Biogas Cook Stoves for Healthy and Sustainable Diets? A Case Study in Southern India

Abstract

Alternative cook stoves that replace solid fuels with cleaner energy sources, such as biogas, are gaining popularity in low-income settings across Asia, Africa, and South America. Published research on these technologies focuses on their potential to reduce indoor air pollution and improve respiratory health. Effects on other cooking-related aspects, such as diets and women's time management, are less understood. In this study, in southern India, we investigate if using biogas cook stoves alters household diets and women's time management. We compare treatment households who are supplied with a biogas cook stove with comparison households who do not have access to these stoves, while controlling for several socio-economic factors. We find that diets of treatment households are more diverse than diets of comparison households. In addition, women from treatment households spend on average 40 min less cooking and 70 min less collecting firewood per day than women in comparison households. This study illustrates that alongside known benefits for respiratory health, using alternative cook stoves may benefit household diets and free up women's time. To inform development investments and ensure these co-benefits, we argue that multiple dimensions of sustainability should be considered in evaluating the impact of alternative cook stoves.

Keywords: India; alternative cook stove; biogas cook stove; diet diversity; nutrition; time allocation; time savings.

Figure 1

Map depicting (A) the study area in the state of Karnataka, India; (B) in the district of Kolar; (C) in the Bagepalli panchayat. Created in ArcGIS using external data (–53).

Figure 2

Map illustrating the distribution of the study’s 10 villages with biogas cook stoves and five villages used as comparisons. Created in ArcGIS using external data (–53).

Figure 3

The percentage of households consuming each of the 10 food groups in the diet diversity score on a daily basis in the treatment and comparison populations, respectively. Significant differences in the consumption of food groups between the two populations represented by asterisks, based on analyses from mixed models with fixed effects.

Figure 4

The amount of time female household heads spent cooking, doing housework, doing labor work, collecting firewood, and relaxing per day in the treatment and comparison populations, respectively. Values presented as mean hours spent per day on each activity. Significant differences in respondent time allocations between the two populations represented by asterisks, based on analyses from mixed models with fixed effects (see Table 3).