot be said for their resource management, which has become the main driver of inefficiency. On the other hand, the significant losses of human capital experienced by many Southern intermediate and rural regions seem to be the basis of their widening technological gap. These results suggest that future efforts to improve eco-efficiency should be aimed at encouraging an efficient use of productive factors within each region, going beyond generic urban/rural approaches and therefore implementing place-based policies building on a good understanding of the complex linkages between the physical, social and economic environments within individual regions. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of regional eco-efficiency performance based on territorial structures represents a major contribution to previous literature in this field. • A metafrontier DEA is applied to assess eco-efficiency across 282 European regions. • Eco-efficiency patterns strongly depend on regional territorial heterogeneity. • Urban and intermediate areas attained greater progress in eco-efficiency than rural areas. • Eastern regions narrowed their technology gap between 2006 and 2014. • Employment loss in rural regions strongly affected technological levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, eco-compensation in China, or more internationally termed as the payments for ecosystem services (PES) has emerged as an important policy instrument for not only environment management, but also poverty reduction. In the individual eco-compensation programs, there are usually some additional objectives other than ecosystem protection, among which poverty alleviation is the most important. In the policies on poverty alleviation, the central government of China lists eco-compensation as one of the five major approaches to alleviate poverty. However, there is little empirical evidence of the effectiveness of eco-compensation programs on poverty alleviation. This paper uses the field survey data of rural households in three poverty-stricken counties in Guizhou Province, China to evaluate the poverty alleviation effect of different eco-compensation programs on different income group of rural households. Research indicates that: for the eco-compensation programs with direct cash payment, the Sloping Land Conversion Program has a significantly positive impact on high-to-medium income group. The project of Ecological Forest Compensation Program has no significant impact on all income groups. The Ecological Job Offer Program has a great positive impact on the income of low-income households. Our research highlights that i) different eco-compensation programs might have different impacts on the same income group of households; ii) a specific eco-compensation might have different income impacts on different income groups of households; and iii) eco-compensation does not necessarily contribute to poverty reduction unless the eco-compensation scheme is purposely designed for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government has emphasized the consolidation of rural settlements because of their extensive use and hollowing-out in the hope that agricultural land losses can be mitigated nationally, the ecological environment can be protected, and improvements can be made to agricultural production and rural livelihoods. Rural settlement consolidation, however, necessitates a complex optimization approach that involves multiple aspects including rural development policies as well as the evaluation and classification of settlement layout, the land-use decision-making behaviors of villagers, and spatial layout optimization models. Current rural settlement consolidation methods lack these respective modules and have therefore led to unsatisfactory results. We therefore coupled a spatial layout evaluation module, system dynamics (SD) models, and the multi-agent system (MAS) to establish the rural settlement consolidation model (RSCM), an approach which can comprehensively consider all these aspects. This model was then applied in Jizhou District, Tianjin, using the three policy scenarios of ecology priority, coordinated ecology and economic development, and economy priority. The results of this analysis show that, in the first place, given an optimized rural settlement layout, the average suitability value and degree of average spatial compactness increased by 3.23% and 96.68% respectively. These outcomes indicate that the model can improve land-use suitability and solve the village hollowing-out issue. Data also show that landscape pattern indices including average plaque density, average patch shape index, and average fractal dimension all decreased by 54.17%, 26.20, and 4.60%, respectively, while average plaque area increased by 117.22%. These outcomes indicate that the use of this model can reduce rural settlement complexity and alleviate the pressure on the landscape matrix. Secondly, results show that the consolidation of rural settlements leads to clear socioeconomic and ecological benefits within the study area as well as improvements in agricultural production and rural livelihoods because of spatial layout adjustments. Third, ecological and economic policy priorities reduce the effectiveness of rural settlement consolidation, hinder economic development, and can even exacerbate the hollowing-out of villages. Rural development policies must therefore strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development. • A rural settlement consolidation model (RSCM) is presented. • A system dynamic model and a multi-agent system are coupled in a RSCM. • Land suitability, landscape pattern, and spatial compactness are considered in a RSCM. • The use of a RSCM can significantly optimize the consolidation of rural settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how the market and social logics which are supposedly counter to each other, converge into one rather than being two distinctive sets of actions, in the actions of a renewable energy social enterprise in an emerging economy context. To provide a foundation, the research draws upon literature on renewable energy, social entrepreneurship, market orientation, and social value creation. A qualitative in-depth case study research design with inductive theory-building approach for grounded theory development was conducted with two socially and environmentally inclusive renewable energy social enterprises in rural India. This resulted in a novel framework on a converging process comprising of: (a) Involved Searching, (b) Dialogic Localizing, and (c) Engaged Implementing. First, there is 'involved searching', where insights are generated through involved interactions for searching problematized contextual realities. Then, there is 'dialogic localizing', where insights are shared and acted upon through dialogically inclusive and localized solving. Finally, there is 'engaged implementing', where solutions are implemented through honest convincing and engaging mutuality. The findings make a novel contribution towards: (a) Going beyond the duality perspective and revealing social entrepreneurship as a phenomenon where the social and the market converge as an articulated whole, (b) Advancing hybrid organizing as a converging action with trappings of social value creation and market orientation, and (c) Revealing the potential of renewable energy social enterprises in blending the social and the market while working towards a sustainable environment. • Explores the social–market enactment in what a renewable energy social enterprise does. • Reveals the enactment as a convergence of the social and the market as a whole. • Generates a grounded framework on the actions constituting this convergence. • Offers an approach for research and practice to go beyond a social vs. market debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]