L-IFT’s energy diaries investigate people’s energy usage and particularly enable us to compare clean energy usage to usage of traditional energy forms. The methodology of energy diaries is comparable to financial diaries and uses the same repeat interview system of L-IFT’s financial diaries. Respondents participate every other week in an interview about a wide range of energy aspects. The energy diaries track which energy sources people obtain, how much is obtained, how much the energy cost (if bought) or how much time it took to obtain (if gathered). L-IFT’s energy diaries also look at effect on health, and track whether people suffer from stinging eyes, cough and whether anybody in the household suffered a burn or, worse, if there was a fire. The energy diaries also record whether people spent time I darkness against their will and keep track of which new light sources and cooking devices people obtained and reasons for obtaining these.
Read more about our energy diaries research in Uganda here.