The use and impacts of an ethanol cooking fuel promotion pilot in Dar es Salaam

Ensuring access to affordable and clean energy resources (as articulated in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7) is critical to achieving a range of human development outcomes. Numerous studies have examined how clean cooking technology can, under the right circumstances, reduce household air pollution and shift household time use. Yet, empirical research on the adoption and impacts of bioethanol, an emerging clean cooking fuel that is frequently promoted in policy dialogues, remains limited and largely descriptive. Thus, this paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale, UNIDO/GEF-sponsored ethanol promotion program implemented in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. To mitigate against bias from non-random selection into ethanol stove ownership and confounding by observable factors that may influence the outcomes of ethanol stove adoption, we apply multiple regression and matching methods to analyze survey data collected from 844 households. We document increases in cooking time with ethanol fuel and primary use of ethanol stoves, indicating that this technology was taken up by targeted households. Yet, no clear health improvements or net time savings result among these households. This is likely due to the continued use of charcoal stoves and insufficiently robust stoves, which dampen cooking time savings and air pollution reductions, and a weak ethanol fuel supply chain to convenient retail outlets, with implications for fuel collection time. Improvement in technology and program design and implementation, focusing on user experiences and convenience aspects, is necessary to achieve better outcomes and deliver tangible economic benefits to households.