Fuel switching or multiple cooking fuels? Understanding inter-fuel substitution patterns in rural Mexican households

Abstract

Ninety-one per cent of Mexican rural households and 11% of urban households cook with fuel wood. Fuel wood represents 50% of total residential energy use in the country. This paper presents the results of a detailed study of the patterns of household fuel wood use and inter-fuel substitution in three villages of rural Mexico. All residents in the three villages cook with fuel wood, and between 20 and 43% of them also use LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) for this task, depending on the village. Average household fuel wood demand ranges between 53 and 60 GJ/yr for fuel wood only users and from 40 to 57 GJ/yr for mixed fuel wood-LPG users, depending on the village. Cooking practices are described together with their energy use. Kitchen performance tests and controlled cooking tests (CCT) were applied in two villages to measure savings in household fuel wood use from partially switching to LPG. The analysis shows that energy and fuel wood savings are much lower than those that may be expected on a purely technical basis. In fact, fuel wood is very seldom replaced entirely, even in households that have been using LPG for many years. Rather than switching, households follow a multiple fuel strategy which gives them the advantages of both fuels. There is a strong pattern of fuel preferences by type of dish and cooking task. Fuel wood is seen as a fuel with advantages that go beyond price and include cultural considerations. Lorena-type improved woodburning cookstoves might prove particularly useful for multiple fuel users as they show savings of up to 50% for tortilla-making compared with the traditional stoves in CCT.