By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, July 31, GNA – The Government through the Ministry of Energy is to distribute a million more free efficient cookstoves to reduce fuel costs between 30 to 60 per cent nationwide for free.
The initiative, which is a partnership between the Government of Ghana and Better Planet of India, seeks to contribute towards reducing deforestation, and emissions and increasing access to clean cooking.
The one million cookstoves to be distributed will add up to already 2.5 million circulated under different projects, totalling three million, to reduce dirty cooking practices that are contributing to climate change and air pollution.
“As a country, this is one of the means to transition to clean cooking and decarbonise the sector,” Mr Seth Mahu, the Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
“We are addressing a local problem where millions of women and children are exposed to dirty and toxic air from inefficient cook stoves. Many are sickened and risking death from illnesses resulting from polluted air they inhale.”
He said the one million improved stove project would be implemented in five years and would create about 1000 jobs.
The Director disclosed that as part of the first phase of the project, the clean stoves would be assembled in Ghana.
“Subsequently, a facility will be built to manufacture the stoves in Ghana to build the capacity and capability to go into production and servicing. This will help locals to compete in the sub-region,” he said.
Mr Mahu, who gave an update on the ongoing project being funded by East West Power Cooperation of South Korea and implemented by the Ministry of Energy, said a total of 450,000 improved cookstoves had been shared nationwide.
He noted that the distribution of an additional 50,000 improved stoves would be done by the end of the year.
Mr Mahu disclosed that the Government was pursuing other clean fuel sources, including electricity, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and ethanol to accelerate clean cooking to improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions in accordance with the Nationally Determined Contributions.
Asked about the cost and access to LPG, he explained that: “The cylinder recirculation model – a system where customers no longer shoulder the burden transporting cylinder to the fuel station to be filled but already filled once are supplied to them will address part of the problem. People are creating business around it and might bring the price down.”
A study conducted by the Energy Commission and Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves says 22 million people in Ghana rely on solid fuels for cooking.
Burning solid fuels produces carbon dioxide – the key gas leading to global warming.
According to the Clean Cooking Alliance, Ghana has a nascent clean cooking industry consisting of a small number of local companies across various technologies.
There is a large unmet demand for clean cooking, but access rates have remained flat with around one-in-five having access to clean cooking technologies and fuels.
Inefficient cooking practice in developing countries results in significant environmental and health problems.
More than three billion people worldwide, mostly from developing countries, still depend on solid fuels, including biomass (in particular firewood, dung, and agricultural residues) and coal, to meet their basic energy needs such as cooking, boiling water, and space heating, particularly in high altitudes, according to World Health Organisation (WHO).
It estimates in 2014 that indoor air pollution was linked to 4.3 million deaths globally in 2012, in households cooking over coal, firewood, and biomass stoves.
However, the problem continues to grow, with the International Energy Agency estimating that by 2030, 100 million more people will be using traditional biomass fuels than today, considering the current rates of usage and growth.
GNA