Abstract
Households in developing countries predominantly rely on solid fuel for cooking, which is injurious to both the environment and human health. The provision of clean energy for cooking, therefore, is essential for safeguarding the environment and human health, primarily of women and children in developing countries. Using the 2014–2015 Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey and robust econometric methods, this study analyzes different types of energy used for cooking among urban households in Pakistan. The study shows that although urban households in Pakistan mostly use gas for cooking, the use of solid fuels, particularly among poor and relatively less educated households, is pervasive. The econometric findings confirm that households with a higher level of education and wealthy families mainly use clean energy, such as gas, and are less likely to use dirty solid fuels, such as cake dung and crop residue for cooking. Considering the expansion of middle-class households and anticipating their demand for clean fuel for cooking, this study suggests ensuring an adequate supply of clean sources of energy to meet future demand as well as augmenting the affordability and awareness among households who are still dependent on solid fuels.
Highlights
About 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity, about 2.8 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuel, and 2.5 billion people use solid biomass for cooking purposes (International Energy Agency 2017)
Against the backdrop of increasing urbanization, limited studies on household fuel use behavior in urban Pakistan, and the adverse health impact from the use of solid fuel, this study empirically explores the factors that drive the choice of cooking fuel among urban households in Pakistan
We organized and ordered the households into different categories based on the fuel used for cooking, with dung and crop residue at the base of the energy ladder followed by fuelwood and gas at the top
Summary
About 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity, about 2.8 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuel, and 2.5 billion people use solid biomass for cooking purposes (International Energy Agency 2017). The energy ladder and the factors influencing a household’s decision to switch to cleaner fuels when household income increases has been documented in many developing countries (Özcan, Gülay, and Üçdogruk 2013; Karimu 2015; Rahut, Behera, Ali, and Marenya 2017; Mottaleb, Rahut, and Ali 2017; Hou et al 2017; Rahut, Ali, and Mottaleb 2017). This study contributes to the existing research in several ways It uses a large, nationally representative dataset from Pakistan from over 13,965 households in urban areas. As the dataset encompasses a large number of variables, the study enabled us to conduct several robustness tests on the role of household education at different levels and wealth on fuel choice behavior.
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