This project aims to construct energy efficient cook stoves for rural communities in Siaya County in Nyanza Province, Kenya. As in many rural regions in developing countries the supply of modern energy carriers such as electricity and fossil fuels is very limited and expensive. In Siaya district, only 1.4% of the population use electricity for lighting and only 0.1% for cooking purposes. To meet their basic energy needs households rely on locally available biomass such as firewood and also occasionally charcoal; almost 90% of households use firewood for cooking and 9% use charcoal for preparing their meals. Households in Siaya district traditionally cook on open fires consisting of 3 stones, in this way burning large amounts of fuel wood in very inefficient ways. This has severe impacts at the social (health) and environmental levels (e.g. deforestation, CO2 emission).This project aims to mitigate these impacts by introducing energy efficient cook stoves to Siaya communities in Kenya. The efficient cooks stove is a biomass rocket stove designed for burning wood and consists of two cooking units that can be separately fired. The stove is fixed and installed in households.
