Assessment of diverse energy consumption structure and social capital: A case of southern Shaanxi province China

This study aims to analyze the current situation of farmers' social capital and energy consumption structure in the Qinba mountainous area of southern Shaanxi China. Based on 746 survey data of farmers' social capital and energy consumption it further explores the impact of social capital on farmers' energy consumption structure by using Tobit model and Logit models. Findings of this study reveal that: (1) The energy consumption of farmers in the Qinba mountainous area of southern Shaanxi is diverse and structurally stable. Farmers' energy consumption is mainly based on the electricity, coal, and firewood and farmers' utilization rate of coal, gasoline, and diesel, liquid gas, and solar energy is more than 30%. (2) Findings also reveal that farmers' energy consumption gradually turned to commercialization; cleaning farmers' energy consumption had an obvious tendency, and the power utilization rate was 94.3%. (3) Social capital was significantly positively correlated with commercial energy consumption and new energy consumption, and significantly negatively correlated with non-commercial energy consumption. Improving farmers' social capital, improving energy infrastructure and optimizing energy consumption structure can not only improve farmers' quality of life in rural areas, but also provide reference for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and alleviating global environmental degradation. •This study analyzes the current situation of energy consumption structure.•The results show that energy consumption in the study is diverse and stable.•Social capital has significant correlation with commodity energy consumption.•Social capital has significant negative correlation with non-commodity energy.•Improving farmers' social capital can alleviate global environmental degradation.