Analysis of Green Energy Adoption on Household Development in Kenya: Case of Kibera Slums

Abstract

Green energy technology adoption has been a major problem in urban poor (slums dwellers) in developing countries.  The government and other major stakeholders in the energy sector often fail to address these issues due to poor policy and high cost of technology. The presence of NGO’s whose programmes of equipping the slum dwellers especially Kibera slum in Nairobi Kenya have done very little in addressing the problem. The use of green energy technology has grown tremendously in semi-arid areas. However little is known about the adoption, awareness and use of such household scale technologies by slums dwellers in Kenya. The general objective of the study was to analyze the green energy adoption in Kenya, case of Kibera slum which is the largest of its kind in Africa. Recent empirical evidence showed that renewable energy adoption is growing in the world’s emerging economies nearly twice as fast than in industrialized nations. Not only are renewable energy technologies now cost competitive with fossil fuels in many developing nations, but they are often more reliable, safer, and at times cheaper than conventional grid power. This study examined the cost of green energy, size of family income, energy sector reforms. The researcher used descriptive analysis to assess the awareness and adoptions of green energy technology. In particular the study used logit and probit models to examine the variables of green energy adoption and intensity use of green energy technology on household scale respectively. The study used data collected via personal interview using pretested questionnaires in all the 17 villages of Kibera slums. This area was selected because of its relevance to the study. It used probability proportion to size sampling technique to collect information from 449 respondents. The study finds high awareness (76 percent) of green energy technology among the Kibera slums dwellers. However, this has not translated into high adoption. Only 10 percent of the respondents have adopted green energy technology. Results indicate high usage in the villages supplied with the technology by the NGOs than the rest of the study areas. Results of the regression analysis indicates that family income, the cost of green energy technology, lack extension officers,  and distance to the green energy enterprises /dealers affects the adoption of green energy technology. Intense of adoption of green energy technology on the other hand is affected by membership to youth or women group, distance to the nearest enterprises with physical and financial assets. Lastly, a finding of this study also implies that adoption of green energy technology can spur good physical well-being and productivity of household members, improve welfare of such households and reduces deaths caused by pollution related disease. Therefore there is need to formulate and implement Energy sector reforms to encourage access to clean and affordable energy services by slums dwellers.

Key Words: Green Energy Adoption, Household Development, Kibera Slums in Kenya.