Socio-Economic Survey as a Support Tool during the Scaling Up of Improved Stoves in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon)

Abstract

Abstract:Field assessment plays a key role in the evaluation of the energy access modalities and of the socio-economic features that may influence the beneficiaries' choices and preferences in the adoption and use of an energy technology. This work presents the findings of a survey conducted during the implementation of a cooperation project in the Logone Valley (Chad/Cameroon). After an initial period of promotion of an improved cookstove (ICS), a survey was conducted that was aimed at identifying different beneficiary groups, matching their preferences and cooking habits to the technology proposed, in order to best tailor the scaling-up strategy. In-depth analysis of the data gathered identified two household-user behaviors and the relative influencing features: in the urban area, the increased adoption rates confirmed the appropriateness of the technology proposed and its sustainability, whereas in the rural area, ICS use was not perceived by the final users as advantageous and lower adoption rates were observed. Thus, due to the outcome of the survey, the project action was re-oriented in order to achieve a higher impact on the territory and on the population.

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

“…Since energy poverty and limited clean cooking is largely a concern of developing and emerging countries [28], income seems to have a major role in consumer behavior. There is general agreement that household income represents a driver for the adoption of ICS [10,15,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. Higher-income households adopt sustainable cooking systems more frequently than do lower-income households.…”

“…Higher-income households adopt sustainable cooking systems more frequently than do lower-income households. A higher level of income influences the alternative fuels used and offers more possibilities for families to adopt improved cooking systems [30,33,38,40,41]. For example, Lee (2013) found a direct relationship between income and non-solid fuel (e.g., electricity) consumption [28].…”

“…Education seems to play a major role in increasing modern fuel consumption and at the same time reducing biomass use [60]. There is general agreement that more highly educated people tend to adopt ICS more frequently than do less-educated people, both men and women [3,15,29,30,32,35,37,38,45,47,52,57,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. For example, a recent study by Jan et al 2017demonstrates a significant effect of primary or secondary education level on the adoption of ICS in Pakistan compared with no education [10].…”

“…(6) Location: urban vs. rural [14,27,37,38,50,89,91] In urban and suburban areas, the rate of ICS' adoption is higher than in rural areas because of the scarcity of firewood.…”

Comparing Performance of Biomass Gasifier Stoves: Influence of a Multi-Context Approach

“…However, the case of for example ICSs clearly shows the downside of this context-specific strategy. In many cases, initiatives focus mostly on rural areas, with solution directions not adequately aligned with urban end-users [29], or vice versa [30]. The initial focus on either rural or urban segments puts the characteristics of one of these center stage.…”