Incentivizing Elimination of Biomass Cooking Fuels with a Reversible Commitment and a Spare LPG Cylinder.

Abstract

In India, approximately 480,000 deaths occur annually from exposure to household air pollution from the use of biomass cooking fuels. Displacing biomass use with clean fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), can help reduce these deaths. Through government initiatives, most Indian households now own an LPG stove and one LPG cylinder. Many households, however, continue to regularly use indoor biomass-fueled mud stoves (chulhas) alongside LPG. Focusing on this population in rural Maharashtra, India, this study (N = 186) tests the effects of conditioning a sales offer for a spare LPG cylinder on a reversible commitment requiring initially disabling indoor chulhas. We find that almost all relevant households (>98%) were willing to accept this commitment. Indoor chulha use decreased by 90% (95% CI = 80% to 101%) when the sales offer included the commitment, compared to a 23% decrease (95% CI = 14% to 32%) without it. For both treatment groups, we find that 80% purchased the spare cylinder at the end of the study.