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Water, Electricity and Weather Variability in Rural Northern China

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Economic growth has reshaped rural household characteristics dramatically in the past few decades in China. Families become richer, smaller and older. How do these changes impact household water and electricity demands? This paper answers the question using household data in a water-scarce rural village in Northern China. I find that smaller families tend to increase per capita water and electricity consumptions by more than 20% for one fewer family member. Households with more women in the family have higher water and electricity consumptions even when controlling the family size. Both water and electricity consumptions increase in hotter or drier months. Smaller households are more sensitive to weather variabilities by increasing water use more in face of temperature increases. These findings provide implications on rural water and electricity demand in the context of urbanization and climate change impacts.

JEL-Codes: Q25;Q41;D12

Keywords: Residential water, Electricity, Weather, Northern China

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