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Sustainable energy for household application is currently a top priority in developing countries with clean modern energy sources dominating the energy policy agenda. Nonetheless, more research evidence is required for policy and practise. This study’s objective was to evaluate the determinants of household cooking and lighting energy choices. In contrast to other studies, this study employed a holistic approach by considering all the energy technologies utilised by a household. It was hypothesised that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics influence household energy choices. Probit model was used to determine causation using data from a random sample of 487 households drawn from Vihiga county. The marginal effects indicate that the decision of a household to utilise clean cooking fuels is enhanced by income (0.14), access to credit (0.10), male as the household head (0.56), higher education attainment (0.22), increasing age (0.08), and increasing household size (0.02). In addition to these factors, room count (0.04) and marital status (0.06) also enhanced a household’s decision to utilise clean energy for lighting. These results emphasise the importance of socioeconomic and demographic factors in achieving sustainable household energy access. To a large extent, a household’s decision to utilise clean energy is determined by its income and level of education.

Environmental degradation, including air quality deterioration, has been mainly attributed to anthropogenic activities. Air pollution has become a pressing issue in industrialised and highly populated areas due to the combustion of fossil fuels and industrial operations. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus. This imposed restrictions on many economic activities, thus providing the environment with an opportunity to heal. The COVID-19 response measures adopted by most countries, including lockdown, restricted movement, and other containment measures, led to a significant decrease in energy use in the transport sector. Due to low electricity access levels in developing countries, traditional energy sources make up the bulk of energy used for most domestic energy services. Biomass combustion emits carbon monoxide (CO), while the transport sector is a major contributor of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This study was purposed to investigate the short-term effects of COVID-19 on CO and NO2 concentration levels in Nairobi, Vihiga and Tana River counties. The study utilised data on CO surface concentration, NO2 column concentration and reported COVID-19 cases. Time series, correlation analysis and spatial and temporal map analysis were carried out to investigate the changes and relationships among the study parameters. The three counties were selected based on the urbanisation and population. Nairobi county represented an urban setting, while the Vihiga and Tana River counties represented rural areas with high and low population densities, respectively. The CO surface concentrations in Nairobi and Vihiga county significantly correlated with the COVID-19 cases, with both counties portraying negative correlations, i.e., −0.59 (P-value: 0.008) and −0.45 (P-value: 0.05), respectively. NO2 column concentration also exhibited a significant negative relationship with reported COVID-19 cases in the Vihiga (−0.018, P-value = 0.05) and Tana River (0.17, P-value = 0.00) counties. These findings highlight the need for demographic and economic considerations in CO and NO2 assessments, and allude to a decreased health risk due to CO and NO2 emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic.