Appliance Ownership and Aspirations among Electric Grid and Home Solar Households in Rural Kenya

Kenneth Lee, Edward Miguel and Catherine Wolfram

Department of Economics, Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley

Abstract: In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are active debates about whether increases in energy access should be driven by investments in electric grid infrastructure or small-scale “home solar” systems (e.g., solar lanterns and solar home systems). We summarize the results of a household electrical appliance survey and describe how households in rural Kenya differ in terms of appliance ownership and aspirations. Our data suggest that home solar is not a substitute for grid power. Furthermore, the environmental advantages of home solar are likely to be relatively small in countries like Kenya, where grid power is primarily derived from non-fossil fuel sources.

Keywords: Social and Behavioral Sciences; rural electrification; off-grid energy; solar; economic development; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-02-06
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Appliance Ownership and Aspirations among Electric Grid and Home Solar Households in Rural Kenya (2016)
Working Paper: Appliance Ownership and Aspirations among Electric Grid and Home Solar Households in Rural Kenya (2016)
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