EFFECT OF SUSTAINED USAGE OF ENERGY EFFICIENT FIREWOOD COOK STOVES ON CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION IN SIAYA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The significance of using energy efficient firewood cook stoves for climate change mitigation has gained wide acknowledgement leading to dissemination of different types of energy efficient firewood stoves in many rural households in Kenya. However, the anticipated benefits can be fully actualized only with the sustained usage of these stoves. Effect of sustained usage of the energy efficient firewood stoves on climate change mitigation in Siaya County, Kenya, remained lowly researched and unclear. The adopted stoves’ usage rates, factors that influence their sustained usage and the relationship between the sustained usage and climate change mitigation had not been clearly established in Siaya. This study, therefore, evaluated the effect of sustained usage of energy efficient firewood cook stoves on climate change mitigation in Siaya. The specific objectives were to: (i) determine the usage rate of the energy efficient firewood cook stove in relation to the other stoves used by the households (ii) evaluate the sociocultural, economic and technological factors that influence sustained usage of the energy efficient firewood cook stoves; and (iii) determine the relationship between sustained usage of the energy efficient firewood stoves by households and climate change mitigation in Siaya County. The study employed mixed methods including descriptive survey and experimentation. The study participants were drawn from 127,242 households where twin brick rocket (an energy efficient firewood cook stove) had been installed, with 399 households participating in a survey and 100 participating in a Kitchen Performance Test (KPT). The KPT protocol adopted a paired-sample study. Data was analyzed both descriptively and through correlation analysis to test the study hypotheses. The key study findings were that in terms of usage rate, 98.4% of the installed energy efficient firewood cook stove (twin brick rocket) were generally in use although their usage was not entirely consistent. 20.6% of the households whose normal cooking routine was three times per day did not use the energy efficient stove every time they cooked. Also, 14% of the households cooked once per day on the energy efficient stove more than their normal cooking pattern of once per day. Significantly, 42.4% of the households still retained their old three stone open fire with 35.1% still in use. Besides, 21.6% of the households had other cooking devices which they simultaneously used. Regarding the factors that influence sustained usage of the energy efficient firewood cook stoves, the social and economic factors including the stove users’ gender, age, education level, household size and monthly income had no significant influence as their respective significance level (P-values) equal to 0.443, 0.437, 0.464, 0.778 and 0.283 were above the P≤0.05 threshold. However, technological and cultural factors seemed to have influence on the efficient stove usage. Finally, the study showed that a single energy efficient firewood cook stove could save approximately 1.1315 tonnes of firewood translating to 1.4099 tonnes of CO2e comprising 41.3% per year relative to the three stone open fire. The energy efficient stove remarkably reduces firewood consumption and GHGs emissions hence its sustained usage could have tangible impact on climate change mitigation. The overall conclusion was that despite the climate change mitigation benefits associated with the efficient stove’s sustained usage, many households still inconsistently used it due to technological and cultural factors. The study recommends enhanced sensitization on the energy efficient stove’s sustained usage benefits and scaling up its adoption.