Abstract:
Clean, diversified and sustainable household energy sources for cooking is essential in order
to maintain worthy health for women and children and also improving the energy security
of people in the developing countries. Yet, the understanding of household energy dynamics
and information remains unclear. This necessitates investigation of transition pathways
towards diversification, sustainable and modern household energies. The main objective of
this research was to model household energy utilization, changing behaviours and
diversification using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The specific objectives
included: determinants of household energy utilization and changing behaviours; the effects
of renewable energy and accessibility on energy utilization, changing behaviour and
household diversification of energy sources and finally modeling of the effects of moderators
and mediators on the household energy sources diversification. The research was carried out
in the counties of Bungoma and Uasin Gishu. Random sampling technique was used to select
640 households from a target household of 663,739 and data was collected using a structured
questionnaire. The data was analyzed using AMOS version 23 to achieve the first three
objectives. Bootstrapping method was utilized to validate mediation and moderation models.
The results showed that firewood is still the most common energy resource used for cooking
in both rural and peri urban areas as evidenced by responses of 87.5% and 72.4%,
respectively. The use of LPG (26 to 42%), charcoal (39.4% to 53.8%) and kerosene (14.3%
to 17.3%) for cooking was found to increase as one moves from rural to peri-urban and vice
versa for agricultural residues (12.3% to 5.3%). Biogas uptake still represents a small
fraction (11.4 to 14.6%) of the energy mix at local level. The use of solar for lighting showed
reduction as one move from rural to peri urban (44.8% to 39.6%) and vice versa for kerosene
and electricity. SEM analysis found that factors such as education level, income, residential
status, peri urbanization, house size, house composition, age and gender of the household
head influence the changing behaviours and diversification among households both for
cooking and lighting. Biogas users realized time saving of 1hour 36 minutes on average per
household daily with financial saving of KES 2,557 per month as compared to firewood
users. In addition, biogas indicated negative association with the use of conventional
household energy sources for cooking fuels. Consequently, accessibility increased
household fuel utilization and diversification. Interestingly, LPG (Path coefficient () =
0.461, critical ratio (C.R) = 15.204) followed by biogas ( = 0.333, C.R = 11.738) revealed
to be the most important contributor to household diversification. The mediating effects of
peri urbanization improved the household utilization of charcoal ( = 0.01, C.R = 6.72)
kerosene ( = 0.04), LPG ( = 0.01), and conversely for firewood ( = - 0.013, C.R = 8.72)
and agricultural residues ( = - 0.01). With income as an independent variable and education
as a moderator; number of cars ( = 0.21), peri urbanization ( = 0.01), household size ( =
0.0397), residential status ( = - 0.0396), and gender ( = - 0.104) revealed mediating effects
on the household energy diversification. According to bootstrapping reliability test, the limit
for Bollen-Stine bootstrap is < 0. 12. In conclusion, household attributes have direct,
moderating and mediating effects on the household energy utilization, changing behaviour
and diversification. This study showed that household energy changing behaviour and
diversification in Kenya are affected by moderating and mediating factors such as peri
urbanization, cars among others. This study puts forward the need for policymakers and
energy planners in Kenya and other developing countries to improve accessibility (supply
and distance) of sustainable fuels and create awareness about the harmful effect of using
dirty fuel at early stage through education curriculum, seminars and workshops.