The majority of low income households in South Africa have limited access to electricity, and
typically cook on stoves fuelled by paraffin. Paraffin represents a fossil fuel. It is a relatively
cheap fuel in South Africa. Another fuel that can also be used for cooking is wood pellets, which
is a renewable fuel. It can be used in a similar way to that of paraffin and is relatively cheap
compared to other renewable energy sources. To investigate if living conditions among low
income households can be improved the focus of the study was to evaluate the sustainability of
cooking on paraffin and wood pellets. This was done by comparing social, environmental and
economic aspects associated with the two cooking fuels. The social aspects were investigated
through an interview study, the environmental aspect through a comparative life cycle
assessment (LCA) and the economic aspects through a partial life cycle cost analysis (LCCA)
focusing on the user phase.
The interview study showed that paraffin users considered four aspects as the most important
when cooking, namely safety, health, affordability and quality. The study also found that the
majority were willing to change to another cooking fuel if these aspects were fulfilled. The LCA
showed that both systems score the highest on 9 out of 18 environmental impact categories
over a 16-year perspective. The economic analysis showed that the user phase of the wood
pellet system is more economically beneficial during the 16-year time period than the paraffin
system. It was concluded that wood pellets could be used as an option to paraffin for cooking
and would most likely increase living conditions for low income households.