The impact of a household biogas programme on energy use and expenditure in East Java

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oBiogas has been promoted as a renewable, cleaner and cheaper energy source. While there are several initiatives promoting the use of biogas, credible analyses of its effects on the use of alternative energy sources and energy related expenditure are limited. This study uses panel data from households engaged in dairy farming in rural East Java to assess the impact of a household level programme, which promotes the construction of digesters that produce biogas, on energy use and expenditures. Both a difference-in-difference analysis and a pipeline comparison show that the use of digesters leads to a sharp reduction in energy related expenditures and a reduction in the use of firewood and liquefied petroleum gas. However, without subsidies, the payback period of between 11 and 14 years, albeit based only on reductions in energy costs accruing from investing in a digester, is perhaps too long to justify the investment.

Supply Considerations for Scaling Up Clean Cooking Fuels for Household Energy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

“…Evaluations of household biodigester programs show high levels of client satisfaction and functionality in several countries (Bajgain et al, 2005;Bedi et al, 2015;Bedi et al, 2017). In Cambodia, a survey of 165 biodigester users, 96% were satisfied with their biodigester and 100% use the biogas for cooking (Hyman & Bailis, 2018), similar to other biogas surveys.…”

“…PMUY has surpassed its targets and resulted in over 70 million new connections to households in just 35 months (Kar et al, 2019). In Indonesia, the CSR program of Nestle has provided zero-interest loans for biogas systems (Bedi et al, 2017) to incentivize biogas use. Another example of a direct incentive to promote use of LPG is the unconditional cash transfer for use of LPG to those eligible for Brazil's broader social welfare program (Bolsa Familia) (Coelho et al, 2018).…”

“…Full cost subsidies, on the contrary, may affect competitive market development (Hyman & Bailis, 2018;Zuzhang, 2013). In Indonesia, the CSR program of Nestle has provided zero-interest loans for biogas systems (Bedi et al, 2017) to incentivize biogas use. The PMUY program in India is arguably one of the most successful direct incentive programs in terms of number of new clean cooking customers.…”

Challenges and an Implementation Framework for Sustainable Municipal Organic Waste Management Using Biogas Technology in Emerging Asian Countries

“…The financial challenge most frequently mentioned in the literature concerns the securing of initial investment funds. Biogas plant projects of various scales rely on external support in the form of government subsidies and soft loans [73,75]. Financial assistance from private investments with public-private alliance (PPA) or public-private partnership (PPP) mechanisms may also be required.…”

“…The sustainability of a biogas plant project can be compromised when there is no supporting system running in the background. In the emerging Asian region, a biogas plant project may be sensitive to the following institutional issues: (1) MSW laws and enforcement [49,60,77,93], (2) financial support mechanisms (green tariffs, funding, subsidies, tax waving, fertilizer control systems and pricing) [22,24,25,28,69,93,94], (3) stable administrative organizations and technical support [72][73][74][75], and (4) construction site availability [31,35,72]. These aspects shape the sustainability of biogas plants in various ways.…”