Aid Groups Meeting in Kenya Promote ‘Clean Cookstoves’
Saving money is one of the many benefits of clean cookstoves, which use natural gas, solar power or electricity, Kenya, May 2, 2012. .Indoor air pollution emanating from open fires or leaky cookstoves is the fifth-largest health risk in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization. Massive deforestation caused by households collecting firewood is also a huge problem. The use of so-called “clean cookstoves” – stoves that use clean fuel such as natural gas, or cut down on solid fuels such as firewood – is being touted as a way of combating indoor air pollution and deforestation. Aid groups met in Kenya’s capital recently to fine-tune promotion efforts.
Roseline Amondi is making githeri, a traditional dish of maize and beans, for her small restaurant in the informal settlement of Kibera in Kenya’s capital.
She places her sufuria, or cooking pot, on what is called a “clean cookstove,” powered by biogas harnessed from the community toilet.
Amondi says she now pays one-tenth of what she used to when cooking.