This study was conducted to analyze the status of energy use for heating in rural areas and the energy demands required by rural households to maintain temperatures suitable for the residents to live comfortably. In addition, suggestions to improve the thermal comfort of such families are put forward. In this study, we obtained data regarding temperature changes and energy consumption in two villages in the region through field observations and recorded records, after which we set up trend surface models and calculated the accumulated temperature differences and actual energy consumption for the heating period. We then compared the actual thermal efficiency and the theoretic thermal efficiency in the case of energy-saving technology based on relevant national standards. Although large amounts of fuels were consumed by households for heating, they only met 39.6% and 46.6% of the energy required to maintain a suitable living standard in Zhangguan Village and Hepan Village respectively. However, the current integrated thermal efficiency of energy consumption for household heating is only about 17%. These findings indicate that the inadequate heating in the area is not due to inadequate energy, but to inadequate technology. Therefore, the potential for improving integrated thermal efficiency by the application of energy-saving technologies is enormous. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.