PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (10): 1788-1798.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2021.10.014

• Reviews • Previous Articles    

A review of household energy consumption research from the perspective of spatial scale

JIANG Lu1,2(), HUANG Gengzhi3,*(), XIE Huichun4, WANG Changjian2, GUO Jie2, DONG Zhiqiang4   

  1. 1. School of Geography Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China
    2. Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
    3. School of Geographical Science and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
    4. Key Laboratory of Medicinal Plant and Animal Resources of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Xining 810008, China
  • Received:2020-11-11 Revised:2021-07-21 Online:2021-10-28 Published:2021-12-28
  • Contact: HUANG Gengzhi E-mail:jianglu@gdas.ac.cn;hgzhi3@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of China(42001130);GDAS' Project of Science and Technology Development(2021GDASYL-20210103002);Special Project for Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements of Qinghai Science and Technology Department(2021-SF-138)

Abstract:

Energy is one of the core topics of geographic research. As a typical activity involving regional human-land relationship, household energy consumption is a major trend in the refined research of energy geography. Based on the spatial scale perspective of geography, we reviewed the origins of energy geography research, the spatial characteristics of household energy consumption, formation mechanism, and data sources. Three main conclusions are drawn: 1) Constructing a panoramic survey framework of household energy data, including the geographical type, energy type, quantity, and use in the scope of the survey. 2) Meso-scale research needs to be strengthened. Coordination through the micro-medium-macro-scale relationship is conducive to understanding and grasping the characteristics and patterns of household energy consumption from a nested structure as a whole. 3) Constructing a comprehensive analysis framework of multi-factors such as household attributes, geographic factors, and lifestyles, and analyzing the dynamic drivers for the formation of spatial characteristics of household energy consumption, to realize the essential understanding of the spatial differentiation process of household energy consumption. This study contributes to the internationalization of energy-related spatial research and practice in the field of geography, and has positive significance for supplementing the theoretical perspective of Chinese household energy consumption research.

Key words: household energy consumption, energy geography, spatial scale, spatial characteristics