IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v109y2022ics0140988322001293.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Operationalizing affordability criterion in energy justice: Evidence from rural West Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Gafa, Dede W.
  • Egbendewe, Aklesso Y.G.
  • Jodoin, Laurent

Abstract

Affordability of energy is at the heart of the concept of energy poverty but also an important criterion for energy justice globally. Yet, in developing countries where households predominantly rely on traditional energy sources, measuring the cost of energy goes beyond the price of the fuel and includes other non-monetary costs, such as the time spent and the distance travelled for fuel collection. This paper thereby proposes a redefinition as well as an operationalization of the affordability criterion within the energy justice framework. The outcomes are applied to data obtained in rural Benin, Senegal and Togo. The results suggest that, on average, the opportunity costs related to energy collection represent between 29 and 35% of household income in rural areas. Additionally, failing to account for the non-monetary costs of energy consumption in rural locations may lead to categorizing at least 17% of households as having access to affordable energy, when in fact these households spend substantial amount of time in fuel collection. The study also suggests that reducing income poverty and promoting better access to modern energy sources, through rural electrification programs, are critical to ensure energy affordability in rural West Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Gafa, Dede W. & Egbendewe, Aklesso Y.G. & Jodoin, Laurent, 2022. "Operationalizing affordability criterion in energy justice: Evidence from rural West Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322001293
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.105953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988322001293
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2022.105953?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aristondo, Oihana & Onaindia, Eneritz, 2018. "Counting energy poverty in Spain between 2004 and 2015," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 420-429.
    2. Waddams Price, Catherine & Brazier, Karl & Wang, Wenjia, 2012. "Objective and subjective measures of fuel poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 33-39.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Mukherjee, Ishani, 2011. "Conceptualizing and measuring energy security: A synthesized approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 5343-5355.
    4. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Dworkin, Michael H., 2015. "Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 435-444.
    5. Behera, Bhagirath & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Jeetendra, Aryal & Ali, Akhter, 2015. "Household collection and use of biomass energy sources in South Asia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 468-480.
    6. Legendre, Bérangère & Ricci, Olivia, 2015. "Measuring fuel poverty in France: Which households are the most fuel vulnerable?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 620-628.
    7. Khandker, Shahidur R. & Barnes, Douglas F. & Samad, Hussain A., 2012. "Are the energy poor also income poor? Evidence from India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Kanagawa, Makoto & Nakata, Toshihiko, 2007. "Analysis of the energy access improvement and its socio-economic impacts in rural areas of developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 319-329, April.
    9. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley & Andreas Goldthau, 2016. "Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-6, May.
    10. Pachauri, Shonali & Spreng, Daniel, 2011. "Measuring and monitoring energy poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7497-7504.
    11. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Burke, Matthew & Baker, Lucy & Kotikalapudi, Chaitanya Kumar & Wlokas, Holle, 2017. "New frontiers and conceptual frameworks for energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 677-691.
    12. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Farrell, Lisa, 2020. "Fuel poverty and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. John Hills, 2012. "Final report of the Hills Independent Fuel Poverty Review: Getting the Measure of Fuel Poverty," CASE Reports casereport72, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Chakravarty, Shoibal & Tavoni, Massimo, 2013. "Energy poverty alleviation and climate change mitigation: Is there a trade off?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 67-73.
    15. Ntaintasis, E. & Mirasgedis, S. & Tourkolias, C., 2019. "Comparing different methodological approaches for measuring energy poverty: Evidence from a survey in the region of Attika, Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 160-169.
    16. Barnes, Douglas F. & Khandker, Shahidur R. & Samad, Hussain A., 2011. "Energy poverty in rural Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 894-904, February.
    17. Sadath, Anver C. & Acharya, Rajesh H., 2017. "Assessing the extent and intensity of energy poverty using Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index: Empirical evidence from households in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 540-550.
    18. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2021. "Energy poverty and health: Panel data evidence from Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. J. Lelieveld & J. S. Evans & M. Fnais & D. Giannadaki & A. Pozzer, 2015. "The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7569), pages 367-371, September.
    20. Pachauri, S. & Mueller, A. & Kemmler, A. & Spreng, D., 2004. "On Measuring Energy Poverty in Indian Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2083-2104, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nepal, Rabindra & Best, Rohan & Taylor, Madeline, 2023. "Strategies for reducing ethnic inequality in energy outcomes: A Nepalese example," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Egbendewe, Aklesso Y. G. & Yevesse, Dandonougbo, 2022. "Cooking fuels’ choice, women’s health and CO2 emissions in selected rural West African countries," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322481, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Dong, Kangyin & Yang, Senmiao & Wang, Jianda & Dong, Xiucheng, 2023. "Revisiting energy justice: Is renewable energy technology innovation a tool for realizing a just energy system?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gafa, Dede W. & Egbendewe, Aklesso Y.G., 2021. "Energy poverty in rural West Africa and its determinants: Evidence from Senegal and Togo," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Awan, Ashar & Bilgili, Faik & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2022. "Energy poverty trends and determinants in Pakistan: Empirical evidence from eight waves of HIES 1998–2019," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Recep Ulucak & Ramazan Sari & Seyfettin Erdogan & Rui Alexandre Castanho, 2021. "Bibliometric Literature Analysis of a Multi-Dimensional Sustainable Development Issue: Energy Poverty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Ma, Cong & Cheok, Mui Yee, 2022. "The impact of financing role and organizational culture in small and medium enterprises: Developing business strategies for economic recovery," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 26-38.
    5. Paudel, Jayash, 2021. "Why Are People Energy Poor? Evidence From Ethnic Fractionalization," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Rafi, Muhammed & Naseef, Mohemmad & Prasad, Salu, 2021. "Multidimensional energy poverty and human capital development: Empirical evidence from India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2022. "Foreign aid and energy poverty: Sub-national evidence from Senegal," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Paudel, Jayash, 2021. "Beyond the Blaze: The Impact of Forest Fires on Energy Poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    9. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2021. "An inquiry into the nexus between energy poverty and income inequality in the light of global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Bezerra, Paula & Cruz, Talita & Mazzone, Antonella & Lucena, André F.P. & De Cian, Enrica & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2022. "The multidimensionality of energy poverty in Brazil: A historical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    11. Rodriguez-Alvarez, Ana & Llorca, Manuel & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2021. "Alleviating energy poverty in Europe: Front-runners and laggards," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Ye, Yuxiang & Koch, Steven F., 2021. "Measuring energy poverty in South Africa based on household required energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    13. Shahzad, Umer & Gupta, Mansi & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Rao, Amar & Chopra, Ritika, 2022. "Resolving energy poverty for social change: Research directions and agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    14. Davillas, Apostolos & Burlinson, Andrew & Liu, Hui-Hsuan, 2022. "Getting warmer: Fuel poverty, objective and subjective health and well-being," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    15. Chang, Lei & Gan, Xiaojun & Mohsin, Muhammad, 2022. "Studying corporate liquidity and regulatory responses for economic recovery in COVID-19 crises," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 211-225.
    16. Tiwari, Sunil & Si Mohammed, Kamel & Guesmi, Khaled, 2023. "A way forward to end energy poverty in China: Role of carbon-cutting targets and net-zero commitments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    17. Magdalena Cyrek & Piotr Cyrek, 2022. "Rural Specificity as a Factor Influencing Energy Poverty in European Union Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, July.
    18. Ssennono, Vincent Fred & Ntayi, Joseph M. & Buyinza, Faisal & Wasswa, Francis & Aarakit, Sylvia Manjeri & Mukiza, Chris Ndatira, 2021. "Energy poverty in Uganda: Evidence from a multidimensional approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Mei Song & Jia Zhang & Xiaohao Liu & Liyan Zhang & Xuguang Hao & Mengxue Li, 2023. "Developments and Trends in Energy Poverty Research—Literature Visualization Analysis Based on CiteSpace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Jiang, Yong & Narayan, Seema & Ma, Chao-Qun & Yang, Xiao-Guang, 2022. "Marketisation and rural energy poverty: Evidence from provincial panel data in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy poverty; Energy justice; Opportunity costs; Traditional biomass;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322001293. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.