Energy poverty, shack fires and childhood burns

Kimemia, David; Niekerk, Ashley van

doi:10.7196/samj.2017.v107i4.12436

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…[1,2] Energy-poor households spend a disproportionate amount of their income on energy procurement, are exposed to elevated levels of air pollution, and risk serious injury or death when using badly designed or defective appliances. [3] In South Africa (SA), these issues play out continuously in the sprawling urban informal settlements that are the site of glaring socioeconomic inequalities, manifest through limited access to safe energy, inferior home structures and limited healthcare. [4,5] The problems are exacerbated by increasing unemployment, escalating energy shortages with the onset of winter, and emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with enforced and increased home congestion [6] and sustained proximity to unsafe appliances.…”

Section: In Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Paraffin dangers, health and socioeconomic consequences: Urgent need for policy action

2020

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Section: In Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Paraffin dangers, health and socioeconomic consequences: Urgent need for policy action

2020

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“…The Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa (PASASA) estimated about 56% of dwelling fires were attributed to paraffin-related ignitions in South Africa (Lloyd 2012 ; Swart & Bredenkamp 2012 ). Dwelling fires have been known to start from accidentally knocking over paraffin stoves or leaving them unattended for too long (Kimemia & Van Niekerk 2017 ; Rosenberg 2013 ).…”

Section: Background On Energy and Fire Risk In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy use strategies and implications for fire risk amongst low-income households

Francioli

2020

Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

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Despite near universal access to electricity in Cape Town, usage of informal electrical connections and nonelectric energy sources remains high and pose significant fire risk to such households. This research set out to examine the energy sources being utilised by low-income households in Lwandle, Nomzamo and Asanda Village to understand the factors that influence these energy use choices and what implications these energy choices have for fire risk. This research utilised a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods including focus group sessions with residents and a household survey to collect information on household energy use strategies, perceptions of safety and accessibility of energy sources and experiences of energy-related fires from residents residing in different types of dwellings. The research observed that despite high access to electricity, household utilisation is constrained by economic and physical factors. Consequently, they are forced to resort to employing an energy stacking approach, alternating between electric and nonelectric energy sources, which include usage of cheaper yet potentially hazardous energy sources such as paraffin (kerosene), candles, firewood, coal and gas to meet their daily energy needs. A potential consequence of this energy stacking approach employed by households to meet their energy needs is that the majority of households continue to face the risk of a dwelling fire caused by nonelectric energy sources. Whereas nonelectric energy sources were both perceived and experienced by residents as the main cause of dwelling fires in the study site, electricity was found to contribute to a number of dwelling fires, with a slight increase in the number of fires caused by electric sources observed over the last few years.

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“…Performance-based ranking of stoves The criterion used for ranking stoves was based on the rank score method [35], whereby equal weight was given to each of the parameters under investigation. The stove with the best performance per given parameter or task out of the six stoves evaluated received a score of one, while the stove with the worst performance received a rating of six.…”

Section: Pm 25 Ef = (6)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and performance evaluation of wood-burning cookstoves for low-income households in South Africa

Makonese

Bradnum

2018

J. energy South. Afr.

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Many cookstove programmes implemented around the world aimed to reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions through the dissemination and adoption of improved cookstoves. A study was carried out for the design of wood-burning cookstoves for low-income households in South Africa by employing user-centred design and co-design/cocreation approaches. Six designed variants of the biomass stove were constructed. Water-heating and emissions tests, using black wattle wood, were conducted to evaluate them for thermal and emissions performance. The large hopper stove with two secondary air inlets ranked highest, with best performance regarding thermal and emissions parameters. It outperformed the small hopper stove in time to boil, heat flux and firepower, although the latter had higher thermal efficiency values. Fuel consumption rates were high in large hopper stoves compared with small hopper stoves, resulting in increased firepower. The experimental work showed the need for iterative designing and testing of cookstoves for emissions and thermal performance to identify efficient and less polluting candi-date stoves for dissemination in low-income communities.

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Energy poverty, shack fires and childhood burns

Cited by 27 publications

References 14 publications

Paraffin dangers, health and socioeconomic consequences: Urgent need for policy action

Paraffin dangers, health and socioeconomic consequences: Urgent need for policy action

Energy use strategies and implications for fire risk amongst low-income households

Design and performance evaluation of wood-burning cookstoves for low-income households in South Africa

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