Adoption of energy-efficient technologies in Ethiopia: The role of environmental motives, affordability and information gaps

The adoption of energy-efficient appliances plays a crucial role in reducing energy consumption and mitigating environmental challenges. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the interplay between pro-environmental attitudes, financial constraints, and informational gaps in shaping the uptake of energy-efficient appliances in urban Ethiopia. Using household survey data from residential electricity users across six major cities and applying a generalized ordered logit model, the findings indicate that pro-environmental attitudes, affordability, and information gaps significantly influence households’ adoption of energy-efficient appliances. Environmentally conscious households are 7 percent more inclined to uptake energy-efficient appliances, while financial constraints and information gaps reduce the likelihood of adoption by up to 49 and 39 percent, respectively. The results also show that that pro-environmental attitudes alone are insufficient to drive adoption without adequate financial capacity and access to information. Disaggregated results further reveal that environmental motives are more influential among male-headed households, while the effects of financial and informational gaps are more prominent among female-headed households and in the adoption of cooking technologies. Overall, the findings provide policy-relevant insights into how behavioural, financial, and informational factors can be integrated to promote the diffusion of energy-efficient appliances in developing urban contexts.