Perros, T;
Büttner, P;
Leary, J;
Parikh, P;
(2021)
Pay-as-you-go LPG: A mixed-methods pilot study in urban Rwanda.
Energy for Sustainable Development
, 65
pp. 117-129.
10.1016/j.esd.2021.10.003.
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Abstract
2.8 billion people still cook with biomass fuels, resulting in devastating impacts on health, gender equity and the environment. Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is a new technology designed to make LPG affordable for urban biomass users by allowing customers to pay for fuel in small amounts. This mixed-methods study (N = 64) combined stove usage data, cooking diaries, household interviews and telephone surveys to examine a commercial PAYG LPG pilot in Kigali. It aimed to understand how households used PAYG LPG and its potential in accelerating access to clean cooking in urban Rwanda. PAYG LPG rapidly displaced charcoal as the primary cooking fuel for the majority of participants, resulting in a mean monthly reduction in household fuel expenditure of 3240 RWF (3.50 USD) and a mean consumption of 1.2 kg/capita/month. Participants spanning all income brackets in Kigali made use of PAYG LPG. The ability to pay in smaller amounts seemed to be critical to initial adoption and sustained use during the pilot. Follow-up activities with a small subsample of participants (N = 10) found that 70% continued to use full cylinder LPG (typically 12 kg) as their primary cooking fuel in the two months after the PAYG service was withdrawn. Throughout the pilot almost all participants continued to use charcoal, which accounted for 21% of cooking events. We identified a range of drivers of fuel stacking that encompassed both cultural and practical factors such as cylinder delivery delays and taste preferences for certain foods. We conclude that PAYG LPG could contribute to the clean cooking transition in urban Rwanda, but that larger scale pilots are needed to better understand both the supply- and demand-side viability.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Pay-as-you-go LPG: A mixed-methods pilot study in urban Rwanda |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.esd.2021.10.003 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2021.10.003 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Liquid petroleum gas, Fuel stacking, Clean cooking, Modern energy, Rwanda, PAYG LPG, Mixed methods, Pay-as-you-go, Energy transition, Behaviour change, Adoption, Sustained use |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10136906 |
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