scholarly journals Driving forces for fuelwood use in households in the Thulamela municipality, South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure ◽  
Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe ◽  
Agnes Musyoki

AbstractEnergy is a fundamental requirement to sustain human life, but most people in rural areas do not have enough access to efficient and affordable energy resources. Socio-economic measures are increasingly used to determine household energy consumption patterns. The pattern of household energy consumption represents the status of welfare as well as the stage of a country’s economic development. Household energy consumption is expected to increase in the future, along with growth in the economy and a rise in per capita incomes. This study was undertaken to understand the driving forces for energy preference in rural households, while reassessing the energy ladder and multiple fuel use. Two hundred questionnaires were administered to elicit information from respondents in Altein, Botsoleni, Makhovha and Thenzheni in the Thulamela municipality of South Africa. A non-parametric test (Chi-square) was used to determine the relationships amongst the factors influencing the use of fuelwood in the study area. Cramer’s V was used to test the association of the variables, the strength and the direction of the relationship. The results indicate that household income, educational level and employment status, cultural norms and values, are among the key determinants of the energy preference scale.Keywords: rural households; energy consumption; energy ladder; energy preference

Author(s):  
Chenxi Lu ◽  
Shaohui Zhang ◽  
Chang Tan ◽  
Yun Li ◽  
Zhu Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Energy consumption in the residential sector is increasing rapidly in China. This study applies an integrated assessment model to investigate the adverse impacts of household energy consumption by various fuel types across rural and urban areas on age- and sex- specific premature deaths associated with PM2.5 pollution at provincial levels for 2015. We further estimate the economic and health co-benefits of a switch from solid fuels to electricity within households. We find that energy consumed by Chinese urban households was nearly 1.8 times than that of rural households. However, premature deaths due to household energy usage was 1.1 times higher in rural areas compared to urban areas due to direct use of coal for heating in rural households. The majority of household consumption-related premature deaths are predominately in the Southern area of China due to the population size and aging population. By replacing coal and biomass with electricity, this paper estimates economic benefits equal to 0.09% (95% CI: 0.08%-0.1%) GDP for rural areas and 0.006% (0.005%-0.007%) of GDP for urban areas of China. The results suggest that mitigation measures such as the promotion and subsidization of cleaner fuels, modern stove within rural households would yield these potential significant economic benefits.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Oyeleke Oluwaseun Oyerinde

Understanding locational variations in household energy consumption is critical to ascertaining dichotomies of energy use, need and wellbeing. In recognition of this, the study compares quantities of household energy consumption among urban, peri-urban and rural areas in Ibadan region, Nigeria using Net Heating Value (NHV). It employs a stratified random sampling of 166 households across the three zones. Results show that electricity, majorly used for appliances is dominant in the urban in contrast to fuelwood at the peri-urban and rural areas where cooking is the major end use. Though the quantities of total household energy consumption do not vary significantly at p < .05, electricity consumption is however significantly higher in urban households than in peri-urban and rural households. The Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicate that socioeconomic characteristics significantly influenced the quantity of household energy consumption at the urban area only. Major variations between locations appear to be in energy types and end uses rather than quantity consumed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Jiang ◽  
Xingpeng Chen ◽  
Bing Xue

Household energy consumption has been a major contributor to the increase in global energy demand and carbon emission, and the household sector has also become one of the most crucial factors shaping the management of developments towards sustainability. However, there is still a knowledge gap regarding the household energy consumption in China. Due to the vast territory and the differences among regional conditions, it is critical to conduct a systemic review to illustrate the overall situation as well as the detailed mechanisms of the household energy consumption in China. By employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, two key features of the household energy consumption in China are presented; one is regarding the total amount and the structure of the household energy consumption, and the second is the significant urban-rural gap. The driving forces are investigated from the perspective of external determinants and internal determinants, which consist of seven key factors; finally, the transition roadmap towards the sustainable energy system for the household level are presented based on the text analysis from the four key policy documents. Weaknesses in the current research on the energy geography of household level also exist, such as the lack of single factor research and the lack of integration and comprehensive analysis. Therefore, future studies need to strengthen the research of regional household energy consumption structure, spatial-temporal process, and its motivation mechanism, and sustainable development of energy, so as to explore space-social structure of household energy consumption and spatial-temporal interaction.


2014 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 137-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hewen Niu ◽  
Yuanqing He ◽  
Umberto Desideri ◽  
Peidong Zhang ◽  
Hongyi Qin ◽  
...  

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