Electric stoves as a solution for household air pollution: Evidence from rural India.

Who: E. Somanathan
Position: Professor, Indian Statistical Institute
Info: Electric stoves as a solution for household air pollution: Evidence from rural India.
When: Monday, April 12th, 12:05 – 13:00 (Swedish time)
Where: Zoom, Link: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/62472375533?pwd=MGM0eTc3SkJvdkxkdTJpbGtCM0dldz09

Short bio

He is a Professor in the Economics and Planning Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute in Delhi, and Program Director of CECFEE (Centre for research on the Economics of Climate, Food, Energy and Environment). His research is in the economics of environment and development, microeconomic theory, and evolutionary models of behavior.

He received his PHD from Harvard University and has taught at Emory University, the University of Michigan, and Princeton University. He has been Executive Director of SANDEE (South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics), a Co-ordinating Lead Author for the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and is the Editor of 'Environment and Development Economics', a Cambridge University Press journal.

(From Eswaran Somanathan | Centre for Policy Research (cprindia.org))

Abstract

Abstract: Residential air pollution arising from cooking with solid fuels is one of the most important public health problems in the developing world. Attempts to improve solid fuel stoves have had limited impact, while cooking gas remains expensive and inaccessible in many rural areas. Electric cooking is increasingly possible, especially where governments are committed to universal electricity access. However, questions remain about whether rural households will adopt electric cooking and use it to displace solid fuel combustion and improve air quality. In this study, we examine the extent to which electric induction stoves substitute for traditional solid-fuel stoves and thereby reduce air pollution, using data from rural north India. We collected minute-by-minute data during a one-year period, on electricity availability, induction stove use, and PM2.5, thus obtaining a long-term high-frequency perspective on household air quality in this important context. We document extremely high levels of ambient and indoor air pollution, and frequent and unpredictable power outages, which is the norm in many low- and middle-income countries. Using within household and within-season, day-to-day variation for each hour of the day, we find that electricity availability increases induction stove use and reduces air pollution substantially during morning and evening cooking hours. We then exploit the exogenous variation in electricity availability to estimate that induction stove use reduces kitchen levels of PM2.5 by hundreds of micrograms per cubic meter during these cooking periods. These findings offer strong support for greater policy support for electric cooking, as a way of tackling the household air pollution crisis.

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