Social perceptions about a technological innovation for fuelwood cooking: Case study in rural Mexico

Troncoso, Karin; Melgoza‐Castillo, Alicia; Masera, Omar; Merino, Leticia

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2006.12.011

Cited by 117 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Another impediment to technology transfer and diffusion is that the innovation can be misinterpreted or incompatible with the values of a specific targeted system. This observation is aligned with a study of Troncoso et al [29] on the social perceptions of a technological innovation that was implemented in rural Mexico. This study shows that adoption is restricted by potential adopters' perceptions.…”

Section: Innovation In Developing Countriessupporting

confidence: 51%

“…This study shows that adoption is restricted by potential adopters' perceptions. Troncoso et al [29] note that businesses need an implementation strategy that targets different adopter behaviours, as well as a long-term vision. Additionally, in a study focusing on the assessment of bioenergy alternatives in Uganda, Okello et al [16] found that the adoption rate of bioenergy technologies can potentially increase if policies can make it more affordable.…”

Section: Innovation In Developing Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mini-grids and renewable energy in rural Africa: How diffusion theory explains adoption of electricity in Uganda

Eder

Mutsaerts²,

Sriwannawit

2015

Energy Research & Social Science

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a b s t r a c tWith diffusion theory as the point of departure, this study analyses the factors that influence the adoption of renewable electricity from individual households' perspectives. The analysis is based on a case study provided by a Swedish energy service company operating in rural Uganda. The company distributes electricity to rural households via a mini-grid powered by a biomass gasification system. Three critical dimensions are identified to be crucial for adoption: technical, economic, and social. First, there is an emphasis on the relative advantages of the new technology. Second, there are economic requirements regarding a viable financial system for adopters, especially in such a low-income market. Third, the social dimension is critical, particularly the importance of foreign firms collaborating with local actors. We further suggest that a lack of understanding of local communities can lead foreign companies to fail in diffusion attempts. While we focus on Uganda, the results of our research are highly relevant for foreign actors who attempt to penetrate rural markets in developing countries in general.

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Section: Innovation In Developing Countriessupporting

confidence: 51%

Section: Innovation In Developing Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mini-grids and renewable energy in rural Africa: How diffusion theory explains adoption of electricity in Uganda

Eder

Mutsaerts²,

Sriwannawit

2015

Energy Research & Social Science

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“…Community's acceptance [2,8,9,[17][18][19][20]25,26,[29][30][31]58,71,91] "The acceptance of renewable energy is more likely if the community feels that its current supply is problematical. It may be that the lifestyle changes mentioned above are wholly acceptable as they are already equivalent to or an improvement on the current situation" [71] (p. 188).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, such acceptance will be stronger if participants perceive that the projects contribute to the enhancement of their lives and livelihoods, particularly in rural communities of developing countries where resources are scarce and living conditions are tough [2,29,30]. Acceptance may in fact improve the appropriation of technology and its sustainability in the future, which can only be achieved through people, their motivation to take care of the technology, their interest to understand it and their commitment to make it possible [31]. The lack of consideration of this concept by policy and decision-makers may be a determinant for the failure of a renewable energy project.…”

Section: Community Acceptance and Renewable Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

et al. 2016

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Rapid population growth and increasing concern related to improving the living standards in impoverished communities without damaging the natural environment have drawn attention to the adoption of renewable energy systems (RES) around the world. Despite this global trend, the implementation of these projects has not succeeded completely in rural poor communities due to several factors, including social barriers faced at the time of their execution. These social barriers lead to poor acceptance of the projects and their consequent abandonment. Acceptance is a social construct that is influenced by several factors that need to be understood to achieve successful and sustainable results in the future. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model, based on principles of sustainability and systems thinking, to understand the interrelationships among the main factors that have been reported in the literature as key to determining the sustainability and community acceptance of RES projects. To do so, we review the existing literature on sustainability and social acceptance of RES and then construct a causal-loop diagram of their driving factors. While doing so, we also view the problem through the lens of the sustainable livelihoods framework, aiming to maintain the perspective of rural communities and observing the impacts of RES on their contextual reality. The resulting model helps to understand the multiple interactions that RES projects have with rural communities as well as identify potential intervention points for future projects. We end the paper with a discussion of the implications of the model and how can it be used to inform future rural energy decision making.

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“…N 2 O was not included as it has been shown to be a negligible fraction of CO 2 -e emissions from biomass stoves (7,14).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Carbon Savings from Improved Biomass Cookstove Projects

Johnson

Edwards

Ghilardi

et al. 2009

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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In spite of growing interest, a principal obstacle to wider inclusion of improved cookstove projects in carbon trading schemes has been the lack of accountability in estimating CO 2 -equivalent (CO 2 -e) savings. To demonstrate that robust estimates of CO 2 -e savings can be obtained at reasonable cost, an integrated approach of community-based subsampling of traditional and improved stoves in homes to estimate fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, combined with spatially explicit community-based estimates of the fraction of nonrenewable biomass harvesting (fNRB), was used to estimate CO 2 -e savings for 603 homes with improved Patsari stoves in Purépecha communities of Michoacán, Mexico. Mean annual household CO 2 -e savings for CO 2 , CH 4 , CO, and nonmethane hydrocarbons were 3.9 tCO 2 -e home -1 yr -1 (95% CI ( 22%), and for Kyoto gases (CO 2 and CH 4 ) were 3.1 tCO 2 -e home -1 yr -1 (95% CI ( 26%), respectively, using a weighted mean fNRB harvesting of 39%. CO 2 -e savings ranged from 1.6 (95% CI ( 49%) to 7.5 (95% CI ( 17%) tCO 2 -e home -1 yr -1 for renewable and nonrenewable harvesting in individual communities, respectively. Since emission factors, fuel consumption, and fNRB each contribute significantly to the overall uncertainty in estimates of CO 2 -e savings, communitybased assessment of all of these parameters is critical for robust estimates. Reporting overall uncertainty in the CO 2 -e savings estimates provides a mechanism for valuation of carbon offsets, which would promote better accounting that CO 2 -e savings had actually been achieved. Cost of CO 2 -e savings as a result of adoption of Patsari stoves was US$8 per tCO 2 -e based on initial stove costs, monitoring costs, and conservative stove adoption rates, which is ∼4 times less expensive than use of carbon capture and storage from coal plants, and ∼18 times less than solar power. The low relative cost of CO 2 -e abatement of improved stoves combined with substantial health cobenefits through reduction in indoor air pollution provides a strong rationale for targeting these less expensive carbon mitigation options, while providing substantial economic assistance for stove dissemination efforts. IntroductionThere is growing interest in trading carbon offsets from improved stove programs on carbon markets for voluntary reductions, or as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. This interest arises from the large number of people that still cook with biomass (approximately half of the global population) (1), and because emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) relative to delivered energy are high as a result of poor total energy efficiency of traditional stoves. There are three principal barriers to more widespread acceptance of carbon offsets from improved biomass cookstove projects. First, measurement and verification of emissions reductions are complex compared to the stack monitors typically used for industrial facilities, as stoves are spread over large areas, often in remote regions. Traditional assess...

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Social perceptions about a technological innovation for fuelwood cooking: Case study in rural Mexico

Cited by 117 publications

References 6 publications

Mini-grids and renewable energy in rural Africa: How diffusion theory explains adoption of electricity in Uganda

Mini-grids and renewable energy in rural Africa: How diffusion theory explains adoption of electricity in Uganda

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

Quantification of Carbon Savings from Improved Biomass Cookstove Projects

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