Abstract:
With the need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, modern clean household energy
choice forms the basis for heeding this call. In developing countries, most of the population
lives in rural areas and is characterized by high dependence on polluting biomass for cooking
and heating while they rely predominantly on paraffin and candles for lighting. Women and
children in developing countries spend an appreciable amount of time collecting the biomass,
hence unable to carry out other development activities. The use of modern technologies such
as solar home systems for lighting could help pupils study at night with adequate light and with
no adverse effects on their health. Nevertheless, the determinants of household energy choice
have not been studied in many developing countries including Lesotho, despite the potential
benefits of such a study. This study uses the data collected by Lesotho’s Bureau of Statistics
through a national household energy consumption survey of 2017, to develop a multinomial
logistic regression to identify and analyze the determinants of the choice of household energy
use. The results indicate that income, as predicted by the energy ladder model is statistically
significant for the choice of clean energy fuels. But other socio-economic factors such as
gender, education, household size, and settlement type also play an important role in the choice
of clean energy choice. The role of gender in the choice of fuels used within a household is
generally statistically insignificant. There is not a clear distinction of preference, on the choice
of fuel, between male-headed households versus female-headed households. An increase in the
education level of the household head is statistically significant in choosing cleaner fuels. This
suggests that public policies should have a strong focus on improving formal and informal
education to increase awareness of clean energy fuels and their benefits. Household size is
negative and statistically significant for the choice of clean fuels over traditional fuels. Large
households have enough labour that is required for the collection of traditional fuels. In rural
settlements, electricity is hardly used for either cooking or water heating, it is used only for
lighting. This suggests that policies, for economic reasons, should not focus on extending the
grid to the rural areas but to promote domestic systems and micro-grids that provide enough
electricity for lighting and household entertainment.
