Inforse East Africa Zoom Webinar
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INFORSE EAST AFRICA ZOOM WEBINAR
FRIDAY 27TH 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:-
- Dr Jon Leary (MECS Research Associate (Loughborough University)- Overview of the Modern Energy Cooking Services MECS Programme in East Africa
- Estomih N. Sawe (Executive Director and CEO) - TaTEDO, Centre for Sustainable Energy Service (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) – Tanzanian Experience
- Agness Mwikali Kalyonge,Kisambara Ventures Ltd - Kenyan Experience
- 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.
- Given the socio-economic indicators for East Africa and the current cost of electricity, what opportunities do efficient electric cooking appliances such as Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs) offer vis-à-vis other existing options?
- To what extent are the national and regional energy and other policies ripe to promote efficient electric cooking from national grid and mini-grids and other sources of electricity in order to benefit of the majority low-income households for poverty reduction and addressing other development needs?
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).