Urban household energy use in India: efficiency and policy implications

Biomass-based fuels are being steadily replaced with modern fossil fuels and electricity in cities of developing countries. The latter energy sources are more convenient and efficient to use, and produce less local pollutants, This fuel transition has accompanied economic growth in many cities. Empirical data to substantiate these generalizations are being gathered by researchers. We report on a recent survey of household energy use in the city of Hyderabad, India. The survey reveals that the underlying fuel transition is consistent with that in other developing-country cities. Government policy, however, has favored the rich, because of the inequities in fuel and equipment availability among income groups. We report the major findings of the survey in context of other data for India, and suggest policy changes to redress these inequities. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.