The reaction of rural families in Kenya to technology changes

Abstract

Energy as a service is central to livelihoods. Services such as lighting, cooking and heating of water, space heating, cooling, information, communication, and earning a living are not always accessible without grid electricity and are critical to sustainable development. The acceptability of any new energy technology is very important if it has to be usable by the target group it is designed for. This paper documents a case study undertaken in rural areas of Kisumu, Kenya, to understand the behaviour of communities to technology changes, particularly solar photovoltaic for lighting and a high-efficiency wood stove. It shows the research methods used and the findings. The participating households were selected from a peri-urban community near Kisumu town, the third largest city in Kenya. The selected households were using kerosene tin lamps and open three-stone fire for lighting and cooking, respectively. This study shows that new technologies have a better chance of sustained adoption if they comply with some attributes that match with broad needs – a cleaner kitchen, reduced firewood costs, better quality air in the kitchen, durability of the product and others. The installers need to communicate to the users that their broader needs are being met, and that their main interest is not just to sell the stoves. At the time the study was initiated, there were relatively few clean burning stoves available on the local markets. The relative success enjoyed by the project activities indicated a high user acceptance, and by the retention experienced beyond the study period, by both the lighting systems and the highly efficient stoves.