Evidence-based Cooling Strategies for a Warming World: Assessing Demand for Energy Efficient Fans in India
Meredith Fowlie, Professor
Agricultural and Resource Economics
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2025 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2026.
As global temperatures rise, more and more people are being exposed to extreme heat. Coping with heat-related risks is particularly stressful for households with limited access to cooling technologies such as fans and air conditioners. We have been working in India where it's estimated that over 300 million people are at high risk from extreme heat due to lack of access to cooling.
Fans are the most common cooling appliance used by middle and low-income households in India. Energy-efficient fans, which consume less than half the energy of standard induction fans, are rarely available in rural and peri-urban areas of India where a majority of low-income households live. Demand for energy-efficient appliances in these markets is perceived to be low, and the costs of building out distribution networks, marketing, and sales teams to supply these markets can be prohibitively high.
Our research investigates the conditions under which low-income households in India could be willing and able to purchase energy-efficient BLDC fans. Working closely with India’s Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and a network of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Bihar, we combined a demand-side field experiment with a supply-side intervention that helped local shop owners procure, market, and sell energy-efficient fans. This research was designed to investigate two related lines of inquiry:
On the demand-side, we are interested in estimating household demand for energy-efficient fans in hard-to-reach rural and peri-urban markets of India. Subsidies for efficient fans could be rationalized on the basis of external (to the household) benefits including avoided environmental damages and, in the case of low-income consumers, avoided supply costs (electricity prices are subsidized for low-income households). We are using data from a field experiment we implemented to estimate demand for efficient fans at different price points.
On the supply side, we designed and piloted a partnership between EESL and a well-established network of rural self-help groups that are well positioned to procure/distribute/support the sale of energy-efficient fans in more remote and under-served market segments. If successful, this partnership model could be scaled up across a broad network of SHGs.
Role: This project has been running for 5 years. We have concluded the end-line survey of households. This fall we will be focused on cleaning and analyzing the endline survey data and merging these responses with electricity billing data. Tasks include:
Data set construction: Help us scrape and clean utility billing data. Merge these data with the survey responses.
Data analysis: Basic regression analysis of field experiment data.
Synthesis and graphics: Working with researchers to summarize and present data/findings.
Undergraduate students will work closely with the research team and
will be involved in the research process.
Qualifications: Student researchers must be:
Data Collection & Acquisition:
- Web scraping and API integration to gather datasets from multiple online sources
- Automated data extraction from web platforms using Python libraries
Data Preprocessing & Wrangling:
- Data cleaning and preprocessing including handling missing values, outliers, and inconsistent formatting
- Data validation and quality assessment including completeness, accuracy, and consistency checks
- Exploratory data analysis (from summary statistics to basic regression).
Technical skills that would he helpful
- Some experience with Python/R for data manipulation
- Interest in energy, environment and/or development economics is desirable.
- Willingness to work with other students on the research team.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Meredith Fowlie
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Related website: https://www.meredithfowlie.com/
Environmental Issues Social Sciences