IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v145y2021ics1364032121003518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Clean energy transitions and human well-being outcomes in Lower and Middle Income Countries: A systematic review

Author

Listed:
  • Liao, Chuan
  • Erbaugh, James T.
  • Kelly, Allison C.
  • Agrawal, Arun

Abstract

Clean energy promises a wide range of individual and collective benefits. Though there is substantial research on the benefits of clean energy for specific populations, systematic assessments on household level outcomes resulting from clean energy adoption remain limited, especially for Lower and Middle Income Countries (L&MICs). Limited systematic knowledge about clean energy transitions hinders conceptual development and effective policies for improved access to, and more widespread adoption of, clean energy. In this research, we review 107 peer-reviewed articles to examine systematically household energy transitions in L&MICs. We consider factors that have a potential causal impact and identify associations between clean energy adoption and household well-being. We find substantial variation in energy transition pathways across L&MICs. Higher levels of household education, incomes, asset holdings, and the presence of credit and subsidy programs are associated with clean energy adoption, and such adoption likely facilitates a suite of socioeconomic benefits. Our review thus advances knowledge about the mechanisms for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 and promoting greater human well-being through clean energy adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Liao, Chuan & Erbaugh, James T. & Kelly, Allison C. & Agrawal, Arun, 2021. "Clean energy transitions and human well-being outcomes in Lower and Middle Income Countries: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:145:y:2021:i:c:s1364032121003518
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032121003518
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2021.111063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhide, Anjali & Monroy, Carlos Rodríguez, 2011. "Energy poverty: A special focus on energy poverty in India and renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1057-1066, February.
    2. Rui Xing & Tatsuya Hanaoka & Yuko Kanamori & Toshihiko Masui, 2017. "Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollutant Emissions of China’s Residential Sector: The Importance of Considering Energy Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Jonathan T. Lee & Duncan S. Callaway, 2018. "The cost of reliability in decentralized solar power systems in sub-Saharan Africa," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 960-968, November.
    4. Komatsu, Satoru & Kaneko, Shinji & Ghosh, Partha Pratim, 2011. "Are micro-benefits negligible? The implications of the rapid expansion of Solar Home Systems (SHS) in rural Bangladesh for sustainable development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4022-4031, July.
    5. Prasad, Gisela, 2008. "Energy sector reform, energy transitions and the poor in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2785-2790, August.
    6. Sorrell, Steve, 2007. "Improving the evidence base for energy policy: The role of systematic reviews," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1858-1871, March.
    7. Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Mekonnen, Alemu & Kassie, Menale & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2012. "Urban energy transition and technology adoption: The case of Tigrai, northern Ethiopia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 410-418.
    8. Geels, Frank W. & Schot, Johan, 2007. "Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 399-417, April.
    9. Grogan, Louise & Sadanand, Asha, 2013. "Rural Electrification and Employment in Poor Countries: Evidence from Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 252-265.
    10. McCabe, Annie & Pojani, Dorina & van Groenou, Anthony Broese, 2018. "The application of renewable energy to social housing: A systematic review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 549-557.
    11. Bonan, Jacopo & Pareglio, Stefano & Tavoni, Massimo, 2017. "Access to modern energy: a review of barriers, drivers and impacts," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(5), pages 491-516, October.
    12. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Ryan, Sarah E., 2016. "The geography of energy and education: Leaders, laggards, and lessons for achieving primary and secondary school electrification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 107-123.
    13. Chen, Yu & Yang, Gaihe & Sweeney, Sandra & Feng, Yongzhong, 2010. "Household biogas use in rural China: A study of opportunities and constraints," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 545-549, January.
    14. Campbell, B. M. & Vermeulen, S. J. & Mangono, J. J. & Mabugu, R., 2003. "The energy transition in action: urban domestic fuel choices in a changing Zimbabwe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 553-562, May.
    15. Chaurey, Akanksha & Krithika, P.R. & Palit, Debajit & Rakesh, Smita & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2012. "New partnerships and business models for facilitating energy access," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 48-55.
    16. Diouf, Boucar & Pode, Ramchandra & Osei, Rita, 2013. "Initiative for 100% rural electrification in developing countries: Case study of Senegal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 926-930.
    17. Heltberg, Rasmus, 2004. "Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 869-887, September.
    18. Jeuland, Marc & Fetter, T. Robert & Li, Yating & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Usmani, Faraz & Bluffstone, Randall A. & Chávez, Carlos & Girardeau, Hannah & Hassen, Sied & Jagger, Pamela & Jaime, Mónica , 2021. "Is energy the golden thread? A systematic review of the impacts of modern and traditional energy use in low- and middle-income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    19. Ping, Xiaoge & Jiang, Zhigang & Li, Chunwang, 2012. "Social and ecological effects of biomass utilization and the willingness to use clean energy in the eastern Qinghai–Tibet plateau," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 828-833.
    20. Zhi, Qiang & Sun, Honghang & Li, Yanxi & Xu, Yurui & Su, Jun, 2014. "China’s solar photovoltaic policy: An analysis based on policy instruments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 308-319.
    21. Joanna Sale & Kevin Brazil, 2004. "A Strategy to Identify Critical Appraisal Criteria for Primary Mixed-Method Studies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 351-365, August.
    22. Mukherjee, Shilpi & Dhingra, Tarun & Sengupta, Anirban, 2017. "Status of Electricity Act, 2003: A systematic review of literature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 237-248.
    23. Mittal, Anuj & Krejci, Caroline C. & Dorneich, Michael C., 2019. "An agent-based approach to designing residential renewable energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1008-1020.
    24. Arthur, Maria de Fatima S.R. & Zahran, Sammy & Bucini, Gabriela, 2010. "On the adoption of electricity as a domestic source by Mozambican households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7235-7249, November.
    25. Salmon, Claire & Tanguy, Jeremy, 2016. "Rural Electrification and Household Labor Supply: Evidence from Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 48-68.
    26. Girardeau, Hannah & Oberholzer, Alicia & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2021. "The enabling environment for household solar adoption: A systematic review," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    27. Yadoo, Annabel & Cruickshank, Heather, 2012. "The role for low carbon electrification technologies in poverty reduction and climate change strategies: A focus on renewable energy mini-grids with case studies in Nepal, Peru and Kenya," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 591-602.
    28. Liao, Chuan & Fei, Ding, 2019. "Poverty reduction through photovoltaic-based development intervention in China: Potentials and constraints," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-10.
    29. Reddy, B. Sudhakara & Balachandra, P. & Nathan, Hippu Salk Kristle, 2009. "Universalization of access to modern energy services in Indian households--Economic and policy analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4645-4657, November.
    30. Lo, Kevin, 2014. "A critical review of China's rapidly developing renewable energy and energy efficiency policies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 508-516.
    31. Johan Martins, 2005. "The Impact of the Use of Energy Sources on the Quality of Life of Poor Communities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 373-402, July.
    32. Burger, Scott P. & Luke, Max, 2017. "Business models for distributed energy resources: A review and empirical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 230-248.
    33. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley & Andreas Goldthau, 2016. "Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-6, May.
    34. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2016. "Patterns and determinants of household use of fuels for cooking: Empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(P1), pages 93-104.
    35. Noah Kittner & Felix Lill & Daniel M. Kammen, 2017. "Energy storage deployment and innovation for the clean energy transition," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 1-6, September.
    36. Liao, Chuan & Fei, Ding & Huang, Qingxu & Jiang, Lu & Shi, Peijun, 2021. "Targeted poverty alleviation through photovoltaic-based intervention: Rhetoric and reality in Qinghai, China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    37. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nawaz, Saima, 2021. "Energy poverty, climate shocks, and health deprivations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Nathanael Ojong, 2022. "Fostering Human Wellbeing in Africa through Solar Home Systems: A Systematic and a Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Bhattarai, Utsav & Maraseni, Tek & Apan, Armando & Devkota, Laxmi Prasad, 2023. "Rationalizing donations and subsidies: Energy ecosystem development for sustainable renewable energy transition in Nepal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Alok K. Pandey & R. Krishankumar & Dragan Pamucar & Fausto Cavallaro & Abbas Mardani & Samarjit Kar & K. S. Ravichandran, 2021. "A Bibliometric Review on Decision Approaches for Clean Energy Systems under Uncertainty," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-27, October.
    5. Jia, Jun-Jun & Zhu, Mengshu & Wei, Chu, 2022. "Household cooking in the context of carbon neutrality: A machine-learning-based review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Pengyu Ren & Xiaoyi Liu & Fanghua Li & Dungang Zang, 2022. "Clean Household Energy Consumption and Residents’ Well-Being: Empirical Analysis and Mechanism Test," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, October.
    7. Badr Eddine Lebrouhi & Eric Schall & Bilal Lamrani & Yassine Chaibi & Tarik Kousksou, 2022. "Energy Transition in France," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-28, May.
    8. Karmaker, Shamal Chandra & Sen, Kanchan Kumar & Singha, Bipasha & Hosan, Shahadat & Chapman, Andrew J. & Saha, Bidyut Baran, 2022. "The mediating effect of energy poverty on child development: Empirical evidence from energy poor countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    9. Badr Eddine Lebrouhi & Éric Schall & Bilal Lamrani & Yassine Chaibi & Tarik Kousksou, 2022. "Energy Transition in France," Post-Print hal-03716839, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    2. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2013. "The energy ladder: Theoretical myth or empirical truth? Results from a meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 504-513.
    3. Hannah Goozee, 2017. "Energy, poverty and development: a primer for the Sustainable Development Goals," Working Papers 156, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    4. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    5. Francisco Chicombo, Adélia Filosa & Musango, Josephine Kaviti, 2022. "Towards a theoretical framework for gendered energy transition at the urban household level: A case of Mozambique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Trotter, Philipp A. & McManus, Marcelle C. & Maconachie, Roy, 2017. "Electricity planning and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1189-1209.
    7. Poblete-Cazenave, Miguel & Pachauri, Shonali, 2018. "A structural model of cooking fuel choices in developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 449-463.
    8. Hannah Goozee, 2017. "Energy, Poverty and Development: A Primer for the Sustainable Development Goals," Working Papers id:11933, eSocialSciences.
    9. Klege, Rebecca A. & Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin & Visser, Martine, 2022. "Tenancy and energy choices in Rwanda. A replication and extension study," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    10. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2014. "The impact of the household decision environment on fuel choice behavior," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 236-247.
    11. Gupta, Ridhima & Pelli, Martino, 2021. "Electrification and cooking fuel choice in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Khalid Waleed & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2023. "Examining fuel choice patterns through household energy transition index: an alternative to traditional energy ladder and stacking models," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6449-6501, July.
    13. Wassie, Yibeltal T. & Rannestad, Meley M. & Adaramola, Muyiwa S., 2021. "Determinants of household energy choices in rural sub-Saharan Africa: An example from southern Ethiopia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    14. Anil Shrestha & Makoto Kakinaka, 2022. "Remittance Inflows and Energy Transition of the Residential Sector in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Choumert-Nkolo, Johanna & Combes Motel, Pascale & Le Roux, Leonard, 2019. "Stacking up the ladder: A panel data analysis of Tanzanian household energy choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 222-235.
    16. Gelo, Dambala & Kollamparambil, Umakrishnan & Jeuland, Marc, 2023. "The causal effect of income on household energy transition: Evidence from old age pension eligibility in South Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    17. Ujjayant Chakravorty & Ridhima Gupta & Martino Pelli, 2022. "The economics of rural energy use in developing countries," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-12, CIRANO.
    18. Wang, Menghan & Liu, Zhong & Xu, Aiyan & Yang, Dan, 2022. "Fuel choice for rural Tibetan households: Impacts of access to credit," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Holstenkamp, Lars, 2019. "What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South? A synthesis of the literature and refined social-ecological systems framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 307-320.
    20. Yanbo Wang & Boyao Zhi & Shumin Xiang & Guangxin Ren & Yongzhong Feng & Gaihe Yang & Xiaojiao Wang, 2023. "China’s Biogas Industry’s Sustainable Transition to a Low-Carbon Plan—A Socio-Technical Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:145:y:2021:i:c:s1364032121003518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.