Household Energy Utilization Trends in Kenya: Effects of Peri Urbanization

Abstract

Household energy utilization trends have been argued to be affected by the rate of urbanization. Therefore, due to lack of information there is need to understand the effects of peri urbanization. The main objective of this research was to investigate household energy utilization trends and the effects of peri urbanization on household energy utilization and changing behaviour. The research was carried out in the counties of Bungoma and Uasin-Gishu of Kenya. Random sampling technique was used to select 560 households from a target household of 663,739 and data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The results showed that firewood is still the most common energy resource used for cooking in both rural and peri urban areas as evidenced by responses of 87.5% and 72.4%, respectively. The use of LPG (26 to 42%), charcoal (39.4% to 53.8%) and kerosene (14.3% to 17.3%) for cooking were found to increase as one move from rural to peri-urban and vice versa for agricultural residues (12.3% to 5.3%). Biogas uptake still represents a small fraction (11.4 to 14.6%) of the energy mix at local level. The use of solar for lighting showed reduction as one move from rural to peri urban (44.8% to 39.6%) and vice versa for kerosene (68.4% to 72%) and electricity (55.5% to 58.2%). In conclusion, this study showed that household energy utilization and changing behaviour in Kenya are affected by peri urbanization among others. This study offers understandings in enhancing household energy policy making in Kenya.