Consumer preferences for household water treatment products | Improved cookstove as an appropriate technology for the Logone Valley
Dan Campbell
Consumer preferences for household water treatment products in Andhra Pradesh, India
May 17, 2012 · 0 comments
Social Science & Medicine, May 9, 2012
Consumer preferences for household water treatment products in Andhra Pradesh, India
Christine Poulos, et al.
Over 5 billion people worldwide are exposed to unsafe water. Given the obstacles to ensuring sustainable improvements in water supply infrastructure and the unhygienic handling of water after collection, household water treatment and storage (HWTS) products have been viewed as important mechanisms for increasing access to safe water. Although studies have shown that HWTS technologies can reduce the likelihood of diarrheal illness by about 30%, levels of adoption and continued use remain low. An understanding of household preferences for HWTS products can be used to create demand through effective product positioning and social marketing, and ultimately improve and ensure commercial sustainability and scalability of these products. However, there has been little systematic research on consumer preferences for HWTS products.
This paper reports the results of the first state-of-the-art conjoint analysis study of HWTS products. In 2008, we conducted a conjoint analysis survey of a representative sample of households in Andhra Pradesh (AP), India to elicit and quantify household preferences for commercial HWTS products. Controlling for attribute non-attendance in an error components mixed logit model, the study results indicate that the most important features to respondents, in terms of the effect on utility, were the type of product, followed by the extent to which the product removes pathogens, the retail outlet and, the time required to treat 10 liters. Holding all other product attributes constant, filters were preferred to combination products and chemical additives. Department stores and weekly markets were the most favorable sales outlets, followed by mobile salespeople. In general, households do not prefer to purchase HWTS products at local shops.
Our results can inform the types of products and sales outlets that are likely to be successful in commercial HWTS markets in AP, as well as the influence of different pricing and financing strategies on product demand and uptake.
Improved cookstove as an appropriate technology for the Logone Valley (Chad – Cameroon): Analysis of fuel and cost savings
May 17, 2012 · 0 comments
Renewable Energy, Volume 47, November 2012, Pages 45–54
Improved cookstove as an appropriate technology for the Logone Valley (Chad – Cameroon): Analysis of fuel and cost savings
Mentore Vaccari, et al.
Access to modern energy services is still low in developing countries and this lack of access affects in particular the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and sub-Saharan Africa. The large majority of population in the Logone Valley at the border between Chad and Cameroon still relies on wood fuel burnt in smoky and inefficient fireplaces for cooking. The promotion of wood saving stoves locally produced and appropriate for the traditional cooking practices has been implemented by an international cooperation project.
Two stove models were compared to the traditional 3-stone fire and a gas stove by Water Boiling Tests and Controlled Cooking Tests. The results showed significant fuel savings thanks to the use of the improved stoves. Data collected during the tests, crossed with information about the local cooking habits, allowed to estimate the impact, in term of money savings, on each household adopting an improved stove.
The Centrafricain improved stove resulted being the best performing model occurring in a 25% reduction of the expenditure per family for cooking purposes in a short-medium term. This study witnesses that the use of improved wood stove is likely to be a sustainable way to achieve an appropriate minimum level of energy access for cooking purposes for the poor people in the LDCs, in particular in rural areas.