Households Fuel Choices and Transition to LPG In Rural Bihar

Abstract

The choice of cooking fuel has a significant impact on equitable society, public newlinehealth, and the sustainability of the environment. Like many other parts of India, newlineRural Bihar has historically met its household energy demands by using newlineconventional solid biofuels like firewood, dung cakes, and crop wastes. Although newlinewidely available and rooted in cultural customs, these fuels significantly increase newlineinterior and outdoor air pollution. Because they are the primary fuels in the home, newlinewomen and children are disproportionately affected by this pollution, which newlineexposes them to health hazards that last a lifetime. This dependence on newlineconventional fuels has social costs and adverse effects on human health, newlineperpetuating cycles of poverty and unequal distribution. newlineThe market does not address these negative externalities as it now functions, which newlineresults in less-than-ideal social and environmental outcomes. Government action newlinebecomes crucial to facilitate the switch from conventional to modern fuels, newlineincluding liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Policies like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala newlineYojana (PMUY), which primarily targets people needing financial assistance, seek newlineto accelerate this change by offering subsidized access to LPG. Even though LPG newlineis now more widely available in rural regions, sustained adoption and usage still newlineneed to be improved. This emphasizes the need for greater comprehension of the newlinevariables influencing family fuel choices. The study Households Fuel Choices newlineand Transition to LPG: In Rural Bihar aims to advance this understanding by newlineanalyzing the transition process in one of India s most socially and economically newlinevulnerable regions. Bihar is a miniature of the more significant challenges newlineassociated with attaining energy fairness and sustainability because of the newlineoverwhelming majority of rural residents and their reliance on biomass fuels. The newlineGaya area, which is a prime example of the excessive reliance on conventional newlinefuels and the associated difficulties in switching to modern energy sources, is the newlineparticul