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In Egypt, use of solid fuel (e.g., coal, wood) as a share of total household fuel use fell by more than 90 percent between 2000 and 2015; such shifts are often 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). Alemu Mekonnen and Gunnar Köhlin’s study of fuel use in Ethiopia shows this model to be reductive, however: household fuel use was heterogeneous, flexible, and influenced by several factors, including the local availability of different fuel sources.