Clean Cooking: The Value of Clean Cookstoves in Ethiopia

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby Volume 01 Issue 01 Spring 2014 Article 3 2014 Clean Cooking: The Value of Clean Cookstoves in Ethiopia Shannon H. Kooser Colby College, Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec Part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Growth and Development Commons, and the Other Economics Commons Recommended Citation Kooser, Shannon H. (2014) "Clean Cooking: The Value of Clean Cookstoves in Ethiopia," Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby: Vol. 01 : Iss. 01 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec/vol01/iss01/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. For more information, please contact . Clean Cooking: The Value of Clean Cookstoves in Ethiopia Abstract This project investigates how demographic differences affect the way people value clean cookstoves in Ethiopia. Previous research indicates that traditional cooking methods are harmful to human health as well as the environment, as people need to cut down trees or collect other biomass sources for fuel. However, clean stoves can solve both these environmental and health problems, as well as provide a sustainable method for cooking and heating in developing countries. Using choice survey data, this study examines Ethiopian households’ valuations of different characteristics of stoves, including durability, fuel reduction, smoke reduction and the amount of time they may save using new technology. It also considers demographic factors that may affect a household's willingness to pay for stoves, in an effort to determine what makes these clean technologies desirable in an Ethiopian context. Results demonstrate that various demographic differences affect the valuation of clean cookstoves, as households with few females and children are willing to pay more for new stoves. The results of this study have implications for global sustainable development initiatives in many parts of the world. Keywords Economics, Sustainability, Cookstoves, Ethiopia, Stoves Cover Page Footnote Thank you to Sahan Dissanayake for his patience and advice, and to Abebe Damte Beyene, Randall Bluffstone, Sahan Dissanayake, Zenebe Gebreegziabher, Peter Martinsson, Alemu Mekonnen, Mike Tomin, the World Bank and the EEPFE for work in the field, data collection and funding. This article is available in Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/jerec/ vol01/iss01/3 Kooser: Clean Cooking: The Value of Clean Cookstoves in Ethiopia 1. Introduction: Ethiopia, located in east Africa, has made considerable developmental progress in the past several years. Despite regular droughts, the nation’s GDP has grown, the number of aid beneficiaries has dropped, and according to the United States Agency for International Development (2014), the child mortality rate has been reduced by more than five percent per year over the past decade. However, Ethiopia is still one of the poorest nations in the world. The World Bank (2014) reports that nearly a third of the population lives below the national poverty line, meaning they live on less than $0.60 per day. Ethiopia’s population is growing rapidly, which puts a strain on limited food sources, and about 82 percent of people survive on subsistence agriculture (USAID, 2014). Recent efforts have focused on improving these issues of food insecurity and creating a sustainable food production model to support the increasing population. One method of doing so is transforming the cooking methods that most Ethiopian households use every day. Traditional cookstoves can be particularly dangerous to human health as well as to the environment. Many developing countries use wood or other biomass sources as fuel for cooking and heating. Inefficient stoves create a hazardous indoor environment, as smoke often pollutes the insides of homes. According to the World Health Organization (2014), over four million people die each year from indoor air pollution. Inefficient stoves also require people to cut down a lot of trees for fuelwood, which leads to deforestation, forest degradation and, ultimately, global warming. These cooking methods are not particularly sustainable, and various initiatives such as Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programs have been implemented around the world to encourage people to act in more carbonefficient ways. Traditional stoves also foster gender inequalities because women are typically the ones who spend hours collecting wood and who are exposed to smoke while cooking in the home. Furthermore, children are often expected to collect firewood, which can be time-consuming and dangerous. These problems from unclean cooking and heating, however, are preventable. Replacing traditional stoves with affordable, clean and fuel-efficient ones could save lives and protect natural resources in developing nations, as well as contribute to growing environmental protection and economic development efforts around the world. In order to realistically promote these stoves among people in developing nations, however, organizations have to meet the needs of Published by Digital Commons @ Colby, 2014 1 Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby, Vol. 01 [2014], Iss. 01, Art. 3 the people who will use them. Traditions, social interactions, and family dynamics differ across cultures but they play an integral role in people’s willingness to adopt and ultimately use the clean technology. Therefore, it is important to note which aspects of this technology are important to families in their specific contexts. Ethiopia provides an interesting context for these clean stove initiatives, as most of the nation’s energy consumption is based on biomass sources. Indeed about 94% of the country’s energy demand is fulfilled by wood, charcoal, branches, dung and agricultural residues, which all produce smoke and harmful emissions when they are burned. Also, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of deforestation in the world, and Ethiopia’s rapidly-growing population is adding to the strain on the increasingly scarce supply of firewood. Every year, nearly 200,000 hectares of land are destroyed in an effort to collect wood, and every year, firewood becomes more difficult to find. Clearly, Ethiopian households could benefit significantly from new stove technology. Because Ethiopia is a developing nation in a region that suffers from vast environmental degradation, clean stove technology could play a significant role in promoting sustainable development. However, in order to encourage stove adoption, it is important to determine what factors make the new technology attractive to households. This study will examine how (...truncated)