Piloting Improved Cookstoves in India

Figures & data

Fig. 1 (A) Promotional pamphlet in Hindi for Pilots F and G showing the traditional stove, natural-draft stove, and an electric stove, with (B) English translations.

Table 1. Summary of pilot intervention features

Pilot	Product			Pricing plan				Place			Promotion: Social marketing/behavior change communication^a	Total sales (sales in random sample)	% HH purchase (% purchase in random sample)
	Forced draft	Natural draft	Electric	Full upfront payment	Installments	Rebates conditional on use	Optional stove return	State	NGO	Near highway?
A	✓	✓		✓		✓		Uttar Pradesh			Basic	0 (0)	0 (0)
B	✓	✓			✓				✓		Basic	2 (2)	8 (8)
C		✓			✓	✓			✓		Basic Plus	3 (0)	1 (0)
D		✓			✓	✓		Odisha	✓		Basic Plus	14 (6)	23 (46)
E		✓			✓					✓	Basic Plus	4 (1)	4 (8)
F		✓	✓		✓	✓		Uttarakhand	✓		Intensive	19 (6)	40 (38)
G		✓	✓		✓		✓		✓		Intensive	17 (9)	31 (60)
H		✓			✓	✓			✓		Intensive	2 (2)	7 (14)

Note. NGO = nongovernmental organization.

^aBasic: pamphlets and household demonstration; Basic Plus: pamphlets (in advance), village posters, community and household demonstration; Intensive: new pamphlets and extended household visit (in advance), community and household demonstration.

Table 2. Characteristics of pilot villages, by village (Pilots C–H)

	Uttar Pradesh	Odisha		Uttarakhand			Full sample
	C	D	E	F	G	H
Household characteristics
Total number of households	23	25	24	16	15	14	117
Below poverty line (%)	48	56	29	81	80	50	55
Open/general caste (%)	4	0	0	75	93	93	34
Household size	6.1	5.0	4.7	6.7	6.3	6.0	5.7
Female-headed household (%)	13	8	13	6	20	7	11
Head of household years of education	5.3	3.4	6.9	8.1	5.0	6.8	5.7
Head cook years of education	1.4	1.9	4.9	5.8	2.9	6.7	3.6
Self help group membership (%)	9	44	71	69	53	64	50
Number of hours of electricity per day	5.0	20.0	17.5	19.6	20.1	20.9	16.6
Average monthly expenditures (rupees)	3,370	1,776	2,492	5,250	3,900	6,143	3,506
Latrine access (%)	9	96	92	100	93	100	79
Fuelwood used for heat (%)	100	96	54	94	100	100	89
With savings (%)	52	48	63	31	40	86	53
Taken out a loan (%)	9	20	17	69	73	50	34
Stove/fuel use
Traditional stove ownership (%)	100	96	96	94	100	100	97
Improved stove ownership (%)	9	0	29	75	27	79	31
LPG stove ownership (%)	9	0	25	60	27	64	26
Average time spent gathering fuel (all traditional fuels) in hours per week	16.3	5.2	3.7	20.1	23.7	12.1	12.3
Average rupees spent on traditional fuels per week	43.7	0.0	29.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	14.5
Average rupees spent on clean fuels per week	11.1	0.0	107.2	237.8	62.2	145.1	82.0
Preferences for stove attributes (%)
ICS top 2 attribute: reduced smoke	74	40	0	38	7	57	42
ICS top 2 attribute: cooking time	11	47	1	56	67	14	42
ICS top 2 attribute: fuel requirement	21	93	1	44	40	64	54
ICS bottom 2 attribute: cost	42	100	95	33	33	77	63
ICS bottom 2 attribute: maintenance	0	10	0	75	0	15	14

Note. LPG = liquid petroleum gas; ICS = improved cookstove; 55 Rs. = US$1.

Fig. 2 Stove purchase, by randomly selected households. One household in Pilot G that purchased an electric stove also purchased a natural-draft stove.

Table 3. Test for differences in means between purchases and nonpurchasers for randomly selected households (Pilots C–H)

Variable	Purchasers (n = 24)	Nonpurchasers (n = 93)	p
Promotion
Household received pamphlet	92%	76%	.036**
Household attended demonstration	88%	73%	.084*
Household characteristics
Female-headed household (%)	13%	11%	.817
Head of household years of education	5.6	5.8	.912
Head cook years of education	3.2	3.8	.5
Below poverty line	71%	51%	.061*
Open/general caste	63%	27%	.002***
Self help group membership	67%	45%	.053*
Latrine access	100%	73%	.000***
With cell phone	91%	69%	.004***
With cattle	88%	74%	.108
With savings	46%	55%	.435
Taken out a loan	63%	27%	.002***
Fuelwood used for heat	96%	87%	.109
Household size	6.5	5.5	.118
Number of cooks in household	2.1	1.8	.302
Average monthly expenditures (rupees)	3563	3491	.86
Number of hours of electricity per day	20	16	.000***
Stove/fuel use
Traditional stove ownership	100%	97%	.0836*
Improved stove ownership	29%	31%	.849
LPG stove ownership	17%	28%	.256
Average rupees spent on traditional fuels per week	3	18	.008***
Average rupees spent on clean fuels per week	68	85	.592
Average rupees spent on LPG per week	133	91	.447
Average time spent gathering fuel (all traditional fuels) in hours per week	16	11	.062*
Preferences
ICS top 2 attribute: reduced smoke	9%	53%	.000***
ICS top 2 attribute: cooking time	66%	33%	.007***
ICS top 2 attribute: fuel requirement	62%	53%	.447

Note. LPG = liquid petroleum gas; ICS = improved cookstove; 55 Rs. = US $ 1.

***p < .01. **p < .05. *p < .1.

Fig. 3 Two attributes considered best (A; n = 84) and worst (B; n = 88) about the improved cookstoves (ICS), by randomly selected households (Pilots C–H) on average (with 95% confidence intervals).

Fig. 4 Purchases among randomly selected households grouped by (A) intensity of promotion campaign and (B) payment plan in the village; (n = 26 purchasers) across all pilots.

Fig. 5 Stove use in the past 24 hours checked at visit 1 (2 weeks after purchase) and visit 2 (1 month after purchase). Visit 1 and 2, n = 35; data from Pilots D–H. If households responded that both traditional and improved cookstoves (ICSs) were used, the time was divided between the two stoves as estimated by the household.