Biogas technology adoption and household welfare perspectives for sustainable development

Munir Ahmad and Gul Jabeen

Energy Policy, 2023, vol. 181, issue C

Abstract: Despite the paramount importance of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly affordable and sustainable energy (i.e., SDG-7), the existing literature largely overlooked the household welfare gains associated with biogas. Using survey data from 971 Pakistani rural households, we employed probit regression to estimate the determinants of biogas production technology (BGPT) adoption and propensity score matching to predict the household welfare contributions of BGPT. Our results indicate that (i) a positive shock to formal and informal credit borrowing increases the likelihood of BGPT adoption by agricultural households, with informal credit borrowing showing twice the influence of formal credit. (ii) Agricultural households perceive the BGPT as a cost-ineffective solution; however, households’ aesthetic preferences are neutral in BGPT adoption. Regarding the household welfare perspectives of biogas adoption, (iii) adopter households have reduced fuel collection time and additional labor time and exhibit larger crop gains and organic food supply than nonadopters. (iv) BGPT-adopting households are likely to spend less on healthcare, indicating a lower likelihood of falling ill. Finally, (v) adopters are less likely to harm the environment as they use less firewood and fossil fuels. Based on empirical results, our policy implications contribute to multiple SDGs.

Keywords: Biogas production technology; Agricultural household welfare; Informal credit; Cost-effectiveness; Sustainable development; Propensity score matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 Q01 Q12 Q42 Q43 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421523003130
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:181:y:2023:i:c:s0301421523003130

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113728

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().