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A Review of Cooking Systems and Energy Efficiencies

Authors:
American Journal of Energy Engineering
2021; 9(1): 1-7
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajee
doi: 10.11648/j.ajee.20210901.11
ISSN: 2329-1648 (Print); ISSN: 2329-163X (Online)
A Review of Cooking Systems and Energy Efficiencies
Hesborn Rasugu Ayub
1, 2, *
, Willis Jakanyango Ambusso
1
, Franklin Muriuki Manene
2
,
Daudi Mongeri Nyaanga
2
1
Department of Energy Engineering, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
2
Department of Industrial and Energy Engineering, Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya
Email address:
*
Corresponding author
To cite this article:
Hesborn Rasugu Ayub, Willis Jakanyango Ambusso, Franklin Muriuki Manene, Daudi Mongeri Nyaanga. A Review of Cooking Systems and
Energy Efficiencies. American Journal of Energy Engineering. Vol. 9, No. 1, 2021, pp. 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajee.20210901.11
Received: February 23, 2021; Accepted: March 16, 2021; Published: March 22, 2020
A
bstract:
Accessing affordable and reliable energy services for cooking is important in most developing countries. Improving
access to affordable energy reduces effects on human health and environmental influences caused by burning of various biomasses.
This review examines the energy resources available in the world and their use in cooking. It also looks at challenges and the ways
these energy resources are used as well as possible solutions to such challenges. The major challenges facing the use of available
fuels are low efficiencies, high cost, un-sustainability and indoor house pollution that affect many people. The paper has identified
that the use of combustion-less cooking, the use of solar for cooking, hydrogen and electrical systems that improve cooking
activities and therefore overcome indoor and environmental pollution. Research findings indicate that the pressure-cooking concept
improves energy efficiencies in boiling operations. Other energy efficiency improvement techniques in cooking are insulation,
containment of escaping steam while cooking and automating the cooking vessel with micro-controllers. The overall efficiencies for
electrical induction heating, natural gas, traditional cooking stoves, fuel wood stoves and electrical resistive heating was found to be
90%, 45-60%, 10%, 23-40% and 75% respectively. Induction cooking is both faster and more efficient than gas cooking, while
electrical energy systems as a whole were found to be the cleanest, offering ease of control and versatility. The combination of a
micro-controller automated insulated pressure cooker and induction cooker can highly improve the cooking efficiency. This is done
by cutting a power supply using a relay controlling an induction cooker and therefore preventing the exit of steam. It is therefore
identified that zero emission release during cooking will reduce both indoor and environmental pollution significantly.
Keywords:
Clean Cooking, Cooking Efficiency, Indoor Pollution, Induction Cooker, Pressure Cooker
1. Introduction
Thermal energy is essential for human life. Cooking is vital
for feeding humankind, and boiled water is needed to fight
infections [1]. Energy requirement is directly related to the
development rate and the growth of population of any
country in the world. Energy sources are classified into
renewable and non-renewable sources. Biomass is among the
kind of most abundant renewable energy resource in
developing countries [2]. It is well known that improving
access to cheap, clean and reliable modern forms of energy is
important, particularly for developing countries, to reduce
poverty and promote economic development [1]. Household
cooking consumes more energy than any other activity in
rural and urban areas of developing countries [3]. Energy
required for cooking accounts for approximately 90% of all
the domestic energy needs in many countries, and this is about
40% of Kenya’s total energy consumption. Biomass sources,
such as agricultural wastes and trees from forests, account for
80% of cooking energy in sub-Saharan Africa [4]. Other
cooking energy sources are LPG, natural gas, electricity and
kerosene. The choice of energy resource for cooking depends
on its availability, affordability, ease of control and level of
cleanliness. The scope of this paper is thus to evaluate and
analyse the energy resources available and their use in cooking.
Challenges and the ways energy resources are used as well as
solutions to these challenges are also discussed.
2 Hesborn Rasugu Ayub et al.: A Review of Cooking Systems and Energy Efficiencies
Figure 1. Energy Supply in Kenya [5].
Kenya, like many other African countries, relies heavily on
biomass energy (firewood, charcoal and farm residues)
mainly for domestic cooking, heating and for operating
smallscale rural industries. Biomass fuels, mainly firewood
and charcoal, have remained the main source of energy in
Kenya. The energy balance of Kenya shows that biomass use
accounts for over 74.6% of energy consumption. Petroleum
and electricity accounts for about 19.1% and 5.9%
respectively of Kenya’s energy consumed while coal accounts
for 0.4%. This heavy dependence of biomass as the main
energy source contributes to deforestation, while the
importation of oil has forced the Nation to spend between 25%
and 35% of her foreign earnings [5]. Although it is mainly
used in domestic applications, biomass is the most abundant
energy resource in Kenya as shown in Figure 1.
In Kenya, less than 10% of rural and urban households use
alternative sources of energy other than biomass. About 70%
of the people in Kenya reside in rural areas, and it is only
about 63.8% of them that have access to electricity, whereby
15% are connected to grid [6]. Due to improved standard of
living, many people in the household level attempt to move up
the energy ladder to start using safer, more accessible and
cleaner sources of energy such as electricity and Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG). Kerosene has been used and is still
used in rural areas for lighting purposes and its demand
increases. Common cooking devices in the rural areas include
the traditional three-stone fire, metal charcoal stoves,
improved charcoal stoves and kerosene stoves. While fuels for
cooking are relatively diverse (firewood, charcoal, kerosene,
electricity, cow dung, crop residues, wood processing
residues), wood-based biomass fuels stand out as the most
important. However, in most rural areas of Kenya, the
cooking process is done on three stones arranged triangularly
to accommodate the pot, on traditional metal charcoal stoves
and on the kerosene stoves as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Three stone cooking, different traditional metal charcoal stoves and a kerosene stove [7, 8].
The use of kerosene is mainly limited to lighting, and quick
cooking purposes for approximately one-third of low income
houses. Kerosene is commonly used for cooking in urban
areas as it facilitates quick cooking. As kerosene is widely
used in Kenya for cooking, food sometimes takes the odor of
its exhausts, and the smoke discourages many potential users.
However, the most significant constraint against the wider use
of kerosene is its cost, and the expenditure for special
equipment such as kerosene stoves. At present, one litre of
kerosene costs about 94 Kenyan shillings and therefore calls
for alternative sources of energy (wood, crop residues and cow
dung) [9]. The use of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) by low
income households is almost negligible. LPG’s low uptake is
due to the difficulty of accessing gas stations in rural
surroundings and the high cost of buying LPG and its
expensive accessories. The constant use of biomass in poorly
ventilated households has led to indoor pollution and
respiratory diseases. Access to safe, clean and reliable energy
is a key driver to development for people in Kenya. This has
led to newer and improved forms of renewable energy use,
especially biomass gasification and biogas production.
Figure 3. Global and Regional Trends use of Solid fuels as Primary Fuel [11].
American Journal of Energy Engineering 2021; 9(1): 1-7 3
As shown in Figure 3, the global solid fuel use is declining
with time which is likely caused by indoor pollution,
improvement of economic position of people and the
Technology advancement. Despite this, world energy demand
grows by 8.1% annually as the world population grows. This
emphasizes the need to make available energy resources more
sustainable [10].
2. Cooking Energy
Figure 4 shows the various ways of defining household
cooking energy types. Basing on the typical level of
development, cooking energy can be categorized as traditional
energy type which comprise of animal dung, agricultural
residue and firewood, Intermediate energy types are such as
wood pellets, charcoal, briquettes, lignite, coal and kerosene.
Modern types of energy are solar, LPG, biogas, natural gas,
electricity, gel fuel and plant fuels. On the other hand, primary
and secondary energy base on how they are extracted. The
energy types obtained from natural resources like firewood,
agricultural waste, animal dung, coal, solar and natural gas are
known as primary energy source. Secondary energy types are
obtained after transformation of primary energy types and
example here is when kerosene and LPG are extracted from
petroleum crude oil, ethanol are produces from sugar cane,
wood pellets and charcoal are obtained from fuel wood,
from animal dung and agricultural wastes. Electricity is
produced from combustion of fossil fuels and from
renewables such as solar, hydro and wind. For the level of
consumption, the cooking energy also are categorized into
urban and income, where there are rural and urban
as well as high and low-income households. Various
cookstoves are used by households and are associated with
specific energy types. Traditional three stoves, clay pot types
and simple ceramic liners, charcoal, gasifier stoves which use
solid fuels are more used in rural areas.
Biomass and fossil fuel are used in their raw forms for
combustion-based cooking. The other most sources are
converted into electricity first, for it to be used for
combustion-less cooking. Renewable energy resources are
used either directly to cook or indirectly to generate electricity.
Solar parabolic cookers like the one shown in Figure 5 are the
example of the direct application of solar energy. The sun is
the major source of renewable energy since it powers wind,
hydro power, biomass, tidal waves and Ocean Thermal Energy
Technology (OTEC). Solar cookers include parabolic cookers,
box cookers and Scheffler cookers [7].
Figure 4. Categories of Household Cooking Energy Types [7, 12].
Figure 5. A Solar parabolic cooker [7, 13].
A small population in rural areas of developing countries
uses solar appliances for cooking purposes due to economic
difficulties. A solar cooker is an appliance which uses sunlight
directly to heat, cook, bake or pasteurize food and drinks. It
depends on the sun shine to work and therefore cannot be a
stand-alone technology. Solar is a clean source of energy for
domestic cooking [7] and institutional cooking [8]. Other
researchers have proposed the use of solar induction stoves
that are very efficient and option for clean cooking [13]. These
new methods of using solar energy directly are more
sustainable for cooking. Solar is eco-friendly, clean and
cheaper.
3. Cooking Energy and Cleanliness
According to (IEA, 2017) about 2.8 billion people in the
world and only 50% of the people in the developing
countries have access to clean cooking. The remaining
population use biomass and other fossil fuels for cooking.
Most of countries especially Sub Sahara Africa, 90% of the
households uses wood, charcoal and waste for cooking.
Preparing and collecting these fuels require many hours
hence affecting women and children. These fuels, when
burned, create noxious fumes which affect people as well as
premature death.
Most fuels are hydrocarbons which burn to produce CO
2
,
CO, H
2
O, N
2
and traces of NO
2
and SO
2
. Carbon dioxide gas
is produced by combustion of fossil fuels and biomass which
causes ozone layer depletion leading global warming and
climate change. About 3 billion people in the world rely on
4 Hesborn Rasugu Ayub et al.: A Review of Cooking Systems and Energy Efficiencies
solid fuels and kerosene for their cooking needs. Exposure to
household air pollution from burning these fuels accounts for
approximately 3 million premature deaths each year [13-15]
and different illnesses such as heart disease, childhood
pneumonia, chronic respiratory diseases, eye disease,
cardiovascular disease, cancers, burns and cataracts [16-17].
World Health Organisation puts annual premature deaths due
to respiratory complications at 7 million annually [18]. This
data emphasizes the need to substitute solid fuels with cleaner
options. There has thus been a decline in global use of solid
fuel and kerosene stoves for daily household energy needs as
depicted in Figure 1 above.
Generally, women do most of the cooking in homes and,
therefore are disproportionately affected by household air
pollution caused by the inefficient burning of solid biomass
cooking fuels [18, 19]. Despite several existing efficient and
clean cooking energy systems, households generally do not
prefer them [18-20]. The reason could be the high initial cost
of purchase and reluctance to drop their traditional cooking
methods. Charcoal and firewood will remain the main sources
of cooking fuel for the next three decades. Corresponding
energy policies are needed which set proper priorities and
improve the sustainability of the biomass energy sector [21].
The use of efficient cooking stoves can potentially save fuel
and reduce the health risks of smoke in the kitchen [22]. The
introduction of new biomass technologies such as Improved
Cooking Stoves (ICS), despite having a chimney for emptying
smoke to outside and avoiding indoor pollution, have a low
rate of adoption. The cooking stoves applied in the rural
households have been made very simple and their
disadvantage is that, they cannot remove biomass smoke
during cooking because of their poor design. This cause low
thermal efficiency as well as high levels of indoor air
[23]. The access to clean cooking fuels and technologies is
essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG), particularly in developing countries, to minimize
impacts on human health and environment [24].
A shift to clean fuel like LPG and other modern gas stoves
will bring significant health and environmental benefits, but
only with proper and consistent use. Gas cooking is an
important source of airborne fine particulate matter indoor
because exposure to cooking-derived fine particulate matter
will lead to adverse human health impacts on non-smokers,
especially in poorly-ventilated residential homes [25]. Sharma
and Balasubramanian recommend carbon-free combustion
methods of cooking such as solar, electric and hydrogen
cooking [26]. Solar cooking has reliability issues while
hydrogen cooking is a new concept. Electric cooking is very
clean and combustion free. The major challenges to electrical
cooking are the high cost of electrical power and low
electrification rates in some developing countries. Table 1
shows three categories of cleanliness for fuel as per their effect
in indoor pollution. Biomass and fossil fuels undergo
incomplete combustion, releasing particulate matter and
emissions that are dangerous to life [27]. Hydrogen undergoes
clean combustion to release water, while electricity is
combustion-less and clean source of cooking energy.
Table 1. Cooking Energy in Cleanness Aspect [25, 27].
Level of Clean Cooking
Forms Side Effects
Unclean Cooking Fuel wood, Cow dung, Coal, Peat,
Kerosene, Pellets
Most undergo incomplete combustion thus producing fine black carbon, carbon
monoxide, carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons that cause respiratory problems.
Clean cooking Improved cook stoves and charcoal, biogas,
Smokeless biomass gasifier and LPG burners
They undergo complete combustion but produce carbon dioxide and carbon aerosols
that cause respiratory problems.
Cleanest cooking Solar, Electrical and Hydrogen cooking. Hydrogen undergoes combustion but produces water, no carbon compounds. Other
sources don’t undergo combustion hence no gases emitted.
Efforts have been made to reduce indoor pollution by
replacing kerosene lanterns with solar lighting kits. This is a
good move but because lighting accounts for only 10% of
indoor pollution, the problem of pollution from cooking has
to be solved. WHO recommends cooking by combustion of
hydrogen or, if carbon sources are used, the flue gases must
be expelled from indoor air [27]. Figure 6 shows that people
in South Africa use electricity for cooking in about 80% of
urban homes and in 60% of rural areas [3]. This is due to high
grid connectivity in South Africa and high level of
electrification. This shows that electrical cooking is a reality
and can be achieved. Other countries in east, west, central
and southern African states use biomass for cooking in about
80% of rural and 60% of urban areas [28]. This is because
these countries have the lowest electrification rate, and the
number of rural population without electricity is high. The
major challenges in most of African countries are the low
electrification rates, poor grid connection and low power
generation.
Figure 6. Cooking Fuels in Africa [3].
The annual electrical energy consumption for cooking per
household in most developing countries is 3232 kWh which is
about 9 kWh per day [3]. With an efficiency improvement on
American Journal of Energy Engineering 2021; 9(1): 1-7 5
the vessel side this daily energy use can be supplied by using
solar PV [27] and this was supported by Watkins who reported
that small food quantities cook well for a family by
incorporating insulation to the cookers [29]. The authors
recommend that the cooker can be fitted with a gas or battery
back-up in non-grid areas to overcome major electrical
challenges of cost and availability. Sibiya also proved that
solar PV can support an induction cooker which can have a
battery back-up for night cooking [30].
4. Cooking System Energy Efficiencies
The efficiency of a cooking system is the ratio of energy
output at the cooking vessel to the energy from source at the
input side. When the efficiency is low, more energy input is
required for the same amount of food to be cooked,
compared to a more efficient cooking system. The lower the
efficiency the more energy needed. This situation leads to
over-exploitation of the available energy resources, and so
efficiency improvements are needed for sustainable energy
systems. Studies have shown that the efficiencies of
cooking systems such as traditional 3-stone fires and
improved cook stoves is about 10% and 23-40 respectively
[31]. Efficiency for gas cooking is 45-60% and of electrical
resistive cooking is about 75%. Efficiency of inductive
cooking systems was about 90% [32] and the consumption
efficiencies when boiling water were reported as 25%, 46%,
73%, 79%, 66% and 90% for fuel wood, kerosene, gas,
electric immersion coil, electric heating coil and electric
hot plate, respectively [33]. The electric hot plate with its
resistive element is 90% efficient provided that the vessel is
larger than the hot plate [32-33]. When they are equal in
size, the efficiency reaches about 75%. The induction
cooker has a constant efficiency of 90% as it incorporates
sensors to determine the size of the cooking vessel and it
adjusts the area that it magnetises. Induction cooking is thus
widely used for its high efficiency and safety [34].
Although induction cookers heat cook faster than gas
[32-35], the major challenges for their adoption in domestic
use are initial high cost and the need to replace cooking
vessels to ferromagnetic compliant ones.
5. Methods Applied to Improve Cooking
Efficiency
Energy can be lost from the cooking systems through
various ways. One of these ways is the heat loss to the
environment by both the cooking vessel and heat source,
through basic heat transfer mechanism of radiation, conversion
and conduction resulting to poor heat transmission. Another
way is the escape of heated steam in boiling, which will lower
the internal energy of the water or food being cooked. Any
improvement in cooking efficiency reduces the energy input,
thus decreasing demand on energy resources in the world,
hence reducing the carbon footprint [36]. The main challenge
associated with the present ordinary pressure cookers is the
steam release (whistling) hence heat loss to the environment. A
well-insulated pressure cooker, made with the ability of not
releasing steam during cooking will improve cooking efficiency
and as a result save energy.
5.1. Insulation
Insulating materials reduce heat transfer losses from the
vessel’s or oven’s side to the environment. Examples of
insulating materials used are air, vacuum in a thermos flask,
and rock wool. The fireless cooker is a good example of an
almost adiabatic state with almost zero heat loss to the
environment. Food can be brought to boiling point and then
put in very well-insulated fireless cooker, where it cooks
without any extra energy [29]. Solar cooking that utilizes
insulation achieves effective energy storage [37]. Employing
this insulation technology in an ordinary induction pressure
cooker vessel can result in significant energy savings.
5.2. Pressure Cooking
Pressure cooking entails cooking by food in a closed vessel
at high temperature with steam at 120°C and therefore a
pressure of 1.5 bars will forces steam into the cooking food,
hence cooking them faster [38]. There is energy loss from the
food when the pressure-valve opens for safety, which escapes
with energy [39]. From the review it is concluded that a new
approach is needed for the pressure cooker where the cooking
is done in a well-insulated pressure cooker powered by an
induction cooker without release of steam, with the safety
valve in its closed position.
5.3. Automating
The pressure cooker can be automated with the use of a
micro-controller which switches an electric cooker off just
before steam escapes through the safety valve. Pressure
sensors control a relay that switches the heating device on and
off, which conserves energy by preventing steam escape.
Svosve and Gudukeya have demonstrated an automated stove
which prevents the burning of food and powers off when it
senses that there is no food to cook [40]. Automation controls
energy input resulting in energy economy [41] in smart solar
cooking systems [42].
6. Conclusion
This study has successfully explored cooking systems for
their cleanliness, efficiencies and sustainability, which was the
main aim of the review paper. Electrical cooking was found to
be clean, with induction heating giving the fastest and most
efficient cooker. Electrical energy for cooking is clean with
ease of control and can support other domestic uses. It is
necessary to make it more available, affordable, and sourced
from renewable energy. The pressure cooker offers energy
savings by avoiding steam release, by switching power off and
on, using a micro-controller. In this study it proposes research
on the possibility of using a system that combines induction
cooking technology with an insulated pressure cooker which
6 Hesborn Rasugu Ayub et al.: A Review of Cooking Systems and Energy Efficiencies
is automated with a micro-controller for steam containment.
This will prevent most energy losses to the environment, cut
indoor pollution and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from
combustion. The use of less energy in cooking from electrical
renewable resources will help reduce demand for
unsustainable energy resources, such as forests residues. This
will have a double effect in mitigating climate change, which
is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance and
financial support provided by Egerton University during the
study of this work. They also recognize the support given by
the management and staff of the Energy engineering
Department at Kenyatta University, so that this this study
could be successfully completed.
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... Electrical cooking is the cleanest and the most preferred due to its zero emissions during cooking [12]. Among the two main electrical cooking methods, the induction method is the safest, cleanest, and fastest [13]. ...
... This poses a challenge and makes induction and electrical cooking an expensive method of cooking for rural households in developing countries [9]. Electrical cooking faces also the huddle of cooking unique traditional foods which some cultures and beliefs hinder its usage [12,17]. Induction cooking shows great prospects, hence the reason why this research experiment uses an induction cooker to heat the modified pressure cooker. ...
... This leaves a gap in understanding how the pressure cooker modifications that led to the creation of this EPC varied, and how the EPC using the induction cooker was powered. Research indicated that an ordinary pressure cooker with steam release had some losses and 33% efficiency, while one without steam release in an insulated box had very little energy losses and an efficiency of 85% [29] and open fire boiling has very high losses efficiency of 10% and 2-3 times more time than pressure cookers [12]. ...
... Fossil fuel pollution, primarily caused by cooking energy (i.e. charcoal, wood and other local fuels), causes chronic respiratory and eye diseases that are responsible for more than 1.5 million deaths per year in both mothers and children [6], [7]. This is because many women in developing countries like Africa continue to use kerosene, wood, animal manure and charcoal, which has led to numerous infant deaths due to the lack of clean fuels and cooking technologies. ...
... This shows that for the safety of mother and child, health practitioners recommend mothers give birth in health centers because services are guaranteed. Similar studies have shown that electricity consumption improves health (see [27], [12], [7], [50], [55], [56], consistent with our findings. Finally, our panel quantile findings support the importance of health expenditure and income in improving health outcomes in SSA [20]. ...
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Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries continue to suffer from energy poverty, with 35% and 19% of the average population, having access to electricity and clean fuels for cooking technologies, respectively. This study examines whether access to electricity and clean fuels for cooking and technology improves or worsens health outcomes (i.e. infant, child and maternal mortality) in 48 sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2020. We applied the panel quantile regression to estimate the impact of access to electricity, and clean fuels for cooking on health outcomes while controlling for health care expenditure and income, using lagged explanatory variables as instruments to eliminate endogeneity. We also applied the Kernel-based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS), a machine learning techniques for robustness of the results. Our results show that access to electricity reduce infant, child, and maternal mortality to all quantiles (i.e., the 25th, 50th, 6 0 t h , 75th and 90th). Similarly, clean fuels for cooking and technologies reduce maternal, infant and child mortality to most quantiles. This means that increased access to electricity, clean fuels for cooking and technologies will have a significant impact on reducing child, infant and maternal mortality in SSA. The findings also reveal that clean fuels for cooking and technologies increase both infant and under-five mortality in some quantiles. This is likely because cooking is also the leading cause of house fires, killing both infants and children under the age of five. Therefore, home cooking safety is also important to prevent unnecessary deaths of infants and children. Our study suggests short-and long-term energy policies to end energy poverty and ultimately improve population health in the SSA. 2
... Aemro et al. (2021) concluded that compared to traditional wood fuel cookstoves, electric cookstoves can lower energy utilisation by 95.7% and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions by 100%. This is supported by Ayub et al. (2021) and compiled in Table 2. The mean concentrations of indoor particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) exceed the relevant WHO air quality guidelines (AQG) in firewood-fuelled poorly ventilated kitchens in rural areas, causing higher exposure among women and children in Africa (Agbo et al. 2021). ...
... This can also free women from collecting biomass and the time saved to be used for economic activity. Thus, use of cleaner fuel will improve socio-economic status and health and decrease pollution levels in kitchens (Ayub et al. 2021). ...
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The article examines the effect of cooking food in kitchens on the health of women, as women and children are at a greater risk to indoor air pollution (IAP). It is important to study the cooking practices and prevalent behaviours among African women to understand the magnitude of the danger they face. The study suggests that a decline in the combustion of solid fuels and the use of clean energy can improve health among women and children, as well as sustainability goals. Proverbs 17:22 says, ‘A joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones’. Bible verse Numbers 35:33–34 indicates, ‘You shall not pollute the land in which you live’. The cooking fuel analysis framework among rural women in Africa will guide forward the governments’ sustainability policies for communities to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being of women and children. Contribution: The article conducts a comprehensive analysis of the literature on African cooking practices. A combined search string is made with keywords. Thematic content analysis is conducted with NVivo (produced by QSR International). The article covers two themes, namely improved well-being and suggesting policies to combat climate change and its impacts. Policies and schemes at grassroots levels and better economic conditions in African countries can help to overcome challenges and change health-damaging cooking behaviours. The new advanced sustainability analysis framework has the potential to influence modern kitchen fuels and increase the adoption of new technologies in African villages.
... The result suggested that the integration of solar PV up to 3 kW are capable to run the IC. On [14] the study of efficiency between induction cooking, natural gas and traditional cooking stoves was studied and the most efficient was found to be induction cooking. So, out of all induction cooking is the most motivating factor. ...
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Electricity is mostly used for cooking purposes in developed countries for a long time. Electricity could be used for cooking in Nepalese residential areas by transfering from Liquifty Petroleum Gas (LPG) to Induction Cooking(IC). Significant use of IC to the distribution feeder can increase the losses of the feeder, reducing the voltage profile at the buses, which in fact increases the current-carrying conductor. So, the grid impact analysis by IC loading to the distribution feeder is necessary. The study is carried out by performing technical analysis by load flow analysis on the feeder by calculating current, voltage profile, and power losses. The load flow has been performed for different loading of IC, and optimized Distributed Generation (DG) size is calculated. The bundling of the conductor is performed to reduce the loss at the feeder. This can be performed by checking the rated current of the conductor used (i.e., the branches where the rated current limit violates then that branches need bundling). The power loss at a different penetration level of IC is calculated. The IC power rating of 1500 Watts at each residential consumer when total 4924 number of the consumer is loading to Nagarkot feeder, active power loss increases to 1887.013 kW from 469.443 kW, and reactive power loss increases to 943.507 kVar from 234.722 kVar. The Minimum voltage is 0.664 Per unit (pu) at bus number 104 (Halede bus) which violates the voltage stability limit. The optimal penetration level of IC can be done up to 25% of total peak load by DG integration of 5965 kVA at 0.8 Power Factor (pf) lagging. This will give an active power loss of 530 kW. The next method, i.e., bundling of the conductor in 9 number of branches (at branch number 1, 2, 31, 34, 36, 38, 78, 79, and 86), should be done to improve the IC loading level. The maximum IC loading can be done up to 40% of the total peak load with a power loss of 477.7 kW by this bundling technique.
... Gas also has its challenges: gas leaks can be lethal, gas supply shortages are not unknown, and gas is becoming expensive. Gas also requires investment in equipment such as gas stoves and geysers (Ayub et al., 2021). ...
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Chapter
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Drawing on qualitative data from three contrasting sites in Benue state, Nigeria, this paper explores how and why cooking system use and priorities vary over time and space as well as the influence of household air pollution (HAP)-related health risks on fuel and stove choices. The findings indicated that cooking system choices were constrained by economic and access considerations linked to spatio-temporal variations in fuel cost, availability and service quality coupled with socio-cultural and utilitarian influences on cooking practices. Respondents demonstrated strong preferences for wood-fuelled traditional stoves although shifts in fuel use between wet and dry seasons were observed. Stove and fuel 'stacking' were widely practised to meet different cooking requirements and minimise risks from (often seasonal) variations in fuel prices, access and reliability of supply. 'Backsliding' from clean to solid biomass fuels was observed when families outgrew their improved cookstoves or considered biomass to be more affordable, reliable, accessible or safer. There was limited awareness or concern about HAP-related health risks and smoke was valued for preserving food and signalling food security. Attention is drawn to the value of integrating household risk perceptions into improved cookstove promotion and behaviour change initiatives to better understand constraints to the adoption and sustained use of clean cooking systems. The paper concludes by highlighting the benefits of monitoring household cooking system stacks (rather than the 'main' fuel/stove used) for analysing how their components vary over space and time and providing insights into the effectiveness of measures taken to reduce HAP exposure
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Three billion people (>40% of the world's population) lack access to clean cooking solutions, including 2.5 billion people that still rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking. In urban contexts, the rate of access to clean cooking solutions is normally higher than in rural contexts due to greater availability of these solutions. The relevance of providing access to clean cooking solutions (SDG 7) is linked to several associated co-benefits that contribute to a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this paper shows a comprehensive analysis of multiple co-benefits of a clean cooking solution intervention. Health (SDG 3), gender (SDG 5) and climate change (SDG 13) co-benefits were analysed and compared through a cost-benefit analysis using a comprehensive approach in a case study in the Casamance Natural Subregion, located in Western Africa. The most important co-benefits were related to gender (SDG 5), representing 60-97% of the total economic benefits. Climate change co-benefits (SDG 13) were also relevant, representing 3-40% of the total economic benefits. Health co-benefits (SDG 3) were very limited for this case study, representing <1% of the total economic benefits. Considering these results, implications for urban settings were discussed in the light of the "making the available clean" or "making the clean available" strategies.