Brijesh Mainali

Analyzing cooking fuel and stove choices in China till 2030

Many rural dwellings are still using low grade solid fuels with traditional stoves to meet their cooking and heating energy demands. This results in significant indoor pollution, which caused health hazards especially to women and children who are mostly exposed. The mode of energy consumption and types of stoves in use may change with changes in prosperity. Product specific and socio economic parameters may also influence these choices. This project aimed to analyze and model cooking fuel and stove choices including standard economic variables such as income, prices and costs, along with some variables unique to the developing country setting such as inconvenience costs. Understanding the factors that determine household choices and demand for cooking energy services formed the basis for developing policy scenarios that can accelerate a quicker transition to either modern fuels or improved stoves. MESSAGE-Access model was used is this study.