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Executive Summary xxi
Figure ES.1. Energy Use and Expenditures in Rural Bangladesh, 2004 % Average Energy Use Electricity 1% Kerosene Others 2% 0.3%
% Average Energy Expenditures (Including Imputed Collection Values) Others Non-grid 1% electricity 3% Grid electricity 10%
Dung 17% Firewood 44% Crop residue 21%
Firewood 38%
Kerosene 12% Dung 14%
Tree leaves 15%
Crop residue 13%
Tree leaves 9%
Source: BIDS Survey, 2004.
electric lighting to kerosene, but unreliable supply drives them to use kerosene lamps as a backup source in case of power failure. In terms of cost and kilolumen output, electricity is far superior to kerosene. Electricity’s output per unit of energy is 100 times higher than that of kerosene. When one compares households that use kerosene lamps or electric lighting, two trends are obvious. First, the level of lighting increases with income for both kerosene and electricity. Second, the quality of lighting service obtained from electricity is an order of magnitude higher than that from kerosene for all income groups across all regions. For the average household, the number of kilolumens is nearly 80 times higher for those who use mainly electricity, versus kerosene. The high-quality lighting afforded by electricity has important consequences for Bangladeshi household welfare. A household’s electricity consumption for lighting appears to rise steadily as the number of students in the household increases. The study’s findings show that total hours of study time are greater in households that use electric lighting than in those that use kerosene lamps, confirming electricity’s contribution to human-capital formation. Apart from education, household income also shows a distinct trend in lighting energy use; as incomes rise, households increasingly switch from kerosene- to electricitybased lighting. The potential gain from this transition, as measured by consumer’s surplus, is enormous—40 to 45 percent of household income. A separate quantitative analysis shows net positive gains in household income from lighting energy use of similar levels, confirming that lighting has a high value for rural households.
Farming Energy A third critical energy use for rural Bangladeshi households is farming. The country’s potential for increased irrigation, though not as developed as that of other South Asian countries, is significant. The most obvious energy inputs are diesel engines and electric