Abstract:
Many peri-urban and rural households use
traditional stoves which have low energy use efficiency leading
to wasteful use of woodfuel, increase in indoor air pollution and
putting more pressure on biomass sources. Energy saving
devices have been introduced which are environmentally
friendly and economical. The main objective of this study was to
assess levels of adoption of green energy technologies in selected
peri-urban and rural areas of Makueni and Machakos Counties,
Multistage sampling technique was used whereby; locations and
sub-locations were selected purposefully. Households from four
sub-locations were chosen using simple random sampling. A
total of 214 households in the four selected study areas were
interviewed. The study used questionnaires and interview
schedules for data collection. The collected data was coded and
entered into the computer for analysis using the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and statistics and data
software (STATA) presented using tables. Utilization of metal
charcoal energy device was higher than that of other charcoal
devices in Unoa area (63.1%). Family size had a significant
effect on use of LPG (χ2 = 22.010, P = 0.001) and electric energy
technology (χ2 = 20.482, p = 0.002). The study results on the
prediction of future charcoal energy devices adoption showed
that in the next 30 years’ majority of the households will still
prefer Kenya ceramic charcoal stoves to the maendeleo charcoal
stoves. The outcome of the research is useful to many
stakeholders including the government, Ministries of
Agriculture and Energy, Environmentalists, Market Suppliers
of green energy devices and Researchers.
