As part of the emerging proposition and the alliances we are building, we have proposed that there should be an easy uptake by 4,000,000 households (if the price is right). 4,000,000 is fairly conservative and certainly our aspiration is to change significantly more than that, but as a first target, to be reached by 2020, it sounded a reasonable number. If people consistently used their electrical stove the savings would be of the order of 11Mt CO2 per year and some 10,000 deaths avoided from kitchen emissions.
However to get to this will take some considerable financial investment. We have said that the new business models of pay as you go are likely to work, and indeed it is the monthly substitution of existing expenditure on biomass (charcoal in particular) that means it could work. We are not expecting people to suddenly find $360 and pay for the installation. Rather, private sector would install on a pay as you go basis.
At least that’s the idea at this stage of the game. However at the weekend I realised….even 4,000,000 (modest) times $360 (target price) means that someone has to find 1.4 Billion Dollars!
OK, so a phased approach should allow for repayment of early systems to fund more systems, and once the products are out there they should fund their own expansion. But tha first hurdle, hitting a critical mass,, is not going to be easy. I think I might have to make alliances with a whizzy investment brokers to “identify consumer facing finance and encourage financial institutions to allocate capital”!
Solar Electric Cooking 