Source Texts
Text
In Bolivia, use of solid fuel (e.g., coal, wood) as a share of total household fuel use fell by more than half between 2000 and 2015; such shifts are typically explained by appeal to the energy ladder, a model holding that fuel choice is mediated mainly by household income (specifically, high-technology fuels displace solid fuels as incomes rise). Richard Hosier and Jeffrey Dowd's study of fuel use in Zimbabwe shows how reductive this model is, however: although income of course constrained fuel choice, several factors, including the difficulty of acquiring fuel sources, influenced decisions.