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The shift towards renewable energy is resulting in increased investment in energy infrastructure, affecting communities of all sizes worldwide. A study on Bugala Island in Lake Victoria, Uganda, explored how socioeconomic factors influence households' decision to adopt hybrid solar electricity. The study utilised a binary logistic regression analysis of cross-sectional research design to understand the significant socioeconomic factors influencing the adoption. The sex of the household head, education level, monthly income, tenure status, and wall and floor materials were the most significant factors for the adoption. However, results suggest that age, household size, marital status, and main occupation were not statistically significant factors in adopting hybrid solar electricity. Insights from these variables can enable policymakers to formulate more efficient and equitable policies geared towards fostering the widespread integration of clean energy solutions. It should be noted that the socioeconomic factors vary in context and location; solar energy systems should be tailored to the needs of each community rather than being implemented using a standardised approach.

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There is an expected increase in the demand for electricity from households in European countries. The outcome of the growing proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy supply mix should result in improved customer awareness regarding their electricity usage. Additionally, they must assume a more proactive role in overseeing their electricity usage. Innovation and pollution management have become crucial catalysts for promoting sustainable economic development and environmental protection. This is a response to the increasing threats posed by climate change. This study addresses this existing research gap in sustainable energy consumption. The research aims to examine the advantages of replacing traditional sources of heating with renewable ones. The empirical case study of households in Poland serves as an illustration of the theoretical foundation. The purpose of the study entails the construction of a multi-equation econometric model describing the mechanisms of electricity consumption in a specific household. The model hypothesis indicates that the model should take the form of a system of interdependent equations. The following will be described: the monthly volume of electricity consumption, the cost of this energy payment (in PLN), and the price per one MWh in a given month. Monthly time series from September 2015 to June 2023 were used. The resulting time series amounted to a count of 94 statistical observations. The results in the form of a multi-level empirical econometric model indicate that the economic, environmental, and social benefits of using renewable sources of heating can make a significant contribution to reducing fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. In the context of growing environmental awareness and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, heat pumps are becoming an increasingly important element in the discussion of the future of heating. Their role in transforming the energy sector in the direction of sustainability is crucial.

China is actively encouraging households to replace traditional solid fuels with clean energy. Based on the Chinese Families Panel Survey (CFPS) data, this paper uses propensity scores matching with the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of clean energy in the household sector on residents’ health status, and whether such an energy transition promotes health equity by favoring relatively disadvantaged social groups. The results show that: (1) The use of cleaner cooking fuels can significantly improve residents’ health status; (2) The older adult and women have higher health returns from the clean energy transition, demonstrating that, from the perspective of age and gender, the energy transition contributes to the promotion of health equity; (3) The clean energy transition has a lower or insignificant health impact on residents who cannot easily obtain clean energy or replace non-clean energy at an affordable price. Most of these individuals live in low-income, energy-poor, or rural households. Thus, the energy transition exacerbates health inequalities. This paper suggests that to reduce the cost of using clean energy and help address key issues in health inequality, Chinese government efforts should focus on improving the affordability, accessibility, and reliability of clean energy.

The transition of households towards cleaner energy is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals. However, the impacts and associated mechanisms of early-life experiences on household energy transition have not been considered. Based on data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey, this study aimed to investigate whether people experiencing China's Great Famine (1959–1961) in their early life promoted household energy transition in adulthood. The varying severity of the Great Famine in different provinces was characterised as a quasi-natural experiment and was used to perform difference-in-differences (DID) estimation analysis for birth cohorts. The results showed that the transitions from firewood, agricultural waste, and animal waste to liquefied petroleum gas and electricity were significant in households with the Great Famine experiences. Specifically, the long-term energy transition effect of the famine was exhibited mostly in those who experienced the famine during childhood (4–11 years old) and adolescence (12–17 years old). Besides, early-life famine experiences led to poor physical health, and more modern forms of energy, such as electricity, were consumed to avoid further deteriorating health. Early-life famine experience also brought psychological trauma to people at that time, which led them to increase Internet use to gain emotional support, and the increased Internet use provided better access to information about the energy transition. Moreover, the household energy transition influenced by early-life famine experience occurred more in female-headed, rural, more educated, and low-income households. Our results illustrated the role of early-life famine experience in household energy transition and provided new insights into developing effective energy policies.

The implementation of the Conversion of Cropland to Forestland Program (CCFP) has affected land-use patterns and biomass availability in China, consequently reshaping household energy consumption patterns. Utilizing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study employs a multinomial logit model to examine the impact of CCFP subsidies on household energy transitions, analyzed through the lenses of the energy ladder and energy types. Additionally, this study differentiates the effects of CCFP subsidies across households with varying characteristics. The empirical results reveal that, from the energy ladder perspective, CCFP subsidies hinder household energy transitions from biomass to both traditional and advanced commercial energy sources. From the energy type perspective, the subsidies impede transitions from biomass energy to coal, electricity, and LPG/LNG. These adverse effects may be attributed to the CCFP subsidy's role in increasing biomass supply and encouraging the use of biomass energy equipment. Moreover, the impacts of CCFP subsidies differ among households based on education level, location, and degree of engagement in farming. Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering land use policies and patterns in the formulation of energy policies aimed at promoting energy transition and alleviating energy poverty. • Energy transition effects of forestland-to-farmland conversion are examined. • The conversion impedes transitions from biomass to commercial energy. • The conversion impedes transitions from biomass to coal, electricity, and LPG/LNG. • The effects are related to increasing biomass supply and promoting equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender is an indispensable dimension, gender equality and empowering all women are core elements in transitioning to sustainable energy. However, current research on how female consciousness impact energy fairness remains insufficient. To fill this gap, utilizing data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), encompassing 16,000 households and 43,147 respondents, we explore how female consciousness influences energy transition. The findings reveal that a rise in female consciousness contributes to advancing household energy transition, particularly in eastern and urban areas where this effect is more pronounced. Further moderating effect analyses indicate that improved levels of female education and heightened female income further enhance the effective utilization of female awareness in driving household energy transition. The study not only deepen our understanding of the relationship between female consciousness and energy transition but also provide a scientific basis for developing energy policies promoting gender equality in developing countries, thus fostering global gender equality and sustainable energy development. • Female consciousness contributes to advancing household energy transition. • Female consciousness has heterogeneous effects on household energy transition. • Improved levels of female education and heightened female income have moderating effects. • China should give high priority to improving female consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a longitudinal analysis of the multiple stacking options that emerge from a "Patsari" clean woodburning cookstove dissemination program in rural Mexico, directed to households with-and-without previous access to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The analysis is based on Kitchen Performance Tests applied to 134 households belonging to 10 villages of Central Mexico, where household fuelwood consumption before-and-after the installation of the Patsari cookstove was measured. The analysis showed that: a) from the initial two categories of users (Open Fire and LPG) the adoption of Patsari stoves led to the emergence of six categories of users or stacking options (Patsari-alone; Patsari-LPG; Patsari-LPG-Open fire; Patsari-Open Fire; LPG-Open Fire; Open Fire-alone); b) when LPG is used in combination with open fires, there are negligible fuelwood savings; c) the largest reduction in emissions with regards to open fires is observed for the Patsari-only users (47.5%); and d) the adoption of Patsari cookstoves led to 39% fuel savings for exclusive fuelwood users and 48% for mixed LPG-fuelwood users. We conducted a Markov Chain analysis to explore the likely future evolution of user groups assuming a continuation of the Patsari stove implementation program. We found that instead of a smooth transition from open fires to Patsari stoves, 62% of the users within five years would be expected to stack different cooking devices, while 34% of the users would only use the Patsari cookstove. It is also expected that 19.63% of households will continue using the open fires either alone or in combination with other stoves. • Most households stack different fuels and stoves. • The implementation of the Patsari stove generated significant savings in firewood and greenhouse gas emissions. • The use of LPG did not lead to significant savings in firewood. • The Markov Method was used to analyze the future evolution of stove users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disease burden related to air pollution from traditional solid-fuel cooking practices in low- and middle-income countries impacts millions of people globally. Although the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuel for cooking can meaningfully reduce household air pollution concentrations, major barriers, including affordability and accessibility, have limited widespread adoption. Using a randomized controlled trial, our objective was to evaluate the association between the cost and use of LPG among 23 rural Rwandan households. We provided a 2-burner LPG stove with accessories and incorporated a "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG) LPG service model that included fuel delivery. PAYG services remove the large up-front cost of cylinder refills by integrating "smart meter" technology that allows participants to pay in incremental amounts, as needed. We assigned three randomized discounted prices for LPG to each household at ∼4-week intervals over a 12-week period. We modeled the relationship between randomized PAYG LPG price and use (standardized to monthly periods), analyzing effect modification by relative household wealth. A 1000 Rwandan Franc (about 1 USD at the time of the study) increase in LPG price/kg was associated with a 4.1 kg/month decrease in use (95 % confidence interval [CI]: −6.7, −1.6; n = 69 observations). Wealth modified this association; we observed a 9.7 kg/month reduction (95 % CI: −14.8, −4.5) among wealthier households and a 2.5 kg/month reduction (95 % CI: −5.3, 0.3) among lower-wealth households (p-interaction = 0.01). The difference in price sensitivity was driven by higher LPG use among wealthier households at more heavily discounted prices; from an 80 % to 10 % discount, wealthy households used 17.5 to 5.3 kg/month and less wealthy households used 6.2 to 3.1 kg/month. Our pilot-level experimental evidence of PAYG LPG in a rural low-resource setting suggests that further exploration of subsidized pricing varied by household wealth is needed to ensure future policy initiatives can achieve targets without exacerbating inequities. • Cost of and access to cleaner cooking fuels are major barriers to improved health • Use of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) may reduce barriers • We studied price sensitivity by randomizing discounted PAYG costs and measuring use • Relative wealth modified the association between the cost and use of PAYG LPG • Differences were driven by higher use in wealthier households at lower costs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Environmental concern could promote sustainable energy transition. • Increasing income and urban residence contribute to the cleaner transition. • Higher education and internet access reinforce the impact. • The total cost of fuel and medical expenses will be reduced by using clean fuels. Access to clean cooking is a vital sustainable development goal, yet achieving it poses challenges within the current trend. We should now investigate whether the increasing environmental concern would drive a shift towards cleaner cooking or potentially lead to the abandonment of pro-environmental behaviors. Based on China's national micro survey data from 2012 to 2018, the results of multiple econometric models are: (1) Residents' environmental concern about environmental issues positively contributes to households use of non-solid clean cooking fuels. (2) Rising income levels and urbanization promote a smoother transition towards cleaner cooking. (3) Higher education and Internet access can reinforce the role of environmental concern. (4) The transition to cleaner cooking fuels has a net reduction in household expenditure, as it slightly increases fuel costs but significantly reduces health expenditures. The importance of environmental concern in household energy decision-making is highlighted, and suggestions are provided to promote the cleaner transition of household cooking energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an expected increase in the demand for electricity from households in European countries. The outcome of the growing proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy supply mix should result in improved customer awareness regarding their electricity usage. Additionally, they must assume a more proactive role in overseeing their electricity usage. Innovation and pollution management have become crucial catalysts for promoting sustainable economic development and environmental protection. This is a response to the increasing threats posed by climate change. This study addresses this existing research gap in sustainable energy consumption. The research aims to examine the advantages of replacing traditional sources of heating with renewable ones. The empirical case study of households in Poland serves as an illustration of the theoretical foundation. The purpose of the study entails the construction of a multi-equation econometric model describing the mechanisms of electricity consumption in a specific household. The model hypothesis indicates that the model should take the form of a system of interdependent equations. The following will be described: the monthly volume of electricity consumption, the cost of this energy payment (in PLN), and the price per one MWh in a given month. Monthly time series from September 2015 to June 2023 were used. The resulting time series amounted to a count of 94 statistical observations. The results in the form of a multi-level empirical econometric model indicate that the economic, environmental, and social benefits of using renewable sources of heating can make a significant contribution to reducing fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. In the context of growing environmental awareness and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, heat pumps are becoming an increasingly important element in the discussion of the future of heating. Their role in transforming the energy sector in the direction of sustainability is crucial. • Objective : Study assesses renewable energy impact on household electricity in Poland. • Context: Rising European electricity demand drives shift to renewables for sustainability. • Methodology : Used multi-equation econometric model to analyze household electricity consumption patterns from 2015 to 2023. • Emphasizes renewable adoption for climate mitigation and sustainable energy. • Heat pumps highlighted as key to sustainable future in energy sector transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is actively encouraging households to replace traditional solid fuels with clean energy. Based on the Chinese Families Panel Survey (CFPS) data, this paper uses propensity scores matching with the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of clean energy in the household sector on residents' health status, and whether such an energy transition promotes health equity by favoring relatively disadvantaged social groups. The results show that: (1) The use of cleaner cooking fuels can significantly improve residents' health status; (2) The older adult and women have higher health returns from the clean energy transition, demonstrating that, from the perspective of age and gender, the energy transition contributes to the promotion of health equity; (3) The clean energy transition has a lower or insignificant health impact on residents who cannot easily obtain clean energy or replace non-clean energy at an affordable price. Most of these individuals live in low-income, energy-poor, or rural households. Thus, the energy transition exacerbates health inequalities. This paper suggests that to reduce the cost of using clean energy and help address key issues in health inequality, Chinese government efforts should focus on improving the affordability, accessibility, and reliability of clean energy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wu, Liu and Li.)

Economic growth, urbanization and changes in lifestyles are leading to a transition from traditional fuels to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity in Indian households. We use National Sample Survey data – 43rd (1987–88) and 68th (2011−12) rounds – to show that contrary to concerns about rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil-fuel use, switching to LPG and electricity provides health and climate benefits, if non-Kyoto emissions are considered. Our modelled household energy transition scenarios (2011–2030) show that: one, adoption of LPG by 2030 in Business-As-Usual (BAU) projections results in 80% of urban India meeting the World Health Organization's (WHO) indoor PM 2.5 guidelines. In rural households, persistent use of firewood does not significantly improve indoor air quality across the income spectrum. Two, BAU scenario projects only a 3% rise in rural GHG emissions by 2030, driven by a transition away from kerosene lighting in spite of rising electricity consumption. Three, a complete transition to LPG and electricity by 2030 reduces PM 2.5 exposure to below WHO guidelines across all urban and rural households. This is not achieved in the other partial transition scenarios. Four, across scenarios improving coal-based power plant efficiency to 40% and increasing renewables' share to 40% lead to a decrease of 14–18% in GHG emissions by 2030 relative to 2011. Finally, improved biomass cookstoves can reduce indoor exposure by 75–86% but not below the WHO guideline, and result in higher GHG emissions compared to LPG replacement due to non-Kyoto emissions from burning firewood. • Complete switch to LPG maximizes health and climate benefits (incl. non-Kyoto emissions). • Current initiatives in India will not fully benefit low-income rural households by 2030. • Improved biomass cookstoves have higher climate and PM 2.5 exposure impact than LPG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to a sustainable economy with technological innovations has gained momentum in emerging economies. Among these innovations, household-based solar systems have emerged as one of the rapidly expanding sources of low-carbon power globally, possessing the potential to become the largest renewable energy source by mid-century. However, there is still a need to investigate the transition process of solar PV systems, considering the components affecting the acceptability or resistance of solar PV systems among households, particularly in Ghana. To address this, the current research employed thematic analysis through semi-structured questions with 22 heads of households, including both solar photovoltaic adopters and non-adopters. The interviews were designed to elicit attitudes, values, and reasons shaping households' motivations to embrace or resist solar PV systems. The results indicate that household values and attitudes in addition to context-specific variables such as cost implications, performance expectancy, technological complexity, and market design are major reasons against solar PV adoption whereas energy independence, cost saving, peer effects, and environmental concerns are pivotal reasons for solar PV adoption among the Ghanaian households. This study offers a comprehensive assessment of various factors that impact household behavior in Ghana's energy sector toward solar PV adoption. It provides valuable insights that can fuel the switch to sources of clean energy and inspire change in both developed and emerging economies, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change. These findings offer novel perspectives to energy stakeholders, managers, policymakers, governments, and experts about household behaviors toward adopting solar PV systems. • Emerging economies embracing sustainable economy transition via technological innovations • Global surge in household-based solar systems as a major low-carbon energy source • Investigation of factors driving or hindering solar PV system adoption in households • Recommendation for stakeholders and policymakers to boost solar PV adoption strategies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of gendered energy transition at an urban scale has emerged as a challenging issue for researchers, policy makers and practitioners. With municipalities becoming players in the energy markets, their involvement raises policy issues that need to be better assessed in supporting gendered energy transition. This paper, therefore, contributes to gendered energy transition assessments at urban household level from a policy maker perspective. We developed a system dynamics model to assess the effects of urban energy policy interventions on household energy consumption and gendered measures using Drakenstein Municipality as a case study. The study used secondary data from various sources for the model parameters. We tested three hypothetical policy scenarios: the business-as-usual, the energy subsidy policy and the energy efficiency policy. The results show that understanding the changes in urban household energy consumption and gendered measures due to energy transition interventions is essential for urban policy planning. The energy subsidy policy scenario was observed to increase total energy consumption but also resulted in socio-environmental impacts that might increase inequality and impair human health. Urban household energy transition interventions need to consider a systems approach to develop decision support tools that capture the cross-sector impacts and inform the development of interventions that promote gendered household energy transition.

Roughly 2.8 billion people depend on solid fuels for cooking needs, resulting in a tremendous burden of disease from exposure to household air pollution. Despite decades of effort to promote cleaner cooking technologies, displacement of polluting technologies has progressed slowly. This paper describes results of a randomized controlled trial in which eight communities in two regions of rural India were presented with a range of cooking choices including improved solid fuel stoves and clean cooking options like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and induction stoves. Using survey data and logistic and multinomial regression, we identify factors associated with two outcomes: (1) pre-intervention ownership of non-solid fuel technologies and (2) household preferences for clean fuels from the range of cooking options offered. The analysis allows us to examine the influence of education, wealth, gender empowerment, stove pricing, and stove exchanges, among other variables. The majority of participants across all communities selected the cleanest options, LPG and induction, irrespective of price, but there is some variation in preferences. Wealth and higher caste stand out as significant predictors of pre-intervention ownership and non-solid fuel cooking options as well as preference for cleaner technologies offered through the intervention. The experimental treatments also influence preferences in some communities. When given the opportunity to exchange, communities in one region are more likely to choose solid fuel stoves (P < 0.05). Giving free stoves had mixed results; households in one region are more likely to select clean options (P < 0.05), but households in the other region prefer solid fuels (P < 0.10). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition of households towards cleaner energy is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals. However, the impacts and associated mechanisms of early-life experiences on household energy transition have not been considered. Based on data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey, this study aimed to investigate whether people experiencing China's Great Famine (1959-1961) in their early life promoted household energy transition in adulthood. The varying severity of the Great Famine in different provinces was characterised as a quasi-natural experiment and was used to perform difference-in-differences (DID) estimation analysis for birth cohorts. The results showed that the transitions from firewood, agricultural waste, and animal waste to liquefied petroleum gas and electricity were significant in households with the Great Famine experiences. Specifically, the long-term energy transition effect of the famine was exhibited mostly in those who experienced the famine during childhood (4-11 years old) and adolescence (12-17 years old). Besides, early-life famine experiences led to poor physical health, and more modern forms of energy, such as electricity, were consumed to avoid further deteriorating health. Early-life famine experience also brought psychological trauma to people at that time, which led them to increase Internet use to gain emotional support, and the increased Internet use provided better access to information about the energy transition. Moreover, the household energy transition influenced by early-life famine experience occurred more in female-headed, rural, more educated, and low-income households. Our results illustrated the role of early-life famine experience in household energy transition and provided new insights into developing effective energy policies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Assessment of gendered energy transition at an urban scale has emerged as a challenging issue for researchers, policy makers and practitioners. With municipalities becoming players in the energy markets, their involvement raises policy issues that need to be better assessed in supporting gendered energy transition. This paper, therefore, contributes to gendered energy transition assessments at urban household level from a policy maker perspective. We developed a system dynamics model to assess the effects of urban energy policy interventions on household energy consumption and gendered measures using Drakenstein Municipality as a case study. The study used secondary data from various sources for the model parameters. We tested three hypothetical policy scenarios: the business-as-usual, the energy subsidy policy and the energy efficiency policy. The results show that understanding the changes in urban household energy consumption and gendered measures due to energy transition interventions is essential for urban policy planning. The energy subsidy policy scenario was observed to increase total energy consumption but also resulted in socio-environmental impacts that might increase inequality and impair human health. Urban household energy transition interventions need to consider a systems approach to develop decision support tools that capture the cross-sector impacts and inform the development of interventions that promote gendered household energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Household biomass burning affects women's respiratory health and household labour productivity disproportionately. • Partially adopting clean cooking gas does not provide respiratory health or substantial time saving benefits. • Switch from traditional to ICS with chimneys improves respiratory health but this may be short-term. • Complete transition to cooking gas reduces gender inequality by improving women's respiratory health and saving time and effort spent on biomass. India has over 800 million people without access to clean cooking fuel. A well-known, but under-researched aspect of poor access to clean energy is its cost on woman's health and well being. Here we use the nationally representative India Human Development Survey, tracking the same set of households from 2005 to 2011, to quantify the gender-related health and time-saving benefits of a shift in a household's fuel and stove use patterns. We show that across India, the predicted probabilities of cough in non-smoking women are 30%-60% higher than non-smoking men in solid-fuel using households, but that a complete transition from solid fuels to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking reduces this gap to only 3%. Exclusive use of LPG is also accompanied by reduced cooking time (~37 min) and less time for collecting fuels (~24 min) in rural households, together saving up to an hour in demands on women's labour each day. We also find electrification reduces the probability of developing cough by about 35–50% in non-smoking men and women across both rural and urban households, and help close the gap between men and women in rural households. Despite clean energy being a long-held policy goal of Indian governments, between 2005 and 2011, only 9% of households made a complete transition to clean energy, and 16.4% made a partial transition. We suggest that government efforts in India, and elsewhere, should focus on improving affordability, supply and reliability of clean fuels in enabling a complete household energy transition and help address key issues in gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]