Household Energy, Sustainability and Justice: A Tribute to Kirk Smith

Household access to clean energy is a priority for public health and the environment in low- and middle-income countries. However, past illustrative studies have explored benefits of replacing all polluting energy sources, a transition that is only theoretically possible. Factors that limit achievement of the entire theoretical reduction potential should be explored to inform programmatic decision making. We propose a hierarchy of reduction potentials for emissions from household energy, representing different implementation barriers. Following similar work in renewable energy, we propose four categories of reduction potentials beyond the theoretical maximum: distributional, technical, economic, and market. We apply this framework to household energy emissions using a high-resolution spatiotemporal emission inventory of India, a country chosen for its data availability and level of interest in mitigation. We explore distributional potential using distance from urban areas, technical potential by attributing emissions to energy services, and economic potential with a village- level proxy for likelihood of program success. For distributional potential (spatial accessibility), we find that applying reduction programs within 5 km of urban centers would achieve 36%–78% of the theoretical potential across seven regions in India; extension to 10 km yields reductions of 63%–90%. Technical and economic reduction potentials differ most greatly from theoretical potential in regions that contribute the most to national emissions. Even if some of the relationships underlying emission causes are not completely known, reflecting the factors that affect transitions can inform practitioners and programs seeking to scale and deliver clean energy solutions. We assert that including these important influences should be a goal of emission inventory development, beyond the simple quantification of baseline emissions.

Reliance on highly polluting cooking technologies poses a significant risk for human health. This study quantifies and compares the impact of different clean cooking access scenarios on future health-age trajectories among population subgroups in South Africa. Using microdata from five waves of the South African National Income Dynamics Study, we develop a dynamic microsimulation model and a composite metric of individual health status that is used to explore how health status changes under alternative access scenarios for the period 2010–2030. We find that there are clear gains of using clean cooking technologies for population health, and that electrification alone does not improve health status, if it is not accompanied by an increase in the use of clean cooking technologies in homes. Our results imply that achieving universal access to clean cooking in South Africa can by itself improve average population health by almost 4% by 2030 compared to a scenario without clean cooking technologies, with the health of individuals of genders and races with the poorest health and well-being endowments improving the most. Thus, clean cooking can contribute to narrowing existing inequalities by improving health for the most vulnerable population groups that disproportionately depend on polluting cooking technologies.

Energy poverty is prevalent in resource-limited settings, leading households to use inefficient fuels and appliances that contribute to household air pollution. Randomized controlled trials of household energy interventions in low and middle income countries have largely focused on cooking services. Less is known about the adoption and impact of clean lighting interventions. We conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods study as part of a randomized controlled trial of home solar lighting systems in rural Uganda in order to identify contextual factors determining the use and impact of the solar lighting intervention. We used sensors to track usage, longitudinally assessed household lighting expenditures and health-related quality of life, and performed cost-effectiveness analyses. Qualitative interviews were conducted with all 80 trial participants and coded using reflexive thematic analysis. Uptake of the intervention solar lighting system was high with daily use averaging 8.23 ± 5.30 h d⁻¹. The intervention solar lighting system increased the EQ5D index by 0.025 (95% CI 0.002–0.048) and led to an average monthly change in household lighting costs by −1.28 (−2.52, −0.85) US dollars, with higher savings in users of fuel-based lighting. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the solar lighting intervention was $2025.72 US dollars per quality adjusted life year gained making the intervention cost-effective when benchmarked against the gross domestic product per capita in Uganda. Thematic analysis of qualitative data from individual interviews showed that solar lighting was transformative and associated with numerous benefits that fit within a social determinants of health (SDOH) framework. The benefits included improved household finances, improved educational performance of children, increased household safety, improved family and community cohesion, and improved perceived household health. Our findings suggest that household solar lighting interventions may be a cost-effective approach to improve health-related quality of life by addressing SDOH.

In this paper we conduct a scoping review of current household energy use patterns and trends in rural Latin America (LA), with the objective of identifying strategies that help promote just and fair transitions in the region. We reviewed a total of 143 publications covering 13 countries within the period from 1996 to 2021. The review shows: (a) fuelwood (FW) continues to be a very important, resilient—and in many countries—the dominant cooking fuel for rural LA households, both exclusively and increasingly stacked (combined) with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); (b) FW is mostly used in open fires and rustic stoves, with a total toll of 59 000 premature deaths. Interventions have centered on the dissemination of improved woodburning chimney cookstoves and increasing access to LPG through top-down government programs. These programs have focused mostly on single-fuel and stove combinations, and on the number of devices installed with little or no follow-up with local users. As a result, success has been limited and open fires have not been fully displaced in most programs. We conclude that renewed efforts are needed to ensure a sustainable and just household energy transition in the LA region. These efforts should promote integrated portfolios of options including improved practices (drying wood, use of pressure cooker), and the stacking of devices (stoves, water heaters, space heating) and fuels (biomass, other). Specifically, improved chimney woodburning stoves need to be integrated with and be an important component of these programs. Programs should adopt a user-centered perspective, beginning with the understanding of users' needs and priorities and tailoring solutions to their socio-environmental context. Innovation should be fostered through participatory methods, developing tests adapted to local circumstances and enforcing national standards. Implementation programs should focus on the adoption and sustained use of clean(er) devices and the displacement of traditional fires. Public policies should be more integrated and intersectoral seeking synergies between health, environmental, social development, and economic objectives.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in defining what exactly constitutes "decent living standards" (DLS)—the material underpinnings of human well-being. We assess the gaps in providing decent health, shelter, nutrition, socialization, and mobility within countries, across the world. Our results show that more people are deprived of DLS than are income-poor, even when numbers are measured against medium income poverty thresholds. We estimate the cumulative energy needs for building out new infrastructure to support DLS provision for all by 2040 to be about 290 EJ, which amounts to less than three-quarters of current annual global energy demand, at the final energy level. The annual energy requirements to support decent living for the global population after 2040 is estimated to be 156 EJ yr⁻¹. Present average energy demand levels in most countries exceed hypothetical DLS energy needs. Nevertheless, the required rate of increase in energy to provide decent living for all in the coming two decades would be unprecedented for many countries. Greater attention to equity would significantly reduce the need for growth. The per capita energy requirement of different countries to meet the same DLS levels varies by up to a factor of four due to differences in climate, urbanization, diets, and transport infrastructure. Transport energy dominates energy for decent living worldwide, while housing requirements dominate upfront energy investment needs. This study supports the claim that the increase in energy provision poverty eradication does not, in itself, pose a threat to mitigating climate change at a global scale. Distinguishing energy for affluence from energy for decent living could provide a basis for defining equitable access to sustainable development in energy terms.