Adoption and diffusion of renewable energy – The case of biogas as alternative fuel for cooking in Pakistan

Highlights: • Socio-economic and infrastructural drivers behind biogas adoption. • Biogas energy offers hope to individuals and society to cope up with financial and energy crisis. • Biogas technology offers off grid rural household a clean and affordable solution in Pakistan. • Technological efficiency is complementary to the continuation of the diffusion process. -- Abstract: Alternative energy technologies such as biogas are being promoted, but despite the significant potential and efforts to implement these technologies, only small numbers of households have succeeded in the transition towards these alternative energy sources. Moreover, sustainability and the functionality of alternative energy technologies remain unknown. The study aims to explore the socioeconomic constraints in the adoption and diffusion of biogas as alternative fuel for cooking in households in rural Pakistan and access the impact of biogas technology adoption on income, crop productivity and fuel consumption and drudgery. The study has also scrutinized the factors affecting the continuity of the biogas plants. Our analysis adds to the limited literature of adoption of biogas and the transition towards alternative fuel sources in the Global South. A multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 630 biogas adopters and non-adopters from three districts of Punjab. The empirical results from logit model and propensity score matching approach indicate that the older, wealthy farmers are more likely to adopt biogas technology. Cook's education, structure of house, location of kitchen and access to credit institutions also play positive role in this process. Poor operational methods, lack of maintenance and training facilities were the main reasons for the functional failure of existing plants and reason for the discontinuation. Moreover, biogas adoption has positive and significant impact on income and crop revenues and has negative impact on fuelwood expenditures and collection time. Due to the multidimensional nature of the problem, a comprehensive remedial approach addressing the socio-technical factors identified in the study and considering all stakeholders' cooperation could solve the existing lock-in situation in the ongoing implementation of biogas production and the transition towards alternative fuel sources.