Consuming modernity in Kenya: LPG bottles and the local reworking of global ideas of “clean” and “modern” energy

This article explores how the global idea of “clean” and “modern” energy promoted by Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) is reinterpreted in Langas, a Kenyan informal settlement shaped by internal migration and postcolonial legacies. The Kenyan government embraced SDG7’s vision, promoting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottles as a “clean” and “modern” energy solution to displace polluting fuels like firewood, charcoal and kerosene. However, ethnographic fieldwork in Langas reveals that residents consume LPG bottles not solely for their practical use, but as aspirational objects signifying social distinction and access to Western lifestyles. Their material features – colour, shine and shape – carry symbolic weight, expressing a local sense of “modernity” that diverges from that of global energy narratives. By examining the meanings ascribed to LPG bottles in Langas, this article contributes to debates on the consumption of ideas in postcolonial contexts, highlighting the limits of universalist approaches to energy transition projects.