Energy consumption by rural migrant workers and urban residents with a hukou in China: quality-of-life-related factors and built environment

This paper compares energy consumption (electricity, gasoline, and gas) by rural migrant workers and urban residents with a hukou (a China-specific household registration system) and influential factors (including quality-of-life [QOL]-related factors, built environment, and individual and household attributes) in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Dalian (a coastal city) in 2014 and in Guiyang (an inland city) in 2015, respectively. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model was applied to understand whether and how much people consume a certain type of energy. The results showed that built environment explains 8.4–21.8% and 6.3–41.4% of the total variance in energy consumption by rural migrant workers and urban residents with a hukou. The corresponding variance related to QOL-related factors was 9.1–15.8% and 4.1–22.6%, respectively. The built environment was mostly associated with electricity consumed by urban residents with a hukou, while its influences on other types of energy consumption were moderate. Mixed effects of both built environment and QOL-related factors on reducing energy consumption were observed. Thus, it is context-sensitive whether and how much compact city development and social security policy affect residents’ energy consumption.