Key Insights

Wide variety and mixture of energy sources

There was a wide variety of energy sources both within and across households, communities and provinces.

Varied Grid

11 of the 30 communities that were profiled had households that were connected to the DABS grid. Lab-e-Aab was being connected at the time of the profiling, bringing the total number of communities with grid access to 12.

However, there were large differences in reliability. Examples include 24-hour reliability in Herat and Samangan compared to communities in Kabul Province that could experience day-long outages several times a week. This reliability then seemed to impact whether households sought alternative sources of energy such as a diesel generator. There was also marked differences in key informant estimations on the cost of connection to the grid across different communities.

Solar popularity

Another key finding was the the ubiquity of low-capacity solar in all the communities surveyed. Many local authority figures in Daikundi and Paktia stated that almost all the households in the community had solar-systems that could help with lighting and other low-capacity electrical requirements.

Different fuels for cooking and heating

Even in communities with access to the grid, using electricity or LPG for cooking and heating was confined to a small minority of communities in Herat and Kabul cities. People used biomass sources such as animal waste, wood, mountain thorns and nut shells, while some households used coal. Many of these sources were not purchased, which leads to the next key insight.

Non-purchased sources of fuel

In many communities (especially in Samangan, Daikundi and Paktia provinces), people did not purchase their fuel for heating and cooking, but instead collected it through gathering/foraging.

Council chairman in Talkhaki (Samangan) -

“Village people use from animal waste material and firewood. Most of them have animals. Or they bring woods from forest and use for cooking… in this village people use from animal waste material for heating. They dry animal waste material in sun. women prepare small for heater and dry it in sun. they use for heating from cows and goat waste material and firewood.”

Shura Leader in Dawlatabad (Samangan)–

“Most people use animal dung, it is free, collected by children from the desert and mountains, then they are dried in the sun. It might be a habit that all the people-the reach and the poor use animal dungs for cooking… people use animal dung for heating in Dawlat Abad. The people who have gardens use wood as well. The poor people collect a kind of mountain thorn called Posh and use it for heating.”

Council chairman in Chawghai (Samangan)-

“Mostly people use from animal’s waste material and woods. Because it is available in their community. They use it for cooking. Fuel is expense they don’t have good economy to buy it. Every family saves on summer and use it on winter. Like; firewood, animals waste material and etc.”

Non-purchasable fuel may have implications for willingness to pay - it could be considered an opportunity cost of time, or an easier source of fuel as a by-product of agricultural work. In some cases, even places with access to grid electricity, people will still forage or collect wood, mountain thorns and animal waste, as it is freely available and can be collected from agricultural lands or nearby wilderness. In other communities, there is a movement towards gas cooking and gas heating if the household has higher income.

Urban - Rural breakdown

While the original community list set out to locate 15 urban/semi-urban locations and 15 rural locations, once research commenced in the communities this hard division became more obscure.

In 24 out of the 30 communities, key informants said agriculture was the predominant employer in their community. The remaining 6 communities were all in Kabul and Herat cities. Even in communities located very close (under 10km) to provincial capitals such as Gardez in Paktia, Aybak/Samangan City in Samangan and Nili in Daikundi, many people attended to their agricultural fields or herded livestock for a living.

This split may actually bring the community overview closer to the national average. While trending towards urbanisation, Afghanistan's population is still approximately 73% rural according to World Bank statistics. (1)

The Urban – Rural dichotomy breaks down further in the Afghan context. Many semi-urban parts of major cities have residents and community leaders refer to their area as qarya or ‘village’, and employ frameworks and practices that blur the distinction between city and countryside, urban and rural. These include ‘going to the city’ to shop and find health facilities. It also includes practices usually thought of as rural, including foraging and collecting fuel for cooking and heating (including wood, thorns and animal waste).

Mini-grids

2 of the communities surveyed had mini-grids in their area, but with marked difference between them.

Majghandak, a rural village in Herat Province, had a a hydro-dynamo that was built by the National Solidarity Program (NSP). This mini-grid is only powerful enough to power 100 lights in 100 households, but it was free to connect to. It is available for 4 hours each night during the winter months, but during other times of the year the water is diverted to other uses.

In Dasht-e-Barchi, a neighbourhood village to the south-east of Kabul, there is a a 75kW generator run by an entrepreneur in a neighborhood that has a large informal settlement. The generator is an 8-cylinder lorry-truck engine that is also run for 4 hours in the evening. Over 500 households are connected to the mini-grid and it costs money to connect, subscribe and for ongoing costs for its usage.

A time of change and grid-connection for some communities

Communities like Lab-e-Aab in Samangan and Baala Deh in Paktia are currently being connected to the grid. This follows other villages around the Samangan province such as Dawlatabad and Yakatoot that have been connected to the grid with imported energy from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in recent years. This has led to changes including villagers in Yakatoot selling their stand-alone energy generation units after connecting to a very reliable grid.

Shura member when speaking about the cost of stand-alone energy generation -

"After 3 years from the time that the imported DABS grid power reached to us, we have sold all our old stuff such as fuel lanterns, solar lanterns and solar home systems in the bazaar in Aibak. Now all of us use grid power."

Grid electrification was said to be underway in some areas of Samangan and Paktia. A small minority of communities may see a marked interpolation during the longitudinal study if grid connection occurs during the year, which could yield interesting research results to compare household and business enterprise energy usage within the one community.

Seasonal income and wealth

There are multiple challenges in calculating income and wealth in different Afghan contexts. One is the seasonal nature of work and income. An example is the large variance in different income periods across the year in villages in Samangan Province.

Council Chairman speaking about the seasonal nature of work in Talkhaki (Samangan) -

"For example; village people are jobless in winter time. I mean in agriculture field. They can’t do agriculture work in winter time. But in month of hamal and howt [February - April] goat give birth and they take their skin for selling reason. In the month of sawar and jawza [April - June] they are busy in cumin. One ser [7kg] cumin cost 1500 afn. They start collecting harvest of wheat. Those who work in gardening take harvest of almond in month of asad and sell it in market. Limited people work in government jobs. Crafters works also differ depending on seasonal. Labors has job opportunities a lot in summer when weather gets hot. Than vocational workers start their work. Like; embroidery, leather sewing and tailor. So, work in our village is seasonally."

“One thing which is very important for agricultural, livestock, gardeners is they can’t store their harvest so they can sell on the time when it makes more profit. For example; on agriculture time people sell goat at 3000 afn but in one season goat price gets 8000 afn. Onetime price is 1500 and in one time of season it gets up to 5000 afn.”

Shura leader on the seasonality of work in Dawlatabad (Samangan) -

Most people are into agriculture, livestock and gardening and their products and revenues depend on the season. We grow things and later see our products. Some are laborers, they have more opportunities in the summers, they are construction workers, carpenters, tailors. In the autumn the works decline. All our works depend on the season. People should save in the work seasons and consume in the seasons which they have nothing to do. We save food in the work season to feed ourselves in the rest of the year.

Seasonal variance may impact wealth and living standards assessments as income, consumption and wealth patterns change within a household over certain time periods.

Clear intersections between energy and other issues

The effects of energy poverty on health

In Dasht-e-Barchi, a neighbourhood village in the southeast of Kabul, health problems linked to energy emerged as a key theme even when not discussing energy directly. When asked about the health problems the community faces, community representatives and leaders spoke about the prevalence of asthma and respiratory problems. Later, when asked about the key challenges in the community, a community representative spoke about pollution caused by people trying to keep warm in the winter.

Community representative –

“The other challenges are air pollution, some [people] don’t have the purchase power to buy fuels so they burn rubber of worn-out vehicle tires, that pollutes the air.”

Links between energy and gender

One community leader in Mula Qurban in Samangan made a connection between recent enhanced access to electricity and women's rights and education.

Community leader when asked about changes in Mula Qurban over the previous decade -

"Very important changes came to our village and people eyes opened they know everything, special after electricity came to our village people bought dishes and TVs so, these changes brought positive effect on people’s life as well as TV programs effected on life for example women knew how to defend from their rights... Our girls go to school but in [previous] year[s] they didn’t have allow to go school but now mothers and fathers understood that they go to school and be educated person in the future and they be doctors, engineers, [lawyers] which they have good future."

Links between energy and other areas including health, gender and aspirations begun to emerge from the community profiles and speaking with key informants in each of the 30 communities.

World Bank, Data - Rural Population (% of total population), available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS?locations=AF