ANNOUNCEMENTS
Choice of energy fuel for cooking and heating purposes is an important subject especially for developing nations, because in these countries majority of the rural population do not use LPG (clean fuels) for their daily requirements. This leads to high emission of hazardous gases. This in particular is more perilous for the women and children since they are the most vulnerable section of the society. Past literature highlights that that affordability is not the only criteria that hinders this switch, but there are other socio-economic factors involved. Most of the literature pertaining to cook stove focuses only on the coverage of cook stoves by the households. By coverage they mean that a particular household is using cleaner fuels like LPG, but they fail to assess how extensively this cleaner fuel is being used. In most of the rural areas of developing nations like India, households usually use a mix of fuels, like LPG and cow dung, or fuel wood, etc. This study aims to look at the factors that inhibit the people of Uttar Pradesh, India to completely switch to LPG, when they can afford this. Due to the affordability criteria, people who cannot afford LPG are excluded from the study. The aim of the study is to find how the presence of cattle and certain characteristics of woman who cooks inhibit the complete switch to LPG. Using multinomial logit model, educational level and health aspect of the primary woman cook came out to be significant. Hence, one can conclude that policies to educate women are more required to bring about a complete switch to LPG.
Keywords: LPG, Improved Cookstoves, Traditional Cookstoves, Female Literacy, Cattle.
