skip to main content

Household-Level Effects of Energy Insecurity on Welfare in Southern Africa: A Malawian Case Study

1University of Rwanda, College of Science & Technology,African Center of Excellency Energy for Sustainable Development, Rwanda

2Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Department of Applied & Agricultural Economics, Malawi

3University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Engineering, Howard College Campus, Durban, South Africa

4 University of Rwanda, School of Engineering, College of Science & Technology, Rwanda

View all affiliations
Received: 6 Sep 2020; Revised: 26 Oct 2020; Accepted: 29 Oct 2020; Available online: 1 Nov 2020; Published: 1 Feb 2021.
Editor(s): H. Hadiyanto, Grigorios Kyriakopoulos
Open Access Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract

The debate of energy security has, over the past decades, centered on supply factors within the energy policy framework in the public policy discourse. Much more empirical evidence is required to fully understand  the household-level effects of energy security on development outcomes. This paper explores the  characteristics of the households that face energy insecurity and also analyze the effects of energy insecurity on household welfare using the recent data from the Malawi Fourth Integrated Household Survey(IHS4) 2016-2017. Overall, 42.58% of Malawian households were found to be  energy insecure and the study findings show that the energy insecure were a heterogenous group compared to the energy secure. The heterogeneity exist because  of differences in demographics (likely to be advanced in age, likely to be females,  less likely to have a household head  with  formal education); socioeconomic status (likely to be poor,  had low wealth  levels); geography (likely to be rural dwellers in the central and southern parts of Malawi); housing and dwelling status (less likely to be renters, less likely to be found in permanent or semi-permanent buildings that have iron sheets and cement floor). Additional results from econometric analysis showed that energy insecure households reduced their food consumption by 2.3% for each 1% unit increase in the share of the energy costs in their total household budget. Similarly, on the education outcome, the energy insecure households reduced  their education expenditure by 3.6% for each 1% unit increase in the share of the energy costs over the total household expenditure. These findings show that energy security plays a key role towards improvement of household welfare in general as this might have short term and long-term negative implications on human capital development.

Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Energy insecurity; household welfare; Malawi; Southern Africa

Article Metrics:

  1. Aberman, N.L., Meerman, J. & Benson, T. (2018) Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition in Malawi: Leveraging the links. International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington DC
  2. Ahmad, N.A. & Byrd, H. (2013). Empowering Distributed Solar PV Energy for Malaysian Rural Housing: Towards Energy Security and Equitability of Rural Communities. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 2(1),59-68. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2.1.59-68
  3. Alemayehu, Y.A (2015). Status and Benefits of Renewable Energy Technologies in the Rural Areas of Ethiopia: A Case study on Improved Cooking Stoves and Biogas Technologies. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development,4(2), 103-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.4.2.103-111
  4. Ayoo, C. (2020). Towards Energy Security for the Twenty-First Century, Energy Policy, Tolga Taner, IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.90872.Availablefrom:https://www.intechopen.com/books/energy-policy/towards-energy-security-for-the-twenty-first-centuryhttps://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90872
  5. Banash, A.K.,Holben, D.H.,& Basta, T.(2013) Food insecurity is associated with household utility insecurity among individuals living with HIV/AIDS in rural Appalachia. J Hunger Environ Nutr. (20130 8:242-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2013.786662
  6. Barnes,D.F., Khandker, S.R,& Samad, H.A. (2010). Energy Access, Efficiency, and Poverty: How many are energy poor in Bangladesh? Policy Research Working Paper 5332. The World Bank. June 2010
  7. Bednar,.D.J., Reames,.T.G., Keoleaian, G.A. (2017). The intersection of energy and justice: modelling the spatial, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic patterns of urban residential heating consumption and efficiency in Detroit, Michigan. Energy Build. (2017) 143:25-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.03.028
  8. Berry, C., Hronis, C.&Wood ward, M. (2018). "Who 's Energy Insecure? You Might be Surprised." 2018 ACEEE Summer study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Making Efficiency Easy and Enticing. https: aceee.org/files/proceedings/2018/index.html#/paper/event-data/p393
  9. Bird, S. & Hernandez, D. (2012). Policy options for the split incentive: Increasing energy efficiency for low income renters. Energy policy (2012) 48: 506-14.doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.053
  10. Bisu, D.Y., Kuhe, A., &Lortyer, H.A. (2016). Urban household cooking energy choice: an example of Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. Energy, Sustainability and Society, 6, 15. DOI 10.1186/s13705-016-0080-1
  11. Brown, M. A, Soni, A., Lapsa, M. V., Southworth, K. 2020. Low -Income Energy Affordability: Conclusions from a Literature Review. Energy and Transport Science Division. OAK Ridge National Laboratory. US department of Energy. USA. ORNL/TM-2019/1150. https://doi.org/10.2172/1607178
  12. Castro-Sitiriche, M.J& Ozik, J. 2014. Rural Electrification Pathways to Well-being. Conference paper presented at 6th International Conference on Appropriate Technology. Kenyatta University Conference Center. November 2014, Nairobi, Kenya
  13. Cattaneo, M. D., R. K. Crump, M. H. Farrell, &Feng, Y. (2019). Binscatter Regressions," in preparation for the Stata Journal. Department of Economics and Department of Statistics, University of Michigan. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3344739
  14. Cobb, C.W., &Douglas, P.H. (1928). A theory of production. American Economic Review 1928;18 (supplement):139-65
  15. Cook,J. & Shah, M. (2018a). Reducing Energy Burden with Solar: Colorado's Strategy and Roadmap for States. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-70965. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1431421
  16. https://doi.org/10.2172/1431421
  17. Cook, J.T, Frank, D.A., Casey, P.H., Rose -Jacobs, R., Black, M.M., &Chilton, M. (2008) A brief indicator of household energy security: associations with food security, child health, and child development in US infants and toddlers. Pediatrics. (2008) 122: e867-75. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2008-0286
  18. Colton, R.D. (2011). "Home Energy Affordability in New York: The Affordability gap (2008-2010)." Prepared for New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) Albany, New York. http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/-/media/Files/EDPPP/LIFE/Resources/2008-2010-affordability-gap.pdf
  19. Chikhungu, Lana Clara, Nyovani Janet Madise, & Sabu S. Padmadas. (2014). How Important are Community Characteristics in Influencing Children's Nutritional Status?
  20. Evidence from Malawi Population-based Household and Community Surveys. Health and Place 30, 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.09.006
  21. Culver, L (2017).'Energy Poverty; What you measure matters,' in Proceedings of the Reducing Energy Poverty with Natural gas: Changing Political, Business and Technology Paradigms Symposium, Stanford, CA, USA, pp.9-10
  22. Drehobl, A.,&Ross, L. (2016). Lifting the High Energy Burden in America's Largest Cities: How Energy Efficiency can improve Low Income and Undeserved Communities. Report by Energy Efficiency for All and the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy
  23. Elnakat, A., J.D. Gomez, and N. Booth. (2016). A zip code study of socioeconomic, demographic, and household gendered influence on the residential energy sector. Energy Reports 2, 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2016.01.003
  24. Ezema, I.C., Olotuah, A. O., & Fagbenie, O.I.S. (2016). Evaluation of energy use in public housing in Lagos, Nigeria: Prospects for Renewable Energy Sources. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 5(1) 15-24. http://dx.doi.org|10.14710|ijred.5.1.15-24
  25. Fang, Y.(2011). Economic welfare impacts from renewable energy consumption: The China experience. Renewable &Sustainable Energy Reviews 15 :5120-5128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.044
  26. Farbotko C,&Waitt, G.(2011). Residential air conditioning and climate change: voices of the vulnerable. Health Promotion J Aust. (2011) 22:13-5. https://doi.org/10.1071/HE11413
  27. Foster, V., Jean-Phillipe. & Wodon, Q. (2000).Energy Prices, Energy efficiency, and Fuel Poverty Latin America and Caribbean Regional Studies Programme. World Bank, Washington DC.USA
  28. Gonzalez-Eguino, M.(2015). Energy Poverty: An Overview. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. (2015) 47:377-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.03.013
  29. Government of Malawi (2017). Support to SE4ALL Country Actions processes in Malawi. Action Agenda
  30. Government of Malawi (2018). National Energy Policy. Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining. Capital Hill. Lilongwe 3. Malawi
  31. Groh, S., Pachauri,S., &Rao, N.R. (2016). 'What are we measuring? An empirical analysis of household electricity access metrics in rural Bangladesh,' Energy for sustainable development 30: 21-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2015.10.007
  32. Handsaker M.I, & Douglas P.H. (1937). The Theory of marginal productivity tested by data for manufacturing in Victoria. Quarterly Journal of Economics 52:1-36. https://doi.org/10.2307/1884498
  33. Heltberg, R. (2005). Factors determining household fuel choice in Guatemala. Environment and Development Economics 10 (2005) pages 337-361. https: //doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X0 4001858
  34. Hernandez, D.,Jiang, Y.,Carrion, D., Phillips, D., & Aratani, Y. (2016).Housing hardship and energy insecurity among native-born and immigrant low-income families with children in the United States, Journal of Children and Poverty, DOI: 10.1080/10796126.2016.1148672
  35. Hernández., Aratani, Y.,& Jiang, Y. (2014). Energy Insecurity among families with children. New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
  36. Hernandez, D. (2013). Energy insecurity: A framework for understanding energy, the built environment, and health among the vulnerable populations in the context of climate change. Am J Public Health. (2013) 103: e 32-4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301179
  37. Hernandez, D. (2016). Understanding "energy insecurity" and why it matters to health. Social Sci Med. (2016) 167:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.029
  38. Jankowski, M.D.,Williams, C.J., Jeanne, M.F.&Owen, J.C. (2013). Birds Shed RNA-Viruses According to the Pareto Principle. PloS ONE 8 (8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072611
  39. Jessel S, Sawyer, S., & Hernandez, D. (2019). Energy, Poverty, and Health in Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review of an Emerging Literature. Front. Public Health 7: 357.doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.000357
  40. Lay J, Ondraczek J,& Stoever J. (2013). Renewables in theenergy transition: Evidence on solar home systems and lighting fuel choice in Kenya. Energy Econ. 40: 350-359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2013.07.024
  41. Long,L.K., Hui, L.C.,Fook, G.Y., Nazmee, & Zainon, W.M.N.W.(2017) A study on the effectiveness of Tree-Maps as Tree Visualization Techniques.Procedia Computer Science 124 (2017) 108-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.12.136
  42. Lopez-Espin,J.J., Vidal, A.M., &Gimenez, D. (2012). Two stage least squares and indirect least squares algorithms for simultaneous equations models. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 236, 3676-3684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2011.07.005
  43. Lv, Y., Si, C., & Zhang, S. (2018). Impact of Urbanization on energy intensity by adopting a new technique for regional division: Evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 36102-36116 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3412-1
  44. Manda, M.A.Z. (2013). Situation of Urbanization in Malawi Report. Malawi Government, Ministry of Lands and Housing
  45. Maganga, M.A., Maonga, B.B. & Gebremariam, G.G. (2015). Non-price determinants of household's choice of cooking energy in Malawi. International Journal of Development and Sustainability, 4 (1), 18-28
  46. Masera, O. R., Saatkamp, B. D., &Kammen, D. M. (2000). From linear fuel switching to multiple strategies: a critique and alternative to the energy ladder model. World Development 28, 2083-2103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00076-0
  47. Martey, E. (2019).Tenancy and energy choice for lighting and cooking: Evidence from Ghana. Energy Economics 80, 570-581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2019.02.008
  48. Mango, N., Makate, C., Mapemba, L., Sopo, M. (2018). The role of crop diversification in improving household food security in Central Malawi. Agri & Food secur.7. https://doi.org/10.1186/540066-018-0160-y
  49. Maxim, A., Mihai, C., Apostoie, C.M., Popescu, C., Istrate,C., &Bostan, I. (2016). Implications and measurement of energy poverty across the European Union. Sustainability 8 (5), 483. 2016. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8050483
  50. Mekonnen, A., &Kohlin, G. (2009). Determinants of household fuel choice in major cities in Ethiopia. Working papers in economics No. 399 (2009)
  51. Middlemiss, L. & Gillard, R. (2015). Fuel Poverty from the bottom-up: Characterizing household energy vulnerability through the lived experience of the fuel poor. Energy Research & Social Science 6, 146-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.02.001
  52. Mirza, B. & Szirmai,A. (2010). Towards a new measurement of energy poverty: A cross community analysis of rural Pakistan' UNU-MERTI Working Papers, No.024
  53. Moore, R., (2012). Definitions of Fuel poverty: Implications for Policy. Energy Policy 49,19-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.01.057
  54. National Statistics Office (2018). Malawi Integrated Household Survey 2016-2017. Household Socioeconomic Characteristics report. Republic of Malawi
  55. National Statistics Office (2019). 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census Report. Zomba. Malawi
  56. Nguyen, H. M& Nguyen, T.A., (2019). Investigating the determinants of household welfare in the Central Highland, Vietnam. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2019.1684179
  57. Nussbaumer, P., Bazilian, M.,& Modi, V. (2012). Measuring energy poverty: focusing on what matters. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.16,231-243 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.150
  58. Pachauri, S., &Spreng, D. (2004). Energy use and energy access in relation to poverty. Economic and Political Weekly 39 (3), 271-278
  59. Pachauri, S., &Spreng,D. (2011). Measuring and monitoring energy poverty. Energy Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.07.008
  60. Phoumin, H., & Kimura, F. (2019). Cambodia's energy poverty and its effects on social well-being; Empirical evidence and policy implications. Energy policy 132, 283-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.032
  61. Phoumin, H.,& Kimura, F. (2019). The impacts of energy insecurity on household welfare in Cambodia: Empirical evidence and policy implications. Economic Modelling, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2019.09.024.
  62. Practical Action (2017). Final Quantitative Report on the Cost and Efficiency of Cooking Fuels in Malawi. Practical Action Consulting. Lilongwe. Malawi
  63. Pye, S., Dobbins, A., Baffert, C., Brajkovic, J., Grgurev, I., De Miglio, R.,&Deane, P. (2015). Energy Poverty and Vulnerable Consumers in the Energy Sector across the EU:Analysis of Policies and Measures. INSIGHT_E. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/INSIGHT_E_Energy%20Poverty%20-%20Main%20Report¬¬_FINAL.pdf, Accessed date :11 August 2020
  64. Ross, L., Drehobl, A. &Stickles, B. (2018). "The High Cost of Energy in Rural America: Household Energy Burdens and Opportunities for Energy Efficiency." ACEEE Research Report U1806. https://aceee.org/research-report/u1806
  65. Khandker, S., Barnes, D.,& Hussain, A.S. (2012). Are the energy poor also income poor? Evidence from India. Energy policy 47, 1-12 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.02.028
  66. Shoaib, A., &Ariaratnam, S. (2016). A study of Socioeconomic Impacts of Renewable Energy Projects in Afghanistan. Procedia Engineering 145, 995-1003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.04.129
  67. Stringer, L.C., Dyer, J.C., Reed, M.S., Dougill, A.J., Twyman,C.,& Mkwambisi, D.(2009). Adaptions to Climate change, Drought, and Desertification: Local insights to Enhance Policy in Southern Africa." Environmental Science & Policy 12, 748-765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2009.04.002
  68. Thiede, S., Bogdanski,G.,&Hermann, C. (2012). A systematic method for increasing the energy and resource efficiency in manufacturing companies. Procedia CIRP 2 (2012) 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2012.05.034
  69. Toole, R. (2015). The Energy Ladder: A Valid Model for Household Fuel Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa? Master's thesis 2015
  70. Tchereni, B.H.M. (2013). An Econometric Analysis of Energy Poverty and Sustainable Development in Blantyre (Malawi). PhD Thesis. North-West University
  71. Thomson, H., Bouzarovski, S., &Snell, C. (2017). Rethinking the measurement of energy poverty in Europe. Indoor Built Environ.26 (2017) 879-901. https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X17699260
  72. United Nations Development Programme (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals Report.UN, New York. USA
  73. Webber,M.E. Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival. Danbury, CT: Yale University Press (2016). https://doi.org/10.1364/PV.2017.JM1A.1
  74. William, J. (1945).Professor Douglas' production function. Economic Record 25:55-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1945.tb01147.x
  75. World Bank (2016). Malawi Urbanization Review: Leveraging Urbanization for National Growth and Development
  76. Zou, B. & Luo, B. (2019). Rural household energy consumption characteristics and determinants in China. Energy 182, 814-823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.048

Last update:

  1. Impacts of water, energy, and food nexus challenges on household vulnerability: the case of Harare City, Zimbabwe

    C P Gandidzanwa, M Togo. Environmental Research Letters, 19 (11), 2024. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad7bcd
  2. Promoting cleaner cooking technologies in urban Malawi: Assessing the acceptance of pellet-fed gasifier cookstoves from a pilot targeted distribution model

    Leo C. Zulu, Judith F.M. Kamoto, Ida N.S. Djenontin, Charles B.L. Jumbe, Innocent Pangapanga-Phiri, Robert B. Richardson, Mitelo Subakanya, Pascal Nzokou, Stephy D. Makungwa. Energy for Sustainable Development, 83 , 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.esd.2024.101570

Last update: 2024-11-20 20:31:37

No citation recorded.