Deconstructing the (un)affordability of clean cooking fuels through a randomized trial in rural Tanzania

IF 49.7 1区材料科学 Q1 ENERGY & FUELS

Nature Energy Pub Date : 2025-06-03 DOI:10.1038/s41560-025-01778-w

Annelise Gill-Wiehl, Isha Ray, Robert Katikiro, Daniel M. Kammen, Alan Hubbard

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Low-income users struggle to save for clean cooking fuel costs. We test whether a lockbox intervention paired with micro-saving nudges could alleviate the unaffordability of clean fuels. In a year-long stepped-wedge randomized control trial in Tanzania (n = 511), we find that compared to savings nudges only, a lockbox and savings nudges increased annual refills of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 1.4 (0.054 per 2 weeks ([95% confidence interval: 0.043, 0.066], P < 0.0001)) and minimally decreased firewood use but had no effect on lags between LPG refills or the frequency of LPG and charcoal use. We find that easing liquidity constraints is insufficient for exclusive LPG use when LPG is the financial responsibility of only women, who ration LPG purchases to meet other household needs and social expectations. The financial and gendered realities of low-income consumers demand clean energy policies beyond easing liquidity constraints or targeted subsidies.

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通过在坦桑尼亚农村进行的一项随机试验，解构清洁烹饪燃料的（un）可负担性

低收入用户难以为清洁的烹饪燃料节省开支。我们测试了锁箱干预与微观节约推动是否可以缓解清洁燃料的负担能力。在坦桑尼亚为期一年的阶梯形随机对照试验（n = 511）中，我们发现，与仅节省燃料相比，锁箱和节省燃料使液化石油气（LPG）的年补充量增加了1.4（每2周0.054([95%置信区间：0.043,0.066],P < 0.0001)），并最低程度地减少了木柴的使用，但对LPG补充之间的滞后或LPG和木炭使用的频率没有影响。我们发现，当液化石油气仅由女性承担经济责任时，缓解流动性限制对专用液化石油气的使用是不够的，她们定量购买液化石油气以满足其他家庭需求和社会期望。低收入消费者的财政和性别现实需要清洁能源政策，而不是放松流动性限制或有针对性的补贴。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Nature Energy Energy-Energy Engineering and Power Technology

CiteScore

75.10

自引率

1.10%

发文量

193

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