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Toward exclusive LPG use: Ensuring increased LPG use through a second gas cylinder and reducing availability of the traditional chulha

Last registered on December 10, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Toward exclusive LPG use: Ensuring increased LPG use through a second gas cylinder and reducing availability of the traditional chulha
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003623
Initial registration date
December 06, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 10, 2018, 2:08 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
UC Berkeley

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-11-30
End date
2019-04-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
A major barrier to exclusive LPG use is the gap in time between when a household’s LPG cylinder becomes empty and when they receive a refill. In rural areas, this gap results in return to biomass use for cooking while waiting for a refill. Middle and upper-income and many urban households own a second cylinder to avoid these service interruptions. That is, when the first cylinder runs out, they have a second which provides fuel while they wait for the refill of their first cylinder. In this study we plan to test two ways to increase LPG usage through a short-term field experiment: 1) Examine the impacts of owning a second cylinder on LPG and chulha use among poor households in rural India, where second cylinders are uncommon; 2) To help achieve near-exclusive use, we will test how usage of LPG is influenced by asking households to disable or remove the traditional mud stove. This move – to physically eliminate a strong source of pollution – could be a natural link to a program that improves supply of clean fuel through provision of a second cylinder.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Harrell, Stephen. 2018. "Toward exclusive LPG use: Ensuring increased LPG use through a second gas cylinder and reducing availability of the traditional chulha." AEA RCT Registry. December 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3623-1.0
Former Citation
Harrell, Stephen. 2018. "Toward exclusive LPG use: Ensuring increased LPG use through a second gas cylinder and reducing availability of the traditional chulha." AEA RCT Registry. December 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3623/history/38656
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-12-14
Intervention End Date
2019-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The key outcomes include: uptake rates of sales offers, traditional stove use, and LPG use.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Households will receive one of three sales offers:
(1) Treatment 1 - offered a free trial of a spare LPG cylinder followed by installment payments
(2) Treatment 2 - offered a free trial of a spare LPG cylinder followed by installment payments with a requirement to fill in or disable their traditional mud stove
(3) Control - at end of study will offer them to purchase an LPG cylinder while paying the full cost upfront
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be conducted by a biostatician using a computer.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will occur at the household level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0 clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
180
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment 1 - 60 households
Treatment 2 - 60 households
Control - 60 households
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Committee for Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-16
IRB Approval Number
2018-10-11562

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials