SASNET Seminar with Dianne Kok: "Household Energy Transition in Metropolitan and Rural Nepal"

In 2024, Dianne Kok presented her Master Thesis "Household Energy Transition in Metropolitan and Rural Nepal: Analysing Meaningful Energy Transition through the Energy Cultures Framework" in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science at Lund University. The thesis has been awarded the SASNET Best South Asia Thesis Award of 2023/2024. 

In this seminar, Dianne Kok will present her thesis, followed by a discussion and questions section.  

Thesis abstract

Nepal has made major progress in expanding its national electricity grid, creating the potential for a double transition as increased access benefits the energy-poor and sets the infrastructural ground for transition to renewables. Many households, however, continue to rely on traditional and transition fuels such as firewood and gas. This problem is both social and environmental, as without the ‘meaningful’ adoption of modern fuels, development supports neither socioeconomic progress nor the sustainability of the energy system. Informed by qualitative semi-structured interviews in Nepal, this thesis applies the Energy Cultures Framework to model the materiality, motivators, and activities of household energy consumption. It finds that although many households are satisfied with the convenience of gas and electricity, major barriers to modern energy use such as income, knowledge, habits, and unreliable supply remain. Future change is mostly motivated by the desire for a convenient and healthy life and requires locally informed policy.