Household energy

Around 2.4 billion people use biomass fuels - wood, charcoal and animal dung - for their domestic energy needs. These are typically burned in inefficient stoves or on open fires, with serious consequences for health and the environment. SEI identifies and designs actions to help households transition to cleaner technologies and energy sources.

Everybody stacks: Lessons from household energy case studies to inform design principles for clean energy transitions

Journal article / Researchers analyze case studies and data on the prevalence of cookstove "stacking," in which households often mix stove types, undermining clean cooking goals.

8 April 2020 / About Behaviour and choice, Energy access, Household energy, Pollution and Public policy

Man sitting on his knee next to a wall, working with insulation

PROTOCOL: Residential energy efficiency interventions: an effectiveness systematic review

Journal article / The effectiveness systematic review assesses the overall impact of residential energy efficiency, including installations and behaviour interventions.

30 November 2021 / About Household energy

How to have a greener Christmas this year

Feature / SEI researchers offer advice on how to have a more environmentally friendly Christmas this year.

17 December 2021 / About Behaviour and choice, Household energy and Renewables

Black pot suspended over wood-burning fire

Low-cost interventions to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in open wood fires in rural communities

Journal article / This research explores how using grates and rock beds in open fire cooking can reduce harmful emissions and wood consumption in remote, low-income locations.

28 August 2020 / About Behaviour and choice, Energy access, Household energy, Pollution and Sustainable Development Goals

Person transporting tall stack of firewood by bicycle down mountain pass, Zomba, Malawi

Energy access and the ultra-poor: Do unconditional social cash transfers close the energy access gap in Malawi?

Journal article / This article explores the relationship between poverty and energy access in Malawi and whether unconditional social cash transfers help close the energy gap.

4 January 2021 / About Behaviour and choice, Energy access, Household energy, Public policy and Sustainable Development Goals

Large black pot on cookstove, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In-use emissions from biomass and LPG stoves measured during a large, multi-year cookstove intervention study in rural India

Journal article / The study aimed to measure in-home emissions from a variety of stoves in rural Indian communities.

23 November 2020 / About Behaviour and choice, Household energy and Pollution

Forest, farms and fuelwood: Measuring changes in fuelwood collection and consumption behavior from a clean cooking intervention

Journal article / Researchers examined fuelwood use in two rural Indian districts where clean cooking solutions were implemented.

3 March 2021 / About Behaviour and choice, Forests, Household energy and Pollution

Low-cost interventions to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in open wood fires in rural communities: Evidence from field surveys

Journal article / Researchers measure the effectiveness of a grass-roots campaign in Western Kenya to increase cooking with rock-beds for open fires and simple woodstoves.

13 July 2021 / About Behaviour and choice, Household energy and Pollution

Waste pipe or drainage polluting environment

Recovering resources from organic waste streams with the REVAMP tool

Feature / Explore your city or community's resource recovery potential of urban organic waste streams on the new web-based platform for SEI’s newly launched REVAMP tool.

19 November 2021 / About Business, Cities, Finance, Household energy, Innovation, Public policy, Renewables, Sanitation and Water resources