Abstract
Modern renewable energy is an important tool to achieve socio-economic transformation, particularly in rural areas of developing countries like Ethiopia. However, most people do not access modern energy and thus providing it is one of the daunting tasks that the government has faced. Knowing energy choice of households is one of the important factors to bring energy transition. However, limited studies are undertaken in the Country on this area. Thus, this paper tried to address the gap by investigating factors affecting households lighting energy choice by taking sample of 442 households in Mida Oromo and Wonisho Districts of Ethiopia. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for analyzing the data. The result shows that households consume a range of traditional, transitional and modern lighting energy sources available in their areas. Wealthy households prefer lighting energy sources that are clean and relatively expensive including, grid electricity and solar energy unlike households in lower income category who opt to cheap and easily available energy sources. The study further highlighted that income is not the only factor affecting household energy transitions. Family size, access to market and road infrastructure, asset of the household and the district of the households, mobile and radio ownership and education attainment of the head or family members are found to be an important determinants affecting energy transition of rural households. The study concluded that any program that aim to provide modern lighting energy sources need to consider all these diverse factors and local contexts.
Highlights
Access to modern energy is one of the tools to achieve socio-economic transformation in sustainable manner (Dawit et al, 2015; Schelly, 2014; Zereay etal., 2014) though it cannot bring development by itself (Abdul-Salam, 2014; Ahlborg et al, 2011; Bawakyillenou, 2007; Schelly, 2014)
This section begins with brief introduction of energy portfolio of households followed by comparison of choices to particular lighting energy source
Households employed multiple energy sources to undertake lighting activity showing energy stacking is the preferred theory in reflecting trends of lighting energy choices
Summary
Access to modern energy is one of the tools to achieve socio-economic transformation in sustainable manner (Dawit et al, 2015; Schelly, 2014; Zereay etal., 2014) though it cannot bring development by itself (Abdul-Salam, 2014; Ahlborg et al, 2011; Bawakyillenou, 2007; Schelly, 2014). In 2013, for instance, about 1.2 billion lack access to electricity and 2.64 billion people are relying on traditional biomass for cooking (IEA, 2017). Median rural and urban access in SSA is about 17 % and 59 % respectively, showing that lack of electricity service is disproportionately higher in rural settlements (IEA, 2017; Abdul-Salam, 2014; Arora et al, 2011). Like SSA countries, Ethiopia overwhelmingly relies on traditional energy sources. On Oxford University‟s Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI), Ethiopia scored 0.9 showing the suffering of the country from “acute energy poverty” (Nussbaumer et al, 2012). The country suffers from energy poverty despite its considerable energy potential. It has the largest hydropower potential (around 45000MW) in Africa after Democratic Republic of Congo; immense geothermal, wind and solar energy; and energy from wood and agricultural waste (MoWE, 2016)
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