According to "China Rural Statistical Yearbook of 2006", annual household energy consumption for life in rural areas in 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China has reached 320 million tce, accounting for 20% of total building energy consumption in China. Promoting building energy-saving work northern rural areas is critical to the result of China’s overall building energy efficiency and is related to national energy strategies and sustainable economic and social development. Development of biomass energy and other renewable energy-based new rural energy systems and significantly improving the insulation performance and heating ways of rural buildings will better meet the energy needs of rural buildings and achieve socialist new rural construction that could meet requirements of sustainable development.Mastering energy consumption situation in Chinese northern areas will be critical for prediction of future energy use demands in northern rural areas and policy formulation for northern rural areas in future.

The purpose of rural building energy efficiency is to coordinate resources, environmental and economic development, encourage rural areas to take highly effective and reasonable biomass and other advanced technology according to local conditions and provide clean and highly efficient energy consumption way in rural areas, so as to meet the increasing demands of farmers for building energy consumption and improve life quality of farmers, instead of limiting demand for energy use increase in rural areas and decreasing or maintaining current building energy consumption level in rural areas. Changing the current energy consumption patterns in rural areas, encouraging rural development of solar energy, biomass and other clean energy sources and guiding sustainable energy use in rural areas and scientific transformation of energy use structure in northern rural areas will not only liberate farmers’ consumption from purchase of coal, gas and other commercialized energy; but also develop biomass energy industry, use agricultural products and wastes to produce new energy and expand the use and processing ways of agricultural raw materials, so as to provide agricultural products with a platform of high added value and unlimited market potential, extend the industrial chain of agriculture, increase agricultural efficiency and extend space for rural surplus labor, playing a great role in promoting regional economic development and increasing rural incomes. How to guide China's energy structure in northern rural areas will be great of significance for national energy strategy and economic and social sustainable development.