The Improved Biomass Stove Saves Wood, But How Often Do People Use It? : Evidence from a Randomized Treatment Trial in Ethiopia
This paper uses a randomized experimental design and real-time electronic stove use monitors to evaluate the frequency with which villagers use improved biomass-burning Mirt injera cookstoves in rural Ethiopia. Understanding whether, how much, and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/06/24603652/improved-biomass-stove-saves-wood-often-people-use-evidence-randomized-treatment-trial-ethiopia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22170 |
| Summary: | This paper uses a randomized
experimental design and real-time electronic stove use
monitors to evaluate the frequency with which villagers use
improved biomass-burning Mirt injera cookstoves in rural
Ethiopia. Understanding whether, how much, and why improved
cookstoves are used is important, because use of the
improved stove is a critical determinant of indoor air
pollution reductions, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions
due to lower fuelwood consumption. Confirming use is, for
example, a critical aspect of crediting improved cookstoves’
climate change benefits under the United Nations Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Programme. The paper finds that Ethiopian households in the
study area do use the Mirt stove on a regular basis, taking
into account regional differences in cooking patterns. In
general, stove users also use their Mirt stoves more
frequently over time. Giving the Mirt stove away for free
and supporting community-level user networks are estimated
to lead to more use. The study found no evidence, however,
that stove recipients use the stoves more if they have to
pay for them, a hypothesis that frequently arises in policy
arenas and has also been examined in the literature. |
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