Inefficient cooking systems a challenge for sustainable development: a case of rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The use of low efficient cookstoves has several severe negative impacts. Burning solid fuels kills about 4 million people every year, a number which is higher than the combined impact of HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Moreover, most of the people affected are located in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries, where over 80% of the population still relies on biomass as their primary source of energy, being the electricity access only 43%. Low-efficiency cooking systems are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions since solid fuel cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 1.2 and 6% of global CO 2 and black carbon emissions, respectively. Furthermore, widespread biomass collection by an increasing population in Sub-Saharan Africa is unsustainable, contributing to deforestation. Therefore, the impact of using traditional cooking systems is a challenge for the achievement of sustainable development targets in Sub-Saharan Africa and as a whole globally. There are several cooking technologies used in those rural locations, but there are no clear frameworks or polices to support sustainable cooking options, as well as a guide for users. This paper assesses several cooking technologies with its associated fuels and evaluated each technology in terms of energy consumption, CO 2 emissions, health impacts and costs. It was concluded that compared with traditional wood fuel cookstoves, electric cookstoves can reduce the energy consumption by 95.7%, CO 2 emissions by 100% (assuming renewable carbon-free electricity) and the life cycle cost by 94%, also avoiding over 180 mg/m 3 PM 2.5 concentrations per/household per year. Also, this paper indicates that a strong and collective effort is necessary from key stakeholders to switch from traditional and unsustainable cooking technologies and fuels to cleaner and sustainable cooking systems.

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