ABSTRACT
A major shift from the use of traditional biomass fuels to "modern" fossil fuels and electricity has always been a fundamental feature of economic growth. Whereas woodfuels account for 60-95 per cent of total energy use in the poorest developing countries, in middle-income countries they account for only 25-60 per cent, and in high-income industrialized countries, with minor exceptions, for less than 5 per cent. 1,2
On the national scale, these so-called "energy transitions" are partly due to the extra-rapid growth in the normal development process of industries and forms of transport which use modern fuels. But they are also driven by the mass ofhouseholds and small commercial consumers who link the advantages of modern energy sources with aspirations to higher living standards in the home and greater productivity in the workplace. As incomes rise and more people and businesses can afford to pay for the greater convenience, cleanliness and versatility of modern fuels, the energy system is forced to respond by trying to improve their supply and distribution,
The main question addressed in this chapter is whether attempts to force such a shift provide a feasible and useful answer to the woodfuel problem, Can woodfuel-modern fuel substitutions be speeded up at the consumer level, and by what means? Why should one try to do this? To increase consumer choice and security of supply? To "save the forests" and reduce the need for afforestation to provide adequate woodfuel supplies? And what are the wider economic implications, such as the impact on debt and import bills?
