eCook, about cooking with photovoltaics, and enhancing micro and national grids with a battery cooker combination.
Resulting from the various things discussed in this blog, the paper
Two Birds, One Stone—Reframing Cooking Energy Policies in Africa and Asia
published today in the journal energies describes in more detail the rationale behind the new Modern Energy Cooking Services programme.
LPG price parity
The GMA used Leach & Oduro (2015) and Scott et al.’s (2017) processes for comparing energy delivered to the pot to show which fuels are most cost-effective in each country. Price parity is represented by a solid line. For countries appearing above the line, it is cheaper for their citizens to cook using the fuel on the horizontal axis and for those below, the fuel on the vertical axis. Significant opportunities exist when large proportions of the population are cooking with the fuel on the nearest axis, as they would save money by switching to the fuel on the opposite side of the parity line.
However, we are going to have to revisit these in the light of the gains from Electric Pressure cookers. Read more…
Resistance to change-the evidence from the choice modelling surveys suggests that future marketing campaigns should target both genders, as the decision to purchase is likely to be made together in most Tanzanian households. eCook is likely to be an aspirational product/service for both men and women, as not only can it transform the kitchen, but on most days, the energy left in the battery can also enable access to TV, lights, radio, mobile phone charging and other low power energy services. Changing the perception of pressure cookers from dangerous to safe and the perception of electricity as too expensive for cooking are likely to be key enablers for eCook.
Transformation of gender roles – eCook will make cooking quicker and easier, which may be the trigger for a slight gender shift in responsibilities, as men may be willing to take on more responsibility in the kitchen
The evidence from these FGDs suggests that electricity is the aspirational fuel for most households in Zambia and confirms that access, affordability (or perception of affordability) and reliability are the main barriers holding back wider adoption of electric cooking. Read more…
The African Sustainability Hub (ASH) at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) hereby is hosting the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) East Africa Programme Launch on 14th May in Nairobi, Kenya (venue TBC). Read more…
Time saving & drudgery reduction – eCook can make cooking quicker and easier. The people who could save most time and effort are those who collect fuelwood. 
Whilst they could benefit from adopting eCook products/services, they are not eCook’s initial target market because they have no existing expenditure to repay the capital costs of the equipment.
The eCook Zambia Design Challenge aimed to facilitate the participatory design of eCook (a battery-supported electric cooking concept), allowing the generic concept to evolve around Zambian cooking practices.
Charcoal price parity. Read more…
