Household Cooking Fuel Choice and Adoption of Improved Cookstoves in Developing Countries : A Review

Improving access to affordable and
reliable energy services for cooking is essential for
developing countries in reducing adverse human health and
environmental impacts hitherto caused by burning of
traditional biomass. This paper reviews empirical studies
that analyze choices of fuel and adoption of improved stoves
for cooking in countries where biomass is still the
predominant cooking fuel. The review highlights the wide
range of factors that influence households cooking fuel
choices and adoption of improved stoves, including
socioeconomic (access and availability, collection costs and
fuel prices, household income, education and awareness),
behavioral (food tastes, lifestyle), and cultural and
external factors (indoor air pollution, government
policies). The paper also summarizes the evidence on the
significant adverse health impacts from exposure to indoor
smoke, especially among women and young children. In
low-income households, perceived health benefits of adopting
improved stoves and financial benefits from fuel savings
tend to be outweighed by the costs of improved stoves, even
after accounting for the opportunity cost of time spent
collecting biomass fuel. The paper identifies knowledge and
evidence gaps on the success of policies and programs
designed to scale up the adoption of improved cookstoves.