About the challenge on energy for cooking
Wood and charcoal are the main energy sources for cooking and frying in both rural and urban parts of the African living environment and there are currently strong motivations for a transition towards "Clean Cooking" solutions.
The aim of our work is that new cooking solutions should lead to- Less health risks in the kitchen, from open fire cooking methods
- Less pressure on the natural environment, deforestation is a severe challenge in many areas
- Sustainable energy solutions. This would also eliminate LPG solutions for cooking
Two types of strategies can be considered in order to find alternatives for wood-fuels for cooking:
Strategy 1: Fuel-and-CookerA common strategy for clean cooking is to regard a cooking system to consist of a fuel and a cooker. Improved systems then often focus on:
- what kind of fuels can substitute wood-fuel and
- how to optimize cookers regarding fuel efficiency and a healthy cooking environments.
Our work has been on the introduction of a heat storage, which then gives more flexibility on the fuel side; several fuels can be combined and include intermittent energy sources as well. New cookers, with appropriate heat transfer methods, need to be developed.
The Challenge to develop acceptable solutionsThe development of solar heat storage solutions for cooking includes both technical and socio-economical aspects. We have specified some requirements we believe the systems should fulfill, in order to be accepted by the users. To develop simple solutions often comes at a cost of less energy efficiency.