LETTICIA MAGOMBO
About nine out of 10 of households in Zimbabwe are using clean fuel for lighting, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has said.
The statistics emanate from a population and housing census in April this year.
The results were released last month.
“… Solar lanterns, battery powered flashlights and LPG lamps have become the biggest substitutes for lighting.
“There had also been great improvement in the use of clean technology for cooking which accounted for 38.7% of households nationally,” ZimStat said.
However, the national statistical agency said about 8% of households was still using firewood, paraffin lamps, grass and oil lamps as lighting sources.
The reason for this continued use of polluting fuels can be attributed to the lack of availability of electricity which results in residents relying on alternative sources of energy.
According to ZimStat, about 38% of the households do not have any source of electricity while 34% of households indicated that they used grid electricity.
The remaining 28% used off grid electricity.
Of the 38% that do not have grid electricity, 83.7% were in rural areas.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to various Climate Change agreements and as such is making moves towards the mitigation of these emissions.
