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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an international impetus to transition from vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric vehicles (EV). While this transition is happening rapidly in some regions of the world that are mainly urbanized, other predominantly rural and less developed regions are slower to adopt this technology. Rural Alaska serves as an example with its not-road-connected communities, high cost of electricity, extreme environmental conditions, and isolated power grids often powered by diesel. This study used co-production and mixed methods to identify barriers and perceived benefits towards EV adoption and explore EV adoption rates across the Arctic. We conducted community workshops in Bethel, Galena, and Kotzebue, Alaska, and 25 interviews with businesses and local governments. The top five impediments to EV adoption are the inability to maintain vehicles locally, cold weather performance, higher purchase prices compared to ICE vehicles, and the cost of electricity. The successful adoption of EVs in isolated microgrid communities in the Arctic requires investments in appropriate financial incentives, especially for low-income households, expansion of renewable power generation, and climate and culture-relevant proof-of-concept vehicles. Residents acknowledged that EVs generally operate much cleaner than vehicles with ICE, can have lower fuel and maintenance costs, and cause less air and noise pollution. We propose a framework to develop policies to facilitate the adoption of EVs in rural areas. Policy implications for overcoming the challenges related to the transition to EVs in remote rural parts of the globe are discussed.
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Sustaining clean cooking: A system dynamics study of Ghana's rural LPG promotion program
Household air pollution is a pervasive environmental health problem wherever access to cleaner fuels is poor. Despite numerous attempts to transition households away from polluting fuels, interventions are rarely sustainable. This intractability indicates that structural (i.e., systemic) dynamics act to maintain the status quo. In this case study of Ghana's Rural Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion Program, our objectives were to 1) identify system structures affecting sustained fuel use, and 2) test strategies for improving intervention outcomes. To address these objectives, we applied a system dynamics approach, informed by a systematic literature review. A virtual simulation model was constructed to represent the implementation of the Rural LPG Program and its outcomes. By analyzing the model's structure and behavior, we proposed strategies that would improve the intervention's outcomes and tested the effectiveness of the strategies within the simulation model. Our results show that distributing two LPG cylinders to households (instead of one) contributed toward primary use of the fuel, whereas free weekly delivery of LPG (for up to four years) had limited long-term benefits and diminishing returns. Furthermore, reducing the time for users to perceive the benefits of cleaner fuels enhanced willingness-to-pay, and thereby helped to sustain higher rates of LPG use. This suggests that intervention planners should identify new users' expectations of benefits and proactively design ways to realize those benefits quickly (in a few weeks or less), while policy makers should support this as a design requirement in approval processes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1735320
- PAR ID:
- 10561249
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier BV
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Energy for Sustainable Development
- Volume:
- 81
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0973-0826
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 101497
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2024.101497
