Rural households’ knowledge and perceptions of renewables with special attention on bioenergy resources development – Results from a field study in Bangladesh

Understanding public knowledge, attitude, and perception towards energy and environmental issues is indispensible for achieving renewable energy targets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the level of knowledge and perception of renewables (especially biomass fuels) among rural households, and to analyze commonly held beliefs on environmental issues related to the development of bioenergy resources. A multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was applied in selecting 240 households from four upazilas of Bangladesh. Door to door questionnaire survey was carried out for this study. The results revealed that the majority of rural households had a high level of knowledge on traditional biomass fuels such as wood fuel, crop residues and cow dung. However, they possessed a relatively low level of knowledge regarding improved biomass fuels such as briquette, biogas and biodiesel. The analysis showed that the household’s socio-economic status and their level of education plays a significant role in the promotion of knowledge on various renewable and adoption on renewable energy technologies. The rural households expressed negative perceptions towards sustainability aspects of current biomass fuel consumption. Perceptions of various interventions which may have influence on promotion of knowledge on renewables and promotion of sustainable use of bioenergy resource were discussed. The results of this study provide noteworthy information on renewable energy dynamics, which is useful in the development of microplans for forestry and energy sectors at a regional or national level.