Investigating household sector's non-renewables, biomass energy consumption and carbon emissions for Pakistan

Concerns over the observed rising trend towards carbon emissions and the resulting adverse effects of climate change on human activities are the main challenges facing human beings. This study examines household sector's non-renewables and biomass energy consumption magnitude and how much carbon is emitted from non-renewable and biomass energy in Pakistan by using the PSLM 2018-2019 survey. In addition, using STIRPAT model, this study investigates the effect of income, household size, and clean energy on non-renewables and biomass energy choices of the household sector. The results show that 77% of households rely on the consumption of biomass energy. An average household uses firewood at the largest magnitude of 142.06 kg month(-1) and kerosene usage at the smallest magnitude of 4.08 kg month(-1) among non-renewables and biomass energy choices. The largest contributor to carbon on average is dang cake and its magnitude of carbon emissions is 0.87 tons household(-1) year(-1) followed by coal with a magnitude of 0.76 tons household(-1) year(-1). LPG is the lowest contributor to carbon and its carbon emission magnitude is 0.04 tons household(-1) year(-1). The income impact finding indicates that LPG, kerosene, firewood, and dang cake are necessities, whereas coal is an inferior commodity. The coefficient of household size indicates that large household uses firewood and dang cake, and small one uses LPG and kerosene. As such, households prefer to reduce non-renewable and biomass consumption by increasing clean energy. Therefore, the study suggests that to reduce non-renewable and biomass energy consumption and follow clean energy provision at household level without compromising on environmental quality. The rise in household income and reducing household size could also be a valid policy option for reducing the non-renewable and biomass energy consumption.

Automated summary

This study examines the consumption of non-renewable and biomass energy in households in Pakistan, finding that a majority rely on biomass energy. The results show that dang cake and coal are the largest contributors to carbon emissions, while LPG is the lowest. Income and household size have significant impacts on household energy choices.