INFORSE EAST AFRICA ZOOM WEBINAR

FRIDAY 27^TH NOVEMBER 2020 AT 11:00 – 12:30 HRS EAT

 Electric Cooking as a Clean Cooking Option for East Africa: A ‘Silver Bullet’to Reduce Dependence on Solid Fuels and Associated Indoor Air Pollution or is it Just ‘Chasing the Wind’?

Session Moderator: Mr. Richard Kimbowa, the East Africa INFORSE Chairperson

Presentations followed by Discussion:-

1. Dr Jon Leary (MECS Research Associate (Loughborough University)- Overview of the Modern Energy Cooking Services MECS Programme in East Africa
2. Estomih N. Sawe (Executive Director and CEO) - TaTEDO, Centre for Sustainable Energy Service (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) – Tanzanian Experience
3. Agness Mwikali Kalyonge,Kisambara Ventures Ltd - Kenyan Experience
4. INFORSE/INFORSE-Europe – Mr. Gunnar Olesen - International views & Closing Remarks

The purpose of the webinar is to cross-examine e-Cook as a viable clean cooking option for East Africa based on experiences from practitioners in East Africa and beyond.

Amidst all the technological innovation of the twenty-first century, 2.6 billion people around the world still have to use open fires to cook their meals (60 Decibels.com, February 2020). The pervasive use of solid fuels with traditional cook stoves results in high levels of household air pollution, extensive daily drudgery to collect fuels and manage fires, and serious health impacts. Currently 1.8 billion people have access to electricity but still cook with biomass (CLASP, 2020). Biomass cooking not only causes harmful environmental impacts, but also results in poor health outcomes.It is estimated that smoke from cooking fuels accounts for nearly 4 million premature deaths annually worldwide.

Therefore, there is a need to try a different approach aimed at accelerating the uptake of clean cooking. Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for the world to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. In East Africa, a number of approaches have been promoted including biomass efficient stoves at household and commercial levels, solar, wind as well as geothermal energy options for electricity generation.

Use ofefficient electric cooking appliances such as pressure cookers, is gaining ground as an approach to address the above challenges. In particular the promising complement of mini-grid electricity to the traditional central grid, which can help countries meet electricity access targets faster and, in some cases, more cost-effectively. By 2040, an estimated 140 million rural Africans could get electricity from mini-grids, requiring more than 100,000 additional units to be built (Lily Odarno, 2017).

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZctfu2ppzwsHdX4alatQxwNdns08...