River State University.
Department of Social Work
Mina.Ogbanga@ust.edu.ng
Abstract
The present paper is on the assessment of commonly used forms of energy in the study area in Okrika Local Government Area. The researcher adopted the descriptive survey research design. Taro Yamene was used to derive a representative sample size from the target population. Data were sourced from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were generated with use of a close-ended questionnaire. Secondary data which were used to compliment the primary data were collected from journal articles. Descriptive method of data analysis was employed for the analysis of primary data. This involved the use of percentage and frequency distribution tables, pie charts and bar charts. The results of the analysis show high level of non-patronage for clean energy. It was recommended that there is need for enlightenment on the long term economic and environmental cost benefits of clean energy for cooking.
Introduction
For the past decades, the world has been dominated by fossil fuel energy sources; and literature evidence has proved that the heavy reliance on fossil-fuel based energy sources remains at the heart of the current global challenge of significant climate change which poses severe threat to the generality of mankind. Realising the huge environmental and social costs of using fossil fuel energy sources, there has been a call from international organisations, as well as researchers for the adoption of clean energy which is believed to hold the key potential to displace greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-based sources of energy. Notwithstanding, many nations of the world still rely heavily on the use of traditional sources of energy, especially in the sphere of cooking at the household level (Crosby, 2016). In Nigeria, this challenge has gone for decades despite the abundance of other natural resources such as liquid natural gaswhich could be utilised for the generation of clean energy for cooking purposes (Azubuike, 2016). In most Nigerian societies, mosthouseholds can only access or use traditional energy sources and non-clean fuel such as firewood (traditional biomass), charcoal, kerosene, plant residue and animal waste; which are of very low technological-base. On daily basis, women, who do the major household cooking are seen engaging in fuel-gathering which they depend on for cooking. The cooking fuel mainly consists of cut wood, twigs, small branches, thorns, small herbs and crop residues, and dung-cakes.The use of these substances poses serious environmental and social health problems. Since major household cooking is done by the women, this study has been designed to examine the role women organisations could play to promote the use of clean energy for household cooking purposes.
Aim and objective of the study
The aim of this paper is to assess the commonly used forms of energy for household cooking.
Research question
What are the commonly used forms of energy for household cooking?
Significance of the study
Theoretical significance: this study is designed to investigate the place of women organisations is promoting the adoption of clean energy for household cooking. This is an area that does not enjoy major scholarly documentations. Therefore, findings made from this study would fill a major gap in literature. Also, the data generated from this study would prove useful for the conduct of future researches related to the subject matter.
Scope of the study
The study examines the role of women organisations in promoting the use of clean energy for household cooking. The specific issues to be considered are: the factors that influence a family’s cooking energy; the barriers affecting the adoption of clean energy for household cooking; the potential of women organisations in promoting the use of clean energy for household cooking and the implications of heavy use of non-clean energy for household cooking. All these would follow a critical look at the commonly used forms of energy. The study locale is Okrika Local Government Area of Rives State.
Definition of terms
Women: these are members of the female gender
Organisations: a group of people with an explicit purpose and written rules.
Women organisations: these are cultural associations comprising women who unite on the bases of certain socio-cultural factors such as age, marital status and economic standing.
Energy: a substance that allows people to do work.
Clean energy: clean energy refers to any source of fuel that is efficient and poses less environmental health challenges.
Promotion: a practice is promoted when its use is supported ad encouraged
Household: a household is a family, comprising people who are related by blood or other some socially recognised process such as adoption and marriage.
Cooking: this refers to the activity or preparing food for personal or public consumption.
An overview of the concept of clean energy.
Concept of clean energy
The term clean energy refers to fuels which are more environmentally sustainable, energy efficient and when used do not have any harm on the health of those in the households (IEA, 2017). The following sources of clean energy are commonly cited in literature:
Hydropower:
Hydropower is an essential energy source harnessed from water (Asumadu-Sarkodie, Owusu, and Jayaweera, 2015; Asumadu-Sarkodie, Owusu, and Rufangura, 2015). It is generated from reservoirs created in dams, run-off-rivers or in-streams. When water is released, the reservoir level changes to some extent and accordingly influences electricity production (Førsund, 2015). Hydropower discharges practically no particulate pollution, can upgrade quickly, and is capable of storing energy for many hours (Hamann, 2015).
Bioenergy:
Bioenergy is a renewable energy source derived from biological sources. Bioenergy is an important source of energy which can be used for transport using biodiesel, electricity generation, cooking and heating. Electricity from bioenergy attracts a large range of different sources, including forest byproducts such as wood residues; agricultural residues such as sugar cane waste; and animal husbandry residue such as cow dung. One advantage of biomass energy-based electricity is that fuel is often a by-product. Significantly, it does not create a competition between land for food and land for fuel (Urban and Mitchell, 2018). Presently, global production of biofuels is comparatively low, but continuously increasing (Ajanovic, 2017). The annual biodiesel consumption in the United States was 15 billion litres in 2006. It has been growing at a rate of 30–50% per year to achieve an annual target of 30 billion litres at the end of year 2020 (Ayoub and Abdullah, 2015). Biomass has a large potential which meets the goal of reducing greenhouse gases and could insure fuel supply in the future. A lot of research is being done in this area trying to quantify global biomass technology. According to Hoogwijk, Faaij, Eickhout, de Vries, and Turkenburg (2015), the theoretical potential of bioenergy at the total terrestrial surface is about 3,500 EJ/year. The greater part of this potential is located in South America and Caribbean (47–221 EJ/year), Sub-Saharan Africa (31 – 317 EJ/year), the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S) and Baltic states (45–199 EJ/ year). The yield of biomass and its potential varies from country to country, from medium yields in temperature to high level in sub tropic and tropic countries. With biomass, a lot of research is focusing on an environmentally acceptable and sustainable source to mitigate climate change (Demirbas, Balat, andBalat, 2019).
Direct solar energy:
The word “direct” solar energy refers to the energy base for those renewable energy source technologies that draw on the Sun’s energy directly. Some renewable technologies, such as wind and ocean thermal, use solar energy after it has been absorbed on the earth and converted. Solar energy technology is obtained from solar irradiance to generate electricity using photovoltaic (PV) (Asumadu-Sarkodie and Owusu, 2016) and concentrating solar power (CSP) to produce thermal energy, to meet direct lighting needs and, potentially, to produce fuels that might be used for transport and other purposes (Edenhofer, 2016). According to the World Energy Council (2013), the total energy from solar radiation falling on the earth was more than 7,500 times the World’s total annual primary energy consumption of 450 EJ” (Urban and Mitchell, 2018).
Geothermal energy:
Geothermal energy is obtained naturally from the earth’s interior as heat energy source (Barbier, 2017). Heat is mined from geothermal reservoirs using wells and other means. Reservoirs that are naturally adequately hot and permeable are called hydrothermal reservoirs, while reservoirs that are satisfactorily hot but are improved with hydraulic stimulation are called enhanced geothermal systems (ESG). Once drawn to the surface, fluids of various temperatures can be used to generate electricity and other purposes that require the use of heat energy (Edenhofer, 2016).
Wind energy:
The emergence of wind as an important source of the World’s energy has taken a commanding lead among renewable sources. Wind exists everywhere in the world, in some places with considerable energy density (Manwell, McGowan, and Rogers, 2016). Wind energy harnesses kinetic energy from moving air. The primary application of the importance to climate change mitigation is to produce electricity from large turbines located onshore (land) or offshore (in sea or fresh water) (Asumadu-Sarkodie & Owusu, 2016). Onshore wind energy technologies are already being manufactured and deployed on large scale (Edenhofer, 2016). Wind turbines convert the energy of wind into electricity.
Ocean energy (tide and wave):
Surface waves are created when wind passes over water (Ocean). The faster the wind speed, the longer the wind is sustained; the greater distance the wind travels, the greater the wave height, and the greater the wave energy produced (Jacobson & Delucchi, 2016). The ocean stores enough energy to meet the total worldwide demand for power many times over in the form of waves, tide, currents and heat. The year 2008 saw the beginning of the first generation of commercial ocean energy devices, with the first units being installed in the UK-SeaGen and Portugal-Pelamis. There are presently four ways of obtaining energy from sea areas, namely from Wind, Tides, Waves and Thermal differences between deep and shallow Sea water (Esteban and Leary, 2014).
Research Methodology
Research Design
According to Cooper and Schindler (2016), a research design is like a plan by which a given research work is to be carried out. The descriptive survey research design is adopted for this study. The descriptive survey design is a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering a questionnaire to a sample of individuals (Kombo & Tromp, 2016). This type of design is also useful when collecting information about people’s attitudes, opinions, and habits (Kombo and Tromp, 2016). Since this falls within the focus of this study, the descriptive survey would be the most appropriate design to be used.
Population of the study
According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2019), the population of a study is that population to which a researcher wants to generalise the results of the study. The target population for this study are women in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State. According to the National Population Commission’s (2016) projection, the number of women in Okrika Local Government Area is 108,323.
Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
A sample is a smaller part of a statistical population where properties are studied to gain information about the whole (Kombo and Tromp, 2016). A sample size of 399 is adopted for the study. This is based on the application of the Taro Yamene statistical formula as represented below:
Where n is the subject of the formula
1 is constant
E2 = margin of error (0.05)
N is the study population of the study (108323).
Therefore,
n = 108323/1+ 108323 (0.0025).
n = 108323/1+270.8075
n = 108323/271.8075
n = 399
The selection of the sample elements will be based on the accidental sampling technique. The accidental sampling technique involves selecting available individuals who indicate readiness to participate in the study. The respondents do not have to meet any predetermined criteria. Ten out of the towns/villages that make up Okrika LGA are selected for the study. This is based on the simple random sampling technique which involves writing the names of all constituent towns in separate pieces of papers which are put in a hat; and picking ten pieces after the hat would have shaken to shuffle the pieces of papers. From each of the selected communities, at least 39 respondents would be chosen to ensure fair representation. (See table 1 below for details)
Table 1 showing selected communities and sample size.
| Serial number | List of randomly selected towns | Sample size |
| 1. | Abam–Ama | 39 |
| 2 | Okochiri | 39 |
| 3 | Opuado-Ama | 39 |
| 4 | Sara- Ama | 39 |
| 5 | Semembiri-Ama | 39 |
| 6 | Otobipi | 39 |
| 7 | Okujagu-Ama | 39 |
| 8 | Okumgba-Ama | 39 |
| 9 | Omoaobi | 43 |
| 10 | Ogoloma | 44 |
| Total | 10 | 399 |
Sources of data
Two kinds of data are used for this work. First are primary data which are sourced first hand by the researcher from the field using questionnaires. The other are secondary data, sourced from secondary materials including books, magazines, journal articles, newspaper publications and encyclopedia.
Research setting
Okrika is one of the local Government areas of Rivers State. It has its headquarters located in Okrika town. The local government area is made up of several villages with four major districts. The 2006 census determined that the population of Okrika LGA was 222,026. The people of Okrika, like other Ijo sub-groups of the Niger Delta are organised into autonomous and co-equal canoe houses. Kinsmen leaving together in same area make up each War-canoe house. The languages spoken by the Okrika people are okrika and kalabari. Historically, the okrika people of old were polytheists, believing in several gods and deities. Others were animists who believed in many spirits including marine spirits and in the spirits of their ancestors. In modern Okrika, Christianity has emerged as the dominant religion. Traditional religion however still exists side by side with Christianity. Before the onset of oil and gas activities, the people of Okrika were predominantly farmers, fishers and traders.
Instrument of data collection
The research instruments used in this study are questionnaires. The questionnaires are designed using close-ended questions. The questionnaires have two sections. The items in the first section seek demographic information about the respondents such as age, experience and qualifications. The second part seek information on the research questions.
Validity and reliability of research instrument
Orodho (2015) defines validity as a prior qualitative procedure test of the research instrument in attempting to ascertain how they are accurate, correct, true, meaningful and right in enhancing the intended data for the study. Reliability on the other handis a measure of the degree to which the instrument yields consistent data after repeated trials (Mugenda and Mugenda 2013). After preparing the questionnaire, it would be submitted to the project supervisor for perusal. Her contributions would be incorporated to enhance content validity and reliability.
Method of data analysis
The analysis of the research questions would be done using simple percentage, pie-charts and histograms.
Data Presentation and Analysis, And Discussion Of Findings
Table 2 Questionnaire Response
| Copies administered | Copies retrieved | Invalid copies | Valid and useful copies | Response rate |
| 399 | 312 | 97 | 215 | 67% |
The data in table 2 above represent the questionnaire response rate. It is shown in the table that a total of 399 questionnaires were distributed for the study. However, the researcher was able to retrieve only 312, 97 of which were not properly filled by the respondents; leaving only 215 copies of valid questionnaire and a response rate of 69%.
Table 3 commonly used household energy cooking sources
| No. | Item | Very commonly used F (%) | Commonly used F (%) | Not commonly used F (%) | Not used at all F (%) | No idea F (%) | F total | % total |
| 1 | Charcoal | 111 (51.6) | 64 (29.8) | 12 (5.6) | 18 (8.4) | 10 (4.7) | 215 | 100 |
| 2 | Firewood | 89 (41.4) | 96 (44.7) | 16 (7.4) | 4 (1.9) | 10(4.7) | 215 | 100 |
| 3 | Kerosene stove | 6(2.8) | 115(53.5) | 4 (1.9) | 62 (28.8) | 28 (13.02) | 215 | 100 |
| 4 | Gas stove | 6 (2.8) | 19 (8.9) | 90 (41.9) | 41 (19.07) | 59 (27.4) | 215 | 100 |
| 5 | Electric cooker | 4 (1.9) | 16 (7.44) | 108 (50.2) | 12 (5.6) | 70 (32.6) | 215 | 100 |
The data in table 3 represent respondents’ report on the frequency of use of some common energy for household cooking purposes. For charcoal, 51.6% indicated that it is very commonly used. 29.8% reported that it is commonly used; 5.6% reported that it is not commonly used; 8.4% reported that it is not used at all; while 4.7% indicated that they have no idea on the frequency of use of the charcoal. The results for firewood are: 41.45 very commonly used, 44.7%; 44.7% commonly used; 7.4% not commonly used; 1.9% not used at all and 4.7% no idea. The results for kerosene stove are presented as: 2.8% (very commonly used); 53.5% commonly used; 1.9% not commonly used; 28.8% not used at all and 13.02% no idea. A completely different trend is observed in gas stove where 2.8% reported that it is very commonly used; 8.9% reported that it is commonly used; 19.07% reported that it is not used at all; while 27.4% reported that had no idea. A similar response pattern is observable for electric cooker which has 1.9% (very commonly used); 7.4% (commonly used); 50.2% (not commonly used); 5.6% (not used at all) and 32.6% (no idea).
Discussion of findings
The objective was to examine the commonly used forms of energy in the study area. The results of the analysis show high level of non-patronage for clean energy. In table 3, it is shown that charcoal and fuel remain the dominant sources of cooking energy. Only a small proportion of the respondents make use of gas stove and electric cooking gadgets. This findings validate the reports by Crosby (2016) and Azubuike (2016) that many nations of the world still rely heavily on the use of traditional sources of energy in the sphere of cooking at the household level.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are provided:
1. There is need for enlightenment on the long term economic and environmental cost benefits of clean energy for cooking.
2. There should be intensive, monitored and sustainable development programme targeted at rural areas in Nigeria. These programmes should include massive deployment of infrastructures which will aid easy access to cleaner cooking fuel energy for households use.
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