ABSTRACT
Few societies have traversed a straight-line path from traditional fuel consumption to the use of electricity and other modern fuels. Between the endpoints of the transition process, one finds urban households consuming a variety of fuels and taking a myriad of routes leading more or less rapidly and directly toward modern fuel consumption. The complexity and diversity of the transition process, combined with the piecemeal, case approach to its study has given rise to many viewpoints in the literature with respect to the important determinants and permutations. The lack of a comprehensive view of the energy transition has made it more difficult for governments and international institutions to formulate feasible and cost-effective strategies to help urban dwellers use energy efficiently, affordably, and in ways that promote their own well-being and that of the local and global environments.
