IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v125y2018icp445-455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of the performance of distributed and centralized biomass technologies in rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Weishi
  • Wang, Can
  • Zhang, Long
  • Xu, Ying
  • Cui, Yuanzheng
  • Lu, Zifeng
  • Streets, David G.

Abstract

Biomass fermentation and gasification are two types of biomass utilization technologies for residential households. Government plays an essential role in the diffusion of improved technologies. Cost-effectiveness analysis can provide the cost and abatement potentials of each alternative under a single abatement strategy; however, it is difficult for policy-makers to make an integrated assessment when multiple objectives are involved. This paper evaluates the performance of three distributed alternatives and two centralized alternatives for residential biomass use in rural China, including centralized biogas and centralized gasifier systems. An integrated assessment approach is built, which combines cost-benefit analysis, an entropy-weighting method, and a preference-ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations using the PROMETHEE approach. A total of 686 sample households in three regions of China were surveyed in this study. The centralized gasifier system and distributed household biogas were the top two alternatives for further development to meet the government's 2020 development goal for biogas technology. The overall biomass utilization amount in the prioritized scenario is about three times that of the business-as-usual scenario by 2020. This study can provide significant insights for China's policy-makers to draft strategic policies and countermeasures that will promote the development of renewable energy in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Weishi & Wang, Can & Zhang, Long & Xu, Ying & Cui, Yuanzheng & Lu, Zifeng & Streets, David G., 2018. "Evaluation of the performance of distributed and centralized biomass technologies in rural China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 445-455.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:125:y:2018:i:c:p:445-455
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118302611
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fisher, Brendan & Turner, R. Kerry & Morling, Paul, 2009. "Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 643-653, January.
    2. Ma, Jian & Fan, Zhi-Ping & Huang, Li-Hua, 1999. "A subjective and objective integrated approach to determine attribute weights," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 397-404, January.
    3. Li, Zhimin & Tang, Runsheng & Xia, Chaofeng & Luo, Huilong & Zhong, Hao, 2005. "Towards green rural energy in Yunnan, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-108.
    4. Wang, Jiang-Jiang & Jing, You-Yin & Zhang, Chun-Fa & Zhao, Jun-Hong, 2009. "Review on multi-criteria decision analysis aid in sustainable energy decision-making," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2263-2278, December.
    5. Chen, Yu & Yang, Gaihe & Sweeney, Sandra & Feng, Yongzhong, 2010. "Household biogas use in rural China: A study of opportunities and constraints," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 545-549, January.
    6. Yau, Y.H. & Hasbi, S., 2013. "A review of climate change impacts on commercial buildings and their technical services in the tropics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 430-441.
    7. Asadullah, Mohammad, 2014. "Barriers of commercial power generation using biomass gasification gas: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 201-215.
    8. Løken, Espen & Botterud, Audun & Holen, Arne T., 2009. "Use of the equivalent attribute technique in multi-criteria planning of local energy systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(3), pages 1075-1083, September.
    9. Chatzimouratidis, Athanasios I. & Pilavachi, Petros A., 2009. "Sensitivity analysis of technological, economic and sustainability evaluation of power plants using the analytic hierarchy process," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 788-798, March.
    10. Bertrand Mareschal & Jean Pierre Brans & Philippe Vincke, 1986. "How to select and how to rank projects: the Prométhée method," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/9307, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Xiaohua, Wang & Chonglan, Di & Xiaoyan, Hu & Weiming, Wu & Xiaoping, Jiang & Shangyun, Jiang, 2007. "The influence of using biogas digesters on family energy consumption and its economic benefit in rural areas--comparative study between Lianshui and Guichi in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 1018-1024, June.
    12. Zeng, Xianyang & Ma, Yitai & Ma, Lirong, 2007. "Utilization of straw in biomass energy in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 976-987, June.
    13. Brans, J. P. & Vincke, Ph. & Mareschal, B., 1986. "How to select and how to rank projects: The method," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 228-238, February.
    14. Greening, Lorna A. & Bernow, Steve, 2004. "Design of coordinated energy and environmental policies: use of multi-criteria decision-making," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 721-735, April.
    15. Grima-Olmedo, C. & Ramírez-Gómez, Á. & Alcalde-Cartagena, R., 2014. "Energetic performance of landfill and digester biogas in a domestic cooker," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 301-308.
    16. Qu, Wei & Tu, Qin & Bluemling, Bettina, 2013. "Which factors are effective for farmers’ biogas use?–Evidence from a large-scale survey in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 26-33.
    17. Mamlook, Rustom & Akash, Bilal A & Mohsen, Mousa S, 2001. "A neuro-fuzzy program approach for evaluating electric power generation systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 619-632.
    18. Jovanović, Marina & Afgan, Naim & Radovanović, Predrag & Stevanović, Vladimir, 2009. "Sustainable development of the Belgrade energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 532-539.
    19. Gosens, Jorrit & Lu, Yonglong & He, Guizhen & Bluemling, Bettina & Beckers, Theo A.M., 2013. "Sustainability effects of household-scale biogas in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 273-287.
    20. Begić, Fajik & Afgan, Naim H., 2007. "Sustainability assessment tool for the decision making in selection of energy system—Bosnian case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1979-1985.
    21. Meier, Alan & Rosenfeld, Arthur H. & Wright, Janice, 1982. "Supply curves of conserved energy for California's residential sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 347-358.
    22. He, Guizhen & Bluemling, Bettina & Mol, Arthur P.J. & Zhang, Lei & Lu, Yonglong, 2013. "Comparing centralized and decentralized bio-energy systems in rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 34-43.
    23. Troldborg, Mads & Heslop, Simon & Hough, Rupert L., 2014. "Assessing the sustainability of renewable energy technologies using multi-criteria analysis: Suitability of approach for national-scale assessments and associated uncertainties," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1173-1184.
    24. Wang, Jiang-Jiang & Jing, You-Yin & Zhang, Chun-Fa & Shi, Guo-Hua & Zhang, Xu-Tao, 2008. "A fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making model for trigeneration system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 3823-3832, October.
    25. Levihn, F. & Nuur, C. & Laestadius, S., 2014. "Marginal abatement cost curves and abatement strategies: Taking option interdependency and investments unrelated to climate change into account," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 336-344.
    26. Wang, Can & Zhang, Weishi & Cai, Wenjia & Xie, Xi, 2013. "Employment impacts of CDM projects in China's power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 481-491.
    27. Macharis, Cathy & Springael, Johan & De Brucker, Klaas & Verbeke, Alain, 2004. "PROMETHEE and AHP: The design of operational synergies in multicriteria analysis.: Strengthening PROMETHEE with ideas of AHP," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(2), pages 307-317, March.
    28. Kabir, Golam & Sumi, Razia Sultana, 2014. "Power substation location selection using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and PROMETHEE: A case study from Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 717-730.
    29. Pohekar, S.D. & Ramachandran, M., 2004. "Multi-criteria evaluation of cooking energy alternatives for promoting parabolic solar cooker in India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1449-1460.
    30. Chatzimouratidis, Athanasios I. & Pilavachi, Petros A., 2009. "Technological, economic and sustainability evaluation of power plants using the Analytic Hierarchy Process," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 778-787, March.
    31. Turner, R. Kerry & Paavola, Jouni & Cooper, Philip & Farber, Stephen & Jessamy, Valma & Georgiou, Stavros, 2003. "Valuing nature: lessons learned and future research directions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 493-510, October.
    32. Pérez, Irene & Garfí, Marianna & Cadena, Erasmo & Ferrer, Ivet, 2014. "Technical, economic and environmental assessment of household biogas digesters for rural communities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 313-318.
    33. Leung, Dennis Y. C. & Yin, X. L. & Wu, C. Z., 2004. "A review on the development and commercialization of biomass gasification technologies in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 8(6), pages 565-580, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniela M. Yamaji & Saulo F. Amâncio-Vieira & Reginaldo Fidelis & Eduardo A. do R. Contani, 2024. "Proposal of Multicriteria Decision-Making Models for Biogas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Xue, Shengrong & Song, Jinghui & Wang, Xiaojiao & Shang, Zezhou & Sheng, Chenjing & Li, Chongyuan & Zhu, Yufan & Liu, Jingyu, 2020. "A systematic comparison of biogas development and related policies between China and Europe and corresponding insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    3. Xinxin Liu & Nan Li & Feng Liu & Hailin Mu & Longxi Li & Xiaoyu Liu, 2021. "Optimal Design on Fossil-to-Renewable Energy Transition of Regional Integrated Energy Systems under CO 2 Emission Abatement Control: A Case Study in Dalian, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-25, May.
    4. Liu, Liansheng & Wang, Dongji & Gao, Liwei & Duan, Runze, 2020. "Distributed heating/centralized monitoring mode of biomass briquette fuel in Chinese northern rural areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 1221-1230.
    5. Bi, Shaojie & Qiao, Wei & Xiong, Linpeng & Ricci, Marina & Adani, Fabrizio & Dong, Renjie, 2019. "Effects of organic loading rate on anaerobic digestion of chicken manure under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 242-250.
    6. Zhang, Weishi & Xu, Ying & Wang, Can & Streets, David G., 2022. "Assessment of the driving factors of CO2 mitigation costs of household biogas systems in China: A LMDI decomposition with cost analysis model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 978-989.
    7. Chen, Qiu, 2021. "District or distributed space heating in rural residential sector? Empirical evidence from a discrete choice experiment in South China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    8. Linlin Ye & Xiaodong Wu & Dandan Huang, 2020. "Industrial Energy-Related CO 2 Emissions and Their Driving Factors in the Yangtze River Economic Zone (China): An Extended LMDI Analysis from 2008 to 2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    9. Isidro A. Pérez & María de los Ángeles García & María Luisa Sánchez & Nuria Pardo, 2021. "Influence of Wind Speed on CO 2 and CH 4 Concentrations at a Rural Site," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Qiang Wang & Thomas Dogot & Xianlei Huang & Linna Fang & Changbin Yin, 2020. "Coupling of Rural Energy Structure and Straw Utilization: Based on Cases in Hebei, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    11. Egorov, Aleksei V. (Егоров, Алексей В.) & Borzykh, Olga A. (Борзых, Ольга А.), 2018. "Asymmetric Interest Rate Pass-Through in Russia [Асимметрия Процентного Канала Денежной Трансмиссии В России]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 92-121, February.
    12. Jiang, Lu & Xue, Bing & Ma, Zhixiao & Yu, Lu & Huang, Beijia & Chen, Xingpeng, 2020. "A life-cycle based co-benefits analysis of biomass pellet production in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 445-452.
    13. Jiang, Lu & Yu, Lu & Xue, Bing & Chen, Xingpeng & Mi, Zhifu, 2020. "Who is energy poor? Evidence from the least developed regions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Cui, Yuanzheng & Zhang, Weishi & Wang, Can & Streets, David G. & Xu, Ying & Du, Mingxi & Lin, Jintai, 2019. "Spatiotemporal dynamics of CO2 emissions from central heating supply in the North China Plain over 2012–2016 due to natural gas usage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 245-256.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shen, Yung-Chi & Lin, Grace T.R. & Li, Kuang-Pin & Yuan, Benjamin J.C., 2010. "An assessment of exploiting renewable energy sources with concerns of policy and technology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4604-4616, August.
    2. Wang, Jiang-Jiang & Jing, You-Yin & Zhang, Chun-Fa & Zhao, Jun-Hong, 2009. "Review on multi-criteria decision analysis aid in sustainable energy decision-making," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2263-2278, December.
    3. Strantzali, Eleni & Aravossis, Konstantinos, 2016. "Decision making in renewable energy investments: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 885-898.
    4. Kurka, Thomas & Blackwood, David, 2013. "Participatory selection of sustainability criteria and indicators for bioenergy developments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 92-102.
    5. Mainali, Brijesh & Silveira, Semida, 2015. "Using a sustainability index to assess energy technologies for rural electrification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1351-1365.
    6. Shen, Yung-Chi & Chou, Chiyang James & Lin, Grace T.R., 2011. "The portfolio of renewable energy sources for achieving the three E policy goals," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2589-2598.
    7. Parajuli, Ranjan & Dalgaard, Tommy & Jørgensen, Uffe & Adamsen, Anders Peter S. & Knudsen, Marie Trydeman & Birkved, Morten & Gylling, Morten & Schjørring, Jan Kofod, 2015. "Biorefining in the prevailing energy and materials crisis: a review of sustainable pathways for biorefinery value chains and sustainability assessment methodologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-263.
    8. Jamal, Taskin & Urmee, Tania & Shafiullah, G.M., 2020. "Planning of off-grid power supply systems in remote areas using multi-criteria decision analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    9. Seddiki, Mohammed & Bennadji, Amar, 2019. "Multi-criteria evaluation of renewable energy alternatives for electricity generation in a residential building," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 101-117.
    10. Mourmouris, J.C. & Potolias, C., 2013. "A multi-criteria methodology for energy planning and developing renewable energy sources at a regional level: A case study Thassos, Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 522-530.
    11. Troldborg, Mads & Heslop, Simon & Hough, Rupert L., 2014. "Assessing the sustainability of renewable energy technologies using multi-criteria analysis: Suitability of approach for national-scale assessments and associated uncertainties," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1173-1184.
    12. Ortiz, Willington & Terrapon-Pfaff, Julia & Dienst, Carmen, 2017. "Understanding the diffusion of domestic biogas technologies. Systematic conceptualisation of existing evidence from developing and emerging countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1287-1299.
    13. Alkan, Ömer & Albayrak, Özlem Karadağ, 2020. "Ranking of renewable energy sources for regions in Turkey by fuzzy entropy based fuzzy COPRAS and fuzzy MULTIMOORA," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 712-726.
    14. Urošević, Branka Gvozdenac & Marinović, Budimirka, 2021. "Ranking construction of small hydro power plants using multi-criteria decision analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1174-1183.
    15. Georgiou, Dimitris & Mohammed, Essam Sh. & Rozakis, Stelios, 2015. "Multi-criteria decision making on the energy supply configuration of autonomous desalination units," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 459-467.
    16. Kurka, Thomas & Blackwood, David, 2013. "Selection of MCA methods to support decision making for renewable energy developments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 225-233.
    17. Simsek, Yeliz & Watts, David & Escobar, Rodrigo, 2018. "Sustainability evaluation of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by using Multi Criteria Decision Method (MCDM)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 421-438.
    18. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2006. "Decision analysis in energy and environmental modeling: An update," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 2604-2622.
    19. Chen, Qiu & Liu, Tianbiao, 2017. "Biogas system in rural China: Upgrading from decentralized to centralized?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 933-944.
    20. Bruno Domenech & Laia Ferrer‐Martí & Rafael Pastor, 2019. "Comparison of various approaches to design wind‐PV rural electrification projects in remote areas of developing countries," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:125:y:2018:i:c:p:445-455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.