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Fuel Choices in Rural Maharashtra

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  • Jack Gregory
  • David I. Stern

Abstract

Traditional biomass remains a large source of energy in developing countries, particular in rural areas. Use of biomass can contribute to deforestation and hence climate change as well as indoor air pollution. Therefore, significant efforts have been made to improve the efficiency with which it is used and to reduce particulate emissions through the adoption of improved stoves and to transition households to modern energy carriers. We report on and analyze the results of an energy use survey in two tribal villages in rural Maharashtra, India. Though there is significant heterogeneity between the effects of the variables in the two villages there are some robust results. We find modest evidence for the 'energy ladder' hypothesis and that use of higher quality energy sources reduces total energy use ceteris paribus. Income elasticities of fuel demand are small. Additionally, we demonstrate that household size, stove ownership, and season influence rural energy choices. However, the effects of improved stoves are small and not consistent across the villages.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Gregory & David I. Stern, 2012. "Fuel Choices in Rural Maharashtra," CCEP Working Papers 1207, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:een:ccepwp:1207
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    File URL: http://ccep.anu.edu.au/data/2012/pdf/wpaper/CCEP1207.pdf
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Fuel Choices in Rural Maharashtra
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2012-09-07 08:01:00
    2. My Year in Review 2013
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2013-12-24 10:20:00

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household energy; income elasticity; improved stoves; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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