Assessment of Energy Sources Used for Cooking by the Slum Dwellers of Rawalpindi

Abstract

In this era of technology and upgradation of renewable energy sources, Pakistan, a developing country is still relying on the energy sources which are inefficient and exhaustible. As energy plays a vital role in meeting most of the basic requirements of households e.g. gas, electricity and petroleum, it puts an extra burden on the shoulders of slum residents in case of Pakistan. The aim of this research is to assess the use of energies among the slums of Rawalpindi city, Pakistan. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select for 400 households for the research, half of which use firewood only while the rest use both natural gas and firewood. The results show that slums which use firewood for cooking purposes are spending a significant proportion of their income on this source. While the cooking practices are not healthy in both type of slums, the households which use firewood throughout the year were found more vulnerable to respiratory diseases and they themselves are eager to shift to some other source of energy which is clean and cheaper. The households which have access to gas, have better living conditions but are compelled to use firewood in winter due to load shedding of gas which has encouraged some of the household to shift to some other source of energy. This research suggests that the changes in Government policies be employed to facilitate the slum dwellers with the source of energy, which is cheaper, clean and inexhaustible, and readily available. In the light of this, solar cooking stoves seem to be a viable option, for it is a renewable source of cooking energy which would need Government involvement and help for its implementation.