The Mega Conversion Program from kerosene to LPG in Indonesia: Lessons learned and recommendations for future clean cooking energy expansion

Abstract

Background: In 2007, the Indonesian Government instigated a national program to convert domestic kerosene users to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. This was primarily motivated by the rising cost of kerosene subsidies. Objective: To review the national conversion program and LPG scale up by evaluating its impacts, including assessing sustained changes in cooking behaviour and consequent reductions in exposure to household air pollution (HAP). Methods and data sources: Searches of peer-review and grey literature in both English and Bahasa Indonesian were conducted and supplemented by interviews with key informants, data from the National Statistics Agency and results from household surveys. The data were extracted and analyzed using an Implementation Science approach. Results: The main kerosene to LPG conversion phase took place in highly populated kerosene dependent areas between 2007-2012 reaching over 50 million households, approximately two thirds of all households in Indonesia. Since then the drive to expand LPG use has continued at a slower pace, especially in more remote provinces where solid fuel is more widely used. Over 57 million LPG start up kits were distributed as of 2015. Beginning in 2018, the open subsidy for LPG is expected to be replaced by one targeted at lower income households. While the main conversion phase has been highlighted as an example of effective and impressively fast fuel switching at scale, the impact on domestic biomass use remains limited. Conclusions: Addressing HAP and the health impacts associated with kerosene and biomass use was never an objective of the program. Consequently, there is limited evidence of impact in this area, and in hindsight, missed opportunities in terms of influencing cooking behavior change among biomass users, who are more at risk.

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

“…Indonesia aimed to phase out domestic use of kerosene completely by replacing it with LPG, beginning in 2007, reducing kerosene use by 92% over 10 years (Thoday et al, 2018). This has been motivated by the high cost of kerosene subsidies relative to other fuel options and because of the practice of using kerosene to adulterate non-subsidized diesel and gasoline fuels.…”

“…An example is kerosene for cooking that has been almost entirely replaced by LPG in the national fuel conversion program in Indonesia (Thoday et al, 2018). An example is kerosene for cooking that has been almost entirely replaced by LPG in the national fuel conversion program in Indonesia (Thoday et al, 2018).…”

“…This has been motivated by the high cost of kerosene subsidies relative to other fuel options and because of the practice of using kerosene to adulterate non-subsidized diesel and gasoline fuels. Indonesia aimed to phase out domestic use of kerosene completely by replacing it with LPG, beginning in 2007, reducing kerosene use by 92% over 10 years (Thoday et al, 2018). Kenya has programs that replace kerosene lanterns with solar lamps and simultaneously removed kerosene subsidies in order to promote LPG for household use (IMF, 2013).…”

“…A number of recent national programs have seen LPG distribution reaching millions of households in just a few years, as occurred in Indonesia (2007-2010) (Thoday et al, 2018), and in India (2015-2019) (Goldemberg et al, 2018). Other countries have historically reached scale over longer periods of time (e.g., Morocco and most Latin-American countries) (Troncoso & Soares da Silva, 2017;WLPGA, 2013).…”

Clean household air for the Americas

“…Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador, and Ecuador are a few of the countries in the region that have made great progress promoting clean fuels, even to the most vulnerable population groups 5. Even greater success is being achieved in India, Indonesia, and China 91011. Several African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, and Kenya are also introducing programmes 12.…”