India’s transition to clean cooking fuels may be hampered by users’ belief that using firewood is better for their families’ wellbeing than switching to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), a new study reveals.

Women are considered primary family cooks in rural India and those featured in the study feel that both fuels support wellbeing. Understanding these viewpoints helps to explain why India’s switch from traditional solid fuels is slower than expected.

Those cooks using firewood know it causes health problems, but feel that it contributes more to wellbeing than cooking with LPG would — although LPG users who previously cooked with firewood claim their new fuel has improved wellbeing.

India has more people relying on solid fuels for cooking than any other country in the world and providing universal access to clean cooking fuels has been identified as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which the country is a signatory.

Researchers at the Universities of Birmingham (UK) and Queensland (Australia) conducted focus group discussions with women in four villages in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Two villages mostly used firewood whilst the other two comprised of mostly LPG users who had switched from using firewood. The researchers have published their findings today in Nature Energy.

Firewood users believed that cooking with this fuel improved their financial wellbeing because selling firewood generated income, whilst collecting the fuel gave them an opportunity to socialise and is a tradition they would like to continue. They viewed LPG as a financial burden that gave food an undesirable taste and feared a fatal canister explosion.

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Birmingham. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.