IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v119y2020ics1364032119307762.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Variation in rural household energy transitions for basic lighting in India

Author

Listed:
  • Harrington, Elise
  • Athavankar, Ameya
  • Hsu, David

Abstract

Many rural households in India lack access to reliable energy services but off-grid solar technologies are able to meet basic lighting and electricity needs. The availability and perception of different technologies, appliances, and services influences how households will transition to renewable energy. To identify factors that affect household decisions among various energy sources, this paper examines purchase and use patterns for electricity sources and basic end-uses for twenty-two households in three rural villages in Jharkhand, India using a qualitative, card-based interview protocol. This paper examines energy stacking or the use of multiple fuel sources to meet household energy needs. Results indicate that households use multiple energy sources to meet basic lighting and charging needs, but these patterns vary across households. Adoption of lighting technologies were influenced by a range of factors, with pricing and payment options influencing 88% of solar lantern purchases and 75% of solar home system purchases. In contrast, decisions to connect to the solar microgrid were more heavily influenced by awareness of the technology. Retention of existing lighting options stems from three factors access or availability, capacity, and quality of new lighting additions – with capacity being the most commonly referenced across kerosene, solar lanterns, and solar home systems. This paper argues that different factors influence adoption and retention of household lighting sources with key interdependencies across sources resulting the need for new, or to retain existing, lighting options.

Suggested Citation

  • Harrington, Elise & Athavankar, Ameya & Hsu, David, 2020. "Variation in rural household energy transitions for basic lighting in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s1364032119307762
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.109568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119307762
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109568?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. Selvakkumaran, Sujeetha & Ahlgren, Erik O., 2019. "Determining the factors of household energy transitions: A multi-domain study," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 54-75.
    2. Shahidur R. Khandker, Hussain A. Samad, Rubaba Ali, and Douglas F. Barnes, 2014. "Who Benefits Most from Rural Electrification? Evidence in India," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2011. "Conceptualizing urban household energy use: Climbing the "Energy Services Ladder"," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1659-1668, March.
    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. Alem, Yonas & Beyene, Abebe D. & Köhlin, Gunnar & Mekonnen, Alemu, 2016. "Modeling household cooking fuel choice: A panel multinomial logit approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 129-137.
    6. Dil Bahadur Rahut & Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb & Akhter Ali, 2017. "Household Energy Consumption and Its Determinants in Timor-Leste," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 34(1), pages 167-197, March.
    7. Mainali, Brijesh & Silveira, Semida, 2011. "Financing off-grid rural electrification: Country case Nepal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 2194-2201.
    8. Lay, Jann & Ondraczek, Janosch & Stoever, Jana, 2013. "Renewables in the energy transition: Evidence on solar home systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 350-359.
    9. Hirmer, Stephanie & Guthrie, Peter, 2016. "Identifying the needs of communities in rural Uganda: A method for determining the ‘User-Perceived Value’ of rural electrification initiatives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 476-486.
    10. Urpelainen, Johannes, 2016. "Energy poverty and perceptions of solar power in marginalized communities: Survey evidence from Uttar Pradesh, India," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 534-539.
    11. Scott, Inara, 2017. "A business model for success: Enterprises serving the base of the pyramid with off-grid solar lighting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 50-55.
    12. Kenneth Lee & Edward Miguel & Catherine Wolfram, 2016. "Appliance Ownership and Aspirations among Electric Grid and Home Solar Households in Rural Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 89-94, May.
    13. Michaël Aklin & Chao-yo Cheng & Johannes Urpelainen & Karthik Ganesan & Abhishek Jain, 2016. "Factors affecting household satisfaction with electricity supply in rural India," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(11), pages 1-6, November.
    14. 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.
    15. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2007. "Fuel choices in urban Indian households," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 757-774, December.
    16. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2017. "Factors determining household use of clean and renewable energy sources for lighting in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 661-672.
    17. Joshi, Janak & Bohara, Alok K., 2017. "Household preferences for cooking fuels and inter-fuel substitutions: Unlocking the modern fuels in the Nepalese household," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 507-523.
    18. 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.
    19. Mishra, Pulak & Behera, Bhagirath, 2016. "Socio-economic and environmental implications of solar electrification: Experience of rural Odisha," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 953-964.
    20. Muhoza, Cassilde & Johnson, Oliver W., 2018. "Exploring household energy transitions in rural Zambia from the user perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 25-34.
    21. Mottaleb, Khondoker Abdul & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Ali, Akhter, 2017. "An exploration into the household energy choice and expenditure in Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 767-776.
    22. Jeuland, M.A. & Bhojvaid, V. & Kar, A. & Lewis, J.J. & Patange, O. & Pattanayak, S.K. & Ramanathan, N. & Rehman, I.H. & Tan Soo, J.S. & Ramanathan, V., 2015. "Preferences for improved cook stoves: Evidence from rural villages in north India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 287-298.
    23. Hiemstra-van der Horst, Greg & Hovorka, Alice J., 2008. "Reassessing the "energy ladder": Household energy use in Maun, Botswana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3333-3344, September.
    24. Aklin, M. & Bayer, P. & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, J., 2018. "Economics of household technology adoption in developing countries: Evidence from solar technology adoption in rural India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 35-46.
    25. Alejandro Moreno & Asta Bareisaite, 2015. "Scaling Up Access to Electricity : Pay-as-You-Go Plans in Off-Grid Energy Services," World Bank Publications - Reports 21360, The World Bank Group.
    26. Hirmer, Stephanie & Guthrie, Peter, 2017. "The benefits of energy appliances in the off-grid energy sector based on seven off-grid initiatives in rural Uganda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 924-934.
    27. London, Ted & Anupindi, Ravi & Sheth, Sateen, 2010. "Creating mutual value: Lessons learned from ventures serving base of the pyramid producers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 582-594, June.
    28. Masera, Omar R. & Saatkamp, Barbara D. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2000. "From Linear Fuel Switching to Multiple Cooking Strategies: A Critique and Alternative to the Energy Ladder Model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2083-2103, December.
    29. Leach, Gerald, 1992. "The energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 116-123, February.
    30. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter & Marenya, Paswel, 2017. "A ladder within a ladder: Understanding the factors influencing a household's domestic use of electricity in four African countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 167-181.
    31. 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.
    32. 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.
    33. Kaundinya, Deepak Paramashivan & Balachandra, P. & Ravindranath, N.H., 2009. "Grid-connected versus stand-alone energy systems for decentralized power--A review of literature," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2041-2050, October.
    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. Nduka, Eleanya, 2021. "How to get rural households out of energy poverty in Nigeria: A contingent valuation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Verma, Pramit & Kumari, Tanu & Raghubanshi, Akhilesh Singh, 2021. "Energy emissions, consumption and impact of urban households: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    3. Simpson, Nicholas Philip & Rabenold, Colton James & Sowman, Merle & Shearing, Clifford D., 2021. "Adoption rationales and effects of off-grid renewable energy access for African youth: A case study from Tanzania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Andante Hadi Pandyaswargo & Mengyi Ruan & Eiei Htwe & Motoshi Hiratsuka & Alan Dwi Wibowo & Yuji Nagai & Hiroshi Onoda, 2020. "Estimating the Energy Demand and Growth in Off-Grid Villages: Case Studies from Myanmar, Indonesia, and Laos," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-22, October.
    5. Venkatraman Indrajayanthan & Nalin Kant Mohanty & Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan & Lucian Mihet-Popa, 2022. "Investigation on Current and Prospective Energy Transition Scenarios in Indian Landscape Using Integrated SWOT-MCDA Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-31, April.
    6. Liu, Yuan & Chen, Jiahui & Zhao, Lutao & Liao, Hua, 2023. "Rural photovoltaic projects substantially prompt household energy transition: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. Kuo, Ying-Min & Azam, Mehtabul, 2019. "Household Cooking Fuel Choice in India, 2004-2012: A Panel Multinomial Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 12682, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Akhter Ali & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb & Jeetendra Prakash Aryal, 2019. "Alternate energy sources for lighting among rural households in the Himalayan region of Pakistan: Access and impact," Energy & Environment, , vol. 30(7), pages 1291-1312, November.
    6. Koirala, Dhiroj Prasad & Acharya, Bikram, 2022. "Households’ fuel choices in the context of a decade-long load-shedding problem in Nepal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    7. Emodi, Nnaemeka Vincent & Haruna, Emmanuel Umoru & Abdu, Nizam & Aldana Morataya, Sergio David & Dioha, Michael O. & Abraham-Dukuma, Magnus C., 2022. "Urban and rural household energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does spatial heterogeneity reveal the direction of the transition?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Kojo Sarfo Gyamfi & Elena Gaura & James Brusey & Alessandro Bezerra Trindade & Nandor Verba, 2020. "Understanding Household Fuel Choice Behaviour in the Amazonas State, Brazil: Effects of Validation and Feature Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    9. 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).
    10. Aziz, Shakila & Chowdhury, Shahriar Ahmed, 2021. "Determinants of off-grid electrification choice and expenditure: Evidence from Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    11. Nawaz, Saima & Iqbal, Nasir, 2020. "The impact of unconditional cash transfer on fuel choices among ultra-poor in Pakistan: Quasi-experimental evidence from the Benazir Income Support Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    12. Stabridis, Omar & van Gameren, Edwin, 2018. "Exposure to firewood: Consequences for health and labor force participation in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 382-395.
    13. Mussida, Chiara & Sciulli, Dario, 2022. "Parental background and the use of dirty fuels at home: An exploratory study of Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    14. Liu, Zhong & Wang, Menghan & Xiong, Qinqin & Liu, Chang, 2020. "Does centralized residence promote the use of cleaner cooking fuels? Evidence from rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Gupta, Ridhima & Pelli, Martino, 2021. "Electrification and cooking fuel choice in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    17. Jingchao, Zhang & Kotani, Koji & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi, 2019. "Low-quality or high-quality coal? Household energy choice in rural Beijing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 81-90.
    18. Zi, Cao & Qian, Meng & Baozhong, Gao, 2021. "The consumption patterns and determining factors of rural household energy: A case study of Henan Province in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Srinivasan, Suchita & Carattini, Stefano, 2020. "Adding fuel to fire? Social spillovers in the adoption of LPG in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    20. Dongzagla, Alfred & Adams, Abdul-Moomin, 2022. "Determinants of urban household choice of cooking fuel in Ghana: Do socioeconomic and demographic factors matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).

    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:119:y:2020:i:c:s1364032119307762. 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.