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A Growing Number Of Studies Essay

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A growing number of studies (e.g. (Kowsari and Zerriffi, 2011; O. R. Masera et al., 2000)) investigate the impacts of various factors such as household income, and education status that would influence household cooking fuel choice and then inform the policies to promote fuel switching to the modern sources. Mainly, two broad conceptual models are popular in the area of household energy choice and fuel transition in developing countries: Energy Ladder and Energy Stacking Models (Elias and Victor, 2005; Hosier and Dowd, 1987; Leach, 1992; Leach and Mearns, 1988; O. Masera et al., 2000). These models categorize energy resources into modern, transitional and traditional fuels given that different cooking fuels are available in the region. Modern fuels such as LPG or electricity are interpreted as superior because the inherent qualities of these fuels are relatively superior in terms of fuel efficiency and sustainability when compared to the traditional fuels. Transitional fuels are consumed during the transitional period; a period where traditional fuels are in the process of being replaced by the modern fuels.
The factors influencing households’ fuel switching decisions in the energy ladder model are the household income, relative fuel prices, and fuel accessibility. However, the energy ladder model of perfect substitutability among the cooking fuels with respect to the income fails to be supported by most empirical evidence (Heltberg, 2005; Hosier and Dowd, 1987; Lee et al.,

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