REDGAS: A RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF THE DEMAND FOR LPG STOVES AND OF THE ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON HOUSEHOLD AIR POLLUTION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND WELL-BEING IN BURKINA FASO

Last registered on May 10, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
REDGAS: A RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF THE DEMAND FOR LPG STOVES AND OF THE ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON HOUSEHOLD AIR POLLUTION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND WELL-BEING IN BURKINA FASO
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005024
Initial registration date
November 12, 2019

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
November 12, 2019, 11:26 AM EST

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

Last updated
May 10, 2022, 8:08 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Paris-Dauphine University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Paris-Dauphine University
PI Affiliation
Microfinance Solidaire & Paris-Dauphine University

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-11-21
End date
2023-03-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Recent epidemiologic studies have shown that household air pollution from cooking on inefficient biomass stoves is a major public health concern which causes between 2.8 and 4.2 million premature deaths every year (WHO 2014). LPG is one of the cleanest burning cooking fuels and has been shown to have a low climate impact throughout its life cycle. This research project aims to quantify the health and socioeconomic impacts of access to LPG for low income households in developing countries. It will be implemented in partnership with NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde (EdM) in a country where it is currently conducting a LPG promotion program.

A randomized controlled experiment will be conducted in 2022. It will involve a random sample of 823 households who will be assigned to one of three groups :
1 A ‘subsidy group’ in which households will be offered a 38% discount on the purchase of a LPG kit including a stove and a 6kg cylinder;
2. A ‘credit group’ : the households assigned to this group will receive a sales offer enabling them to purchase the same kit in three installments (but at the standard market price);
3. A ‘comparison group’ where households will not receive any offer.

29% of the households will be assigned to the 'subsidy group', 29% to the 'credit group' and 42% to the control group.

The research team will collect a combination of standard self-declared survey data and field measurements both before the intervention and after the intervention (6 to 10 months after the intervention). Electronic Stove Usage Monitoring Systems (SUMS) will be installed on LPG stoves to record their usage frequency during the whole study. Individual exposure to PM2.5 will be measured with ambiant air pumps and ‘light scattering sensors’ (24h gravimetric measurement) at baseline, midline and endline. The Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) Protocol will be used to assess the fuel consumption of the households over 24 hours to 3 days.

The collected data will allow to answer a series of questions concerning the determinants of LPG adoption (household characteristics, budget constraint, beliefs about cooking with wood or charcoal) and its impact on exposure to indoor air pollution, health and time use (women and children).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
De Vreyer, Philippe, Elodie Djemaï and Thomas Thivillon. 2022. "REDGAS: A RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF THE DEMAND FOR LPG STOVES AND OF THE ASSOCIATED EFFECTS ON HOUSEHOLD AIR POLLUTION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND WELL-BEING IN BURKINA FASO." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5024-4.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The project aims at identifying, first, what determines the household choice of fuel for cooking and the kind of incentive that may be effective to induce the household to change for a clean cooking solution (towards LPG stove), and second, the impact of adopting LPG as a cooking solution on exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5), as well as on women's and children's time use and health.
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-27
Intervention End Date
2023-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- LPG adoption and usage (ownership of LPG stove, declared frequency of use, monitored frequency of usage, number of cooking events using the LPG stove per week, per month)
- Household consumption of various fuels (wood, charcoal, kerozene, gas etc.)
- Air pollution
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
- Time use (women and children) - time spent in domestic chores, school attendance, labor market participation
- Health (Self reported health, health expenditures, declared symptoms)
- COVID19 infection (TBC)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A randomized controlled experiment will be conducted in 2022. It will involve a random sample of 823 households who will be assigned to one of three groups :
1 A ‘subsidy group’ in which households will be offered a 38% discount on the purchase of a LPG kit including a stove and a 6kg cylinder;
2. A ‘credit group’ : the households assigned to this group will receive a sales offer enabling them to purchase the same kit in three installments (but at the standard market price);
3. A ‘comparison group’ where households will not receive any offer.

29% of the households will be assigned to the 'subsidy group', 29% to the 'credit group' and 42% to the control group.

The research team will collect a combination of standard self-declared survey data and field measurements both before the intervention and after the intervention (6 to 10 months after the intervention). Electronic Stove Usage Monitoring Systems (SUMS) will be installed on LPG stoves to record their usage frequency during the whole study. Individual exposure to PM2.5 will be measured with ambiant air pumps and ‘light scattering sensors’ (24h gravimetric measurement) at baseline, midline and endline. The Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) Protocol will be used to assess the fuel consumption of the households over 24 hours to 3 days.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Sampled households are randomly selected in three towns. First, the coordinates of "GPS search starting points" are randomly selected by the scientific investigators using a GIS. Once on the field the surveyors have to find the search points and then to follow a procedure to select a household to interview, then to check his eligibility and to obtain his consent to take part to the survey.

In each town we use the map of census districts to identify the limits of the city. From the most recent satellite images we then delimit the urban area of high population density as peripheral census districts often include large areas with no of very few dwellings. The resulting areas is then split between 56 "cells" of identical surface. Within each cell a fixed number of households is drawn from the population of households that are located at least 100 meters from the cell's frontier. This way "blocks" of households are spaced from each other by at least 200 meters.

The assignment into the three treatment groups is done in office by a computer. The balance checks are done on the main variables observed before the intervention starts.
Randomization Unit
The randomization will be at the household level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
821
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
239 households receive an offer to buy the LPG stove at a discounted (38%) price
236 households receive an offer to buy the LPG stove at credit (three installments)
346 households do not receive an offer to buy the LPG stove
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comité Consultatif Ethique pour la Recherche en Partenariat
IRB Approval Date
2019-06-24
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
International Review Board, Paris School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2019-04-11
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
Comité d'Ethique pour la Recherche en Santé, Ministère de la Santé du Burkina Faso
IRB Approval Date
2019-04-03
IRB Approval Number
2019-04-053
Analysis Plan

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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