Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Global Non-Communicable Disease Research and Training, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Center for Global Non-Communicable Disease Research and Training, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Environ Int. 2023 Oct;180:108223. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108223. Epub 2023 Sep 20.
Exclusive clean fuel use is essential for realizing health and other benefits but is often unaffordable. Decreasing household-level fuel needs could make exclusive clean fuel use more affordable, but there is a lack of knowledge on the amount of fuel savings that could be achieved through fuel conservation behaviors relevant to rural settings in low- and middle-income countries.
Within a trial in Peru, we trained a random half of intervention participants, who had previously received a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and were purchasing their own fuel, on fuel conservation strategies. We measured the amount of fuel and mega joules (MJ) of energy consumed by all participants, including control participants who were receiving free fuel from the trial. We administered surveys on fuel conservation behaviors and assigned a score based on the number of behaviors performed.
Intervention participants with the training had a slightly higher conservation score than those without (7.2 vs. 6.6 points; p = 0.07). Across all participants, average daily energy consumption decreased by 9.5 MJ for each 1-point increase in conservation score (p < 0.001). Among households who used exclusively LPG (n = 99), each 1-point increase in conservation score was associated with a 0.04 kg decrease in LPG consumption per household per day (p = 0.03). Using pressure cookers and heating water in the sun decreased energy use, while using clay pots and forgetting to close stove knobs increased energy use.
Our findings suggest that a household could save 1.16 kg of LPG per month for each additional fuel conservation behavior, for a maximum potential savings of 8.1 kg per month. Fuel conservation messaging could be integrated into national household energy policies to increase the affordability of exclusive clean fuel use, and subsequently achieve the environmental and health benefits that could accompany such a transition.
实现健康和其他效益的关键是使用专用清洁燃料，但专用清洁燃料往往负担不起。降低家庭燃料需求可以使专用清洁燃料的使用更加负担得起，但对于中低收入国家农村地区与燃料节约相关的行为可以实现多少燃料节约，人们知之甚少。
在秘鲁的一项试验中，我们培训了干预组的一半随机参与者，这些参与者之前已经获得了液化石油气（LPG）炉，并正在购买自己的燃料，让他们了解燃料节约策略。我们测量了所有参与者（包括从试验中获得免费燃料的对照组参与者）消耗的燃料量和兆焦耳（MJ）能量。我们对燃料节约行为进行了调查，并根据行为数量给参与者打分。
接受培训的干预组参与者的节约分数略高于未接受培训的参与者（7.2 分比 6.6 分；p=0.07）。在所有参与者中，节约分数每增加 1 分，平均每日能量消耗就会减少 9.5 MJ（p<0.001）。在完全使用 LPG 的家庭（n=99）中，节约分数每增加 1 分，每个家庭每天的 LPG 消耗量就会减少 0.04 公斤（p=0.03）。使用高压锅和太阳能加热水可以减少能源使用，而使用粘土锅和忘记关闭炉旋钮会增加能源使用。
我们的研究结果表明，每个额外的燃料节约行为可以使家庭每月节省 1.16 公斤的 LPG，最大潜在节省量为每月 8.1 公斤。燃料节约信息可以纳入国家家庭能源政策，以提高专用清洁燃料的可负担性，从而实现此类转型所带来的环境和健康效益。
