Energy-efficient cookstoves in Eritrea
Every £1 spent on this project has been verified to create at least £133 in environmental and social value. Energy-efficient cookstoves contribute to all of these UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Project Summary
We are providing clean-energy cookstoves in Eritrea.
We are empowering women to build, install, and maintain the cookstoves.
Our energy efficient cookstoves are 70% more fuel efficient and reduce pollution by up to 95%. This results in saving 24,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, tens of thousands of trees, and countless lives.
A decorated cookstove in the Anseba region, Eritrea
Project details
Local women are trained on how to make the cookstoves themselves, ensuring long-term impact
Eritrea is a small country in north-eastern Africa, in which only 16% of the population have access to clean fuels for cooking. Traditional cookstoves and practices contribute 3.5% of the total annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Many people in Eritrea use ‘solid fuels’, such as wood, charcoal, crop waste, and dung for cooking. These practices are not only responsible for deaths and ill-health from indoor air pollution, they are also incredibly damaging to the environment.
In the rural areas of Eritrea, more than 90% of energy for cooking is derived from burning wood and charcoal. This heavy dependence on wood fuel has contributed to Eritrea losing 55% of its forest cover since 2000. Once heavily forested, now forest cover for the whole of Eritrea is less than 0.1%.
Our clean-energy cookstoves reduce the demand for wood by 71%.
By empowering local women to build, install, and maintain over 8000 mogogo style cookstoves across Eritrea we significantly reduce the need for wood-based fuels and reduce carbon emissions by 600 tonnes per year. Each stove saves at least 3 tonnes of CO2 per year, achieving total annual emissions reductions of 24,000 tonnes, equivalent to planting 397,000 trees.
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Saves over 17,000 tonnes of wood per year
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Improves air quality and reduces pollution by 95%
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Empowers women. 2,331 women trained so far
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Reduces carbon emissions by 600 tonnes per year
Benefits to local community
Our cookstoves not only save the environment, they benefit the local people too.
The pollution from traditional cookstoves accounts for 4.3 million premature deaths worldwide. Following the installation of our clean-energy cookstoves, 92% of users report better health conditions and air quality due to the reduced pollution.
This has led to the local people referring to the cookstoves as “Adhenet stove”, which means “the saviour stove” in the local Tigrinya language, as it has made such a significant impact on improving the health of the people and their families.
Currently, the women and children are forced to spend much of their time and money on getting firewood. By empowering local women to build, install, and maintain these clean-energy cookstoves we reduce their need for firewood by 71%. This allows women and children more time to spend participating in income-generating activities and to study.
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92% of stove users report better health conditions and air quality
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2,331 women trained
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16,878 beneficiaries
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The project saved 17,300 tons of firewood equalling 540 ha of forest area.
The new cookstoves provide better health conditions and air quality
Meet Takea and her family
Tekea and her family in the village of Adi Tekelezan © co2balance
Tekea was like many women and children in Eritrea - forced to gather sticks three or four times a week and carry them many miles back to her home simply to cook and feed her family.
The traditional stove that is commonly used in Eritrea requires a lot of wood and also produces a lot of smoke. This smoke causes eye problems and headaches due to the dangerous fumes.
Takea’s most prized possession solves these problems - her self-built clean-energy cookstove.
Her cookstove reduces her need for firewood by 71% and reduces pollution by 95%. This helps protect the local environment and saves countless lives. Takea has lovingly decorated her cookstove with handpainted flowers and leaves.
Tekea is now a trainer and works with our team to bring the programme to her wider community. She helps more women to safeguard their family’s health and future by installing the clean-energy cookstoves that the ZeroSmart community enables.
Our clean-energy cookstoves have saved Takea’s life and have helped to secure a prosperous future for her family and her country.
Project site location
Eritrean woman making a cookstove
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