After more than three decades of access to low-cost liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) financed by large direct government subsidies, more than 90% of Ecuadorian households cook primarily with LPG. Due to the large fiscal burden of the LPG subsidy, increases in electricity from hydropower, and other sociopolitical factors, the Government of Ecuador launched a major induction stove program (PEC) to reduce the demand for LPG. We assess the effects of the LPG subsidies and PEC using government records, interviews, academic literature, newspaper reports, household surveys, and focus groups. Household surveys, conducted in rural, northern Ecuadorian households (n=383), characterized cooking patterns and fuel access. Focus groups (n=6) were carried out with a subset of surveyed households to better characterize survey findings. The LPG subsidy was developed as part of broad social support reforms in the early 1970s, without specific aims to reduce the health impacts of household air pollution from woodfuel or provide economic benefits as part of the transition to a clean cooking fuel. Nonetheless, the subsidy has resulted in nearly all Ecuadorian households cooking primarily with LPG. PEC has generated the sale of 740,000 induction stoves since its inception in 2014, short of the goal of 3.5 million. Among the rural households surveyed, LPG use, acceptance, and satisfaction was high, however, more than three-quarters of those surveyed reported weekly woodfuel use. Induction stove ownership (17%) and use as a primary cooking fuel (1%) was low among the rural households surveyed; furthermore, households owning induction stoves reported very low satisfaction with the stoves. Here we show that nationally-representative surveys reporting only "primary cooking fuef" use may underestimate solid fuel use as a supplemental household cooking energy, particularly in rural areas where fuel availability issues play a stronger role in decisions about what fuels to use.

中文翻译：

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厄瓜多尔的政府政策、清洁燃料获取和持续燃料堆放

在获得政府大笔直接补贴资助的低成本液化石油气 (LPG) 三十多年后，超过 90% 的厄瓜多尔家庭主要使用液化石油气做饭。由于液化石油气补贴财政负担沉重、水电发电量增加以及其他社会政治因素，厄瓜多尔政府启动了大型电磁炉计划（PEC）以减少对液化石油气的需求。我们使用政府记录、访谈、学术文献、报纸报道、家庭调查和焦点小组评估 LPG 补贴和 PEC 的影响。在厄瓜多尔北部农村家庭 (n=383) 中进行的家庭调查以烹饪方式和燃料获取为特征。焦点小组（n=6）对一部分被调查家庭进行了分组，以更好地描述调查结果的特征。液化石油气补贴是 1970 年代初期广泛社会支持改革的一部分，没有具体目标是减少家庭空气污染对健康的影响，或作为向清洁烹饪燃料过渡的一部分提供经济效益。尽管如此，补贴导致几乎所有厄瓜多尔家庭主要使用液化石油气做饭。PEC 自 2014 年成立以来，已经产生了 740,000 台电磁炉的销售量，与 350 万台的目标相去甚远。在接受调查的农村家庭中，液化石油气的使用、接受度和满意度都很高，但是，超过四分之三的受访者报告每周使用木质燃料。在接受调查的农村家庭中，电磁炉的拥有率（17%）和用作主要炊事燃料（1%）的比例较低；此外，拥有电磁炉的家庭表示对炉具的满意度非常低。在这里，我们表明，仅报告“主要烹饪燃料”使用的全国代表性调查可能低估了固体燃料作为家庭烹饪补充能源的使用，特别是在农村地区，燃料供应问题在决定使用何种燃料方面发挥着更大的作用。