Household Use of Bottled Gas for Cooking : Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Analysis of household energy use has tended to focus on primary energy sources for cooking, lighting, and heating. However, even those using clean primary energy sources are not necessarily free from household air pollution and the burden of biomas...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099510506152214492/IDU0622ba7fb01cda047d309fcd0b638e9f0266b http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37573 |
| Summary: | Analysis of household energy use has
tended to focus on primary energy sources for cooking,
lighting, and heating. However, even those using clean
primary energy sources are not necessarily free from
household air pollution and the burden of biomass collection
because of commonly practiced fuel stacking. This paper
examines household energy use in 24 Sub-Saharan African
countries with a focus on bottled cooking gas, which is
expected to play a pivotal role in the attainment of
universal access to clean household energy by 2030. The
share of people using clean energy (electricity and gas) as
the primary source exceeded half only in five countries,
with liquefied petroleum gas dominating in three and
electricity in two. As income rose, households shifted away
from wood in every country, to clean energy in most
countries and to charcoal in some. Of the 12 countries
(nationally or in urban areas) in which at least one-fifth
of the population used liquefied petroleum gas as their
primary cooking fuel, more than three-fifths of primary
liquefied petroleum gas users had abandoned polluting fuels
in five countries. Within per capita expenditure quintiles,
households who had abandoned all polluting fuels were
consistently smaller than those who continued to use
polluting fuels, mainly charcoal or kerosene, perhaps
pointing to the ease of cooking for small families
exclusively with liquefied petroleum gas and electricity.
However, liquefied petroleum gas–using households in the top
expenditure quintile who had not abandoned polluting fuels
were on average smaller than those in the fourth quintile
who had abandoned polluting fuels. These findings point to
reasons for fuel stacking that seem to go beyond the
question of affordability. |
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