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This study investigated three research questions. Is there any correlation among income level, household size, and energy use among households of a city in a developing country? What gaps exist between energy saving behavior and practices of households? What is the current local awareness and level of use of renewable energy? These questions were addressed though a quantitative and qualitative approach with a survey using a Likert scale and yes/no answers. A random sampling technique was used to survey a total of 1150 household of 46 communities of six districts of Xiamen city of China. This data, in addition to the descriptive statistics, were analyzed through a Chi square test, Mann-Whitney test, and regression analysis. Results revealed that the energy supply mix of all the communities predominantly consisted of electricity (74%). Surprisingly results of this study are contradictory to the sustainable energy goals of China-2020. There was no source of renewable energy in the energy supply mix. Statistical significant relationship was found between income and energy use whereas there was a significant difference between household size and energy use. Households are using mostly non-efficient devices. No energy conservation and renewable energy awareness programs have been initiated by the government. Respondents are very willing to conserve energy and pay for renewable energy sources provided such initiatives have government support and programs that have a reward system. Recommendations include that local-scale policy makers should launch campaigns about energy saving awareness to shrink the gap between awareness and practice. • Quantification of gaps between energy conservation knowledge and behavior among high-income households of Xiamen city. • 1150 households, 46 communities and six districts are analyzed for energy emission and renewable energy adaptation. • A significant correlation was found among income, household size, and energy use. • There is dire need to shrink the gap between energy-saving awareness and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 crisis has caused a huge negative shock to economic activities worldwide, leading to a reduction in income and changes in income distribution. Intergenerational mobility is an important indicator of sustainable social development. This paper explores the short-term impacts of the sudden COVID-19 pandemic on intergenerational income mobility and personal income in China. Using the variation in the number of confirmed cases across provinces, we construct a province-level pandemic intensity index and combine it with individual data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). We apply a general difference-in-difference strategy to identify the causal effect of the pandemic on intergenerational income mobility. We find that personal income is positively related to parental income, and that the COVID-19 crisis has caused a decline in individual income and exacerbated intergenerational income persistence. A more intense COVID-19 pandemic shock is associated with a larger increase in intergenerational income elasticity and intergenerational income rank-rank slope. We found that with one standard deviation increase in local pandemic intensity, the intergenerational income elasticity increases by 0.315 and the intergenerational income rank-rank slope increases by 0.198 on average. The mechanism testing suggests that heterogeneous effects among different groups are the force underlying the results. Low-income, low-skilled, and low-parental-income individuals have suffered a more severe impact from the pandemic shock.