Household coal use in an urban township in South Africa - NPC Online

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households having access to electricity: ‘Researchhas shown that electrified low-income householdscontinue to use a range of fuels because electricityis found to be less cost effective (Department ofMinerals and Energy, 1998)’. It is, however, notonly the low cost of the fuel that makes coal attractivefor low-income households. Coal providesthermal energy for space heating and cookingsimultaneously, killing two birds with one stone, soto speak – one fuel and one appliance providesenergy for two end-uses. It is because of this dualutility that other energy forms find it difficult tocompete with coal.Coal is burned in a variety of stoves (bought andhome-made) as well as home-made imbhawulas,tin drums punched full of holes and used as a brazier,illustrated below.2. BackgroundThe data presented in this paper was collected duringa project sponsored by Anglo Coal in the interestof community development and social investmentin the Vosman Township near Witbank in theMpumalanga province of South Africa. Anglo Coalappointed PDC, a private research and consultingfirm, to implement a project aimed at demonstratingand popularising the Basa njengo Magogo alternativefire lighting method to 10 000 households.The data presented in the paper was mostly collectedduring the baseline study of the broader programme.Data collection was effected through a questionnaire-basedinterview conducted with the householdmember responsible for procuring householdenergy and specifically coal. Households were randomlyselected from the three Wards in the projectarea. In total, 142 interviews were conducted. Ofthe total 142 interviews conducted, 76 were conductedwith female respondents, while 36 were conductedwith male respondents. The high number offemale respondents confirms the traditional positionof women as the procurers and managers of householdenergy.The township can be described as a fairly typicalexample of an urban township in South Africa.Sections of the township had been electrifiedaround 3 years ago, and general service provisionimproved with the installation of water reticulationand water borne sewage. However, many challengesremain – roads are un-tarred, informal housesjostle for space with formal houses, no system forrefuse removal is in place and health services arelacking. Houses are built from a variety of materialsincluding highly energy-inefficient material such aszinc, illustrated below.Figure 1: Imbhawulas in VosmanCommercially purchased coal stoves are oftenprized possessions and passed on to other familymembers, effectively ensuring that old coal stovesare never discarded, but also ensuring that smoky,badly ventilated stoves with broken chimneys stayin use and contribute to the problems associatedwith coal use.The paper will outline some findings aroundcoal use in a low-income, electrified township ofSouth Africa. The findings will also touch on themanner in which households acquire coal in thetownship, describing a unique situation where coalis collected from a nearby abandoned mine dump.Lastly, the paper will discuss potential solutions tomake the inevitable use of coal safer and less harmfulto individuals and the environment.Figure 2: A zinc house in Ward 7, VosmanTownshipThe houses are not insulated and only rarelyhave ceilings. Indoor temperatures can be as muchas 5 degrees lower than the outside temperatureduring winter, necessitating a large amount of fuelto make it remotely comfortable inside the house.28 Journal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 18 No 3 • August 2007
Coal is often the fuel of choice because of its availability,affordability and dual utility as discussedabove.The average household in the project area wasfound to consist of 5 people, with the highest numberof people per household reported being 13, andthe lowest 1. This is higher than the 2001 reportednational household size of 3.8 for South Africa(www.info.gov.za/aboutsa).Almost 50% of the sample reported householdearnings of less than R500 per month and in total,81% of the sample earned below R1500 permonth. Although household income levels werefound to be low, most households in the samplegenerated some form of income, either throughemployment or micro enterprises and even farmingactivities. In total, 58% of the sample gained anincome through employment or self-employment,while only 29% of the sample relied on welfare orpension payments and remittances as a householdincome. Only 13% of the sample reported beingunemployed.3. Coal use and household expenditureon coalBy far the majority of the households in the Vosmansample (92%) reported using coal as a householdfuel, and only 11 (8%) households reported notusing coal at all, as illustrated below.Research further indicated that low-incomehouseholds clearly do not abandon the use of otherfuels once they are connected to the electricity grid,and that the use of fuels such as coal, paraffin,wood and gas continues despite having access toelectricity for a significant period of time. For example,Market Support Associates (2003) concludedthat ‘even in electrified households, electricity isonly the fourth most used form of cooking energy.Furthermore the presence or absence of electricityhas less effect on fuel choice than other demographics,particularly affluence or age’. Recentresearch carried out by Lloyd et al. (2004) in theCape Town township of Khayelitsha, however,paints a slightly more positive picture. Lloyd et al(2004) found that among households with a regularmetered supply of electricity, 68% use an electricstove as their main source of cooking appliance,while 53% of households with electricity from anextension cord connection use an electric stove –the remainder used paraffin stoves. Based on theresearch, Lloyd et al. (2004) concluded that householdsare progressing well towards a total transitionto electricity but that this may only be true for thespecific area, since broader regional data still indicatesa slow uptake of electricity for thermal uses.Therefore, despite progress being made in specificareas towards higher utilisation of electricity forthermal uses, evidence suggests that multiple fueluse remains the norm in some areas as un-electrifiedareas of South Africa.The majority of households in the study reportedusing coal stoves, as can be seen from Figure 4.Figure 3: Household coal use in VosmanThe pattern of multiple fuel use was also visible withno household reporting using less than 2 fuels.Multiple fuel use refers to the practice of householdsutilising a range of fuels and appliances at the sametime, or interchangeably because of their availabilityand accessibility (PDG, 1998). This means thathouseholds can use, for example, a coal stove, aparaffin stove, a gas cooker, an electric stove, aswell as wood for cooking, depending on which fuelis available, which appliance is in working order, orwhat type of food has to be cooked and the timeavailable to prepare the food. Market SupportAssociates (2003) concluded that the overwhelmingmajority (two-thirds) of low-income households usemore than one cooking energy technology (theaverage household uses two).Figure 4: Coal appliances usedCoal stoves were generally found to be in a badstate of disrepair, adding to the smoke pollutioninside the house. Note the badly sealing doors andcracks in Figures 5 and 6. A number of home-madecoal stoves, called ‘purulwanas’ were also found(Figure 7).Coal was used for cooking, space heating, waterheating and ironing by households in the projectarea. Households reported using coal in winter andsummer, although the frequency of coal fires madewas reported to be less in summer than in winter.The majority of respondents (65%) reportedbuying coal in tin buckets, followed by bags andsmall truck loads. Tin buckets reportedly costJournal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 18 No 3 • August 2007 29
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