Exploring the nature of rural energy transition in India

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of rural energy transition in cooking options in India. Although India is aiming to achieve a double-digit economic growth, a large share of rural households still rely on firewood for cooking which not only has serious repercussions of increasing indoor pollution but also has a concomitant adverse effect on women and child morbidity and mortality. However, transition to clean energy options like improved cookstoves for these households may not be necessarily linear. It is often driven or resisted by latent factors such as caste, trust, social capital, information flow, social positioning of clusters that are deeply embedded in the social and cultural norms and values specific to local rural contexts. This has been shown in the present case study that pertains to eight villages in the remote and deprived Purnea district of Bihar and the need for internalizing them in the macro energy policymaking has been established in the paper. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies a macro foundation research that is complemented by micro foundation tools of fuzzy cognitive mapping-based mental model framework to achieve the purpose of the study. Focused-group discussions and interviews are also conducted to establish the narrative of the paper. Findings Caste, socio-political position, asset structure, remoteness, culture and technology access affect rural households’ decision making capability that is related to shifting from using the traditionalmeans of firewood and biomass based traditional cookstoves for cooking to adopting improved clean cooking stoves which will enable the transition toward the use of clean rural energy in the eight villages in Bihar chosen for this study. Research limitations/implications The findings of the paper have larger implications for the broader macro energy policymaking in the country by taking into account the non-linear, latent factors of village contexts. Practical implications The research will help energy policymakers in decision-making and will guide the implementation process of national- and state-level policies on rural energy transition in India. Social implications The findings of the paper will help the smoother implementation of national- and state-level rural energy transition policies for cooking, creating developmental dividends for rural Indian households. Originality/value The research is new with regard to the application of non-deterministic fuzzy cognitive mapping-based mental model approach to contribute to the country’s national- and state-level rural energy transition policies.

Drivers and Barriers to Clean Cooking: A Systematic Literature Review from a Consumer Behavior Perspective

“…Urmee and Gyamfi (2014) argue that programs aimed at the adoption of ICS fail when customers are afraid of using new technologies [5]. Similarly, Goswami et al (2017) report that trust in a new technology increases the probability of switching to ICS [77]. A positive attitude toward technology is usually associated with higher social class; for example, an interesting study conducted in India found that lower social classes are more likely to reject traditional technology than elites [39].…”

“…As described by Tigabu (2017), positive reputation in terms of compatibility with the cooking culture of a community increases the use of ICS [86]. Cooking practices and taste/dietary preference related to the local culture are involved in decision making about ICS adoption [4,32,77,88]. In particular, some studies have found that attachment to the particular taste of food cooked on traditional stoves may act as a barrier to the adoption of LPG stoves [12,39,61,81], highlighting that it is not possible to prepare certain traditional dishes with ICS [88].…”

“…In particular, some studies have found that attachment to the particular taste of food cooked on traditional stoves may act as a barrier to the adoption of LPG stoves [12,39,61,81], highlighting that it is not possible to prepare certain traditional dishes with ICS [88]. For example, Goswami et al (2017) explain that the preference for a traditionally cooked chapatti (a type of unleavened flatbread) creates a bias against the use of ICS [77]. Hollada et al (2017) conducted in-depth interviews in Peru and found that when they have time, people enjoy collecting fuel and cooking, and these tasks are often considered valued social opportunities [88].…”

“…(4) Attitude toward technology [6,8,9,39,42,49,61,75,77] Consumers' resistance toward technology is associated with a lower intention to adopt ICS.…”

“…• Local culture [4][5][6]32,39,56,61,62,77,81,82,87,88,[92][93][94] The cooking practices and dietary preferences related to the local culture strongly reduce the adoption of ICS. Traditional food preparation practices are considered important components of cultural identity.…”