Substitution strategies for cooking energy: To use gas or electricity?

The Chinese government has called for clean and effective energy substitution for cooking in rural areas. This paper assesses the environmental and economic impacts of various types of cooking fuels and stoves. According to the assessment results, the environmental impacts are highly influenced by the types of fuels and the efficiency of stoves used for cooking. Using biogas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and natural gas for cooking instead of solid fuels can significantly reduce environmental emissions. To provide 1 megajoule (MJ) of useful cooking heat, the environmental costs of lump coal, honeycomb briquettes, and straw are the largest, estimated to be 80.4 yuan/MJ, 73.1 yuan/MJ, and 71.4 yuan/MJ, respectively. In addition, the economic assessment results show that the most expensive source of cooking fuel is LPG, with an average annual cost of 1700 yuan, while the cost of straw and firewood is the cheapest, at less than 100 yuan. The average annual cost of electricity is higher than that of natural gas. Regarding the substitution effects, using natural gas for cooking is better than using electricity. The environmental benefit of electricity substitution is only 10%–20% of natural gas substitution, and the corresponding increasing cost for residents is 1.5 times that of natural gas substitution.