Energy poverty alleviation and its implications for household energy consumption and health

Health shocks or risks related to household energy consumption (HEC) are one of the most serious health threats worldwide. Based on the 2018 China Health and Nutrition Survey Database (CHNS), this study empirically quantified the linear and nonlinear relationships between energy consumption, health, poverty, and living environment quality at the household level, using regression and instrumental variable models. Results showed that increased HEC reduced self-reported health shock by 64.0%. The low-income household exhibited the most serious health shock, while the high-income household revealed the least serious health shock related to household energy use. In terms of increased energy consumption, the negative impact on poor household’s health shock was twice that on the non-poor household. The increased energy consumption significantly reduced the risk of critical illness. Due to their U-shaped relationship, an income level-related threshold existed such that the benefit or risk gap between the different incomes closed when the income rose to the middle level. The poor and middle-income households had higher health benefits than the non-poor and high-income households owing to cleaner energy and lower health risk. This study proposes that inequality in basic energy consumption is one of the important determinants of health benefits/costs. We should pay attention to the importance of energy poverty alleviation policy and promote the progress of household energy structure to reduce health shock.