Do households transition differently across end uses? Evidence from cooking and heating fuel choices in Nepal

초록

Household energy transition studies typically focus on single activities, predominantly cooking, but this approach overlooks how fuel choices may differ across end-uses within the same household. This study addresses this gap by examining cooking and heating fuel choices simultaneously, testing whether the energy ladder and stacking hypotheses operate differently across end-uses. We analyze 11,118 households from the 2022 Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) using multinomial logit models with socioeconomic and geographic variables. The results reveal that transition patterns are activity-specific: the same households exhibit clear ladder behavior for heating while simultaneously engaging in stacking behavior for cooking. Wealth is the strongest predictor of modern heating adoption, but it is insufficient to explain cooking choices, where transitional fuels persist. Notably, provinces with lower average wealth levels exhibit surprisingly high rates of modern fuel adoption, which demonstrates that targeted regional policies can overcome wealth constraints. We argue that the debate should shift from whether households climb or stack to understanding under what conditions and for which activities each behavior emerges. Recognizing this activity-specific nature can help design policies that promote sustainable energy access while addressing the diverse needs of low-and lower-middle-income households.

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