Household energy systems based on biomass: Tracing material flows from source to service in rural Ethiopia

Abstract

Biomass remains the most important energy carrier of rural households in low- and middle-income countries, but its indoor combustion has grave impacts on human health and its extraction is associated with negative effects on ecosystems. Currently, robust and comprehensive data are lacking to trace biomass flows from ecosystems to consumption in households and quantify the related services. This impedes analyses of the social and environmental impacts of biomass use.By developing a source-to-service approach, this paper analyses the provision of domestic energy services in three villages in rural Ethiopia using a socio-metabolic perspective. We combine quantitative and qualitative methods to study the dynamics of domestic biomass use for energy and examine social and environmental implications. We find that the average household consumes 84 GJ/year of biomass (15 GJ per capita/year). Space heating, food and drinking water preparation combined require 86% of domestic energy. Improved cookstoves can reduce domestic energy use by 12%.Our results open new avenues for advancing the scientific understanding of rural energy systems dependent on biomass. These insights are essential to enhance research on sustainable energy systems in rural, bioenergy-dependent areas and may also prove useful in designing policies and innovations to improve provisioning of energy services.