A joint UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Kenya’s five year biomass project to assist the country adopt clean energy solutions will be ready in June, a UN official said on Thursday.
UNIDO Kenya National Expert on Renewable Energy Paul Njuguna told Xinhua that the project will assist Kenya move from heavy reliance on fuel wood and agricultural residue for cooking.
“The UNIDO and Kenya government project which aims to move the country away from traditional wood stoves should be in place by June this year,” Njuguna said on the sidelines of the East African Strategic and Planning Workshop for Clean Cook Stoves.
The workshop brought together over 100 stakeholders from east Africa from government, private and the donor community in order to increase the uptake of clean energy efficient cook stoves.
He said that biomass is the dominant form of cooking energy with over 68 percent of the population is using it.
“The five year strategy hopes to bring an end the current uncoordinated efforts in the country aimed at scaling up adoption of clean energy especially by the poor both in rural and urban areas,” the UNIDO official said.
He added that the project will contain strategies that will enable Kenyans adopt clean cooking technologies within the five year period.
Njuguna said that the project will also develop ways to produce biomass such as charcoal for use in cooking in a sustainable and efficient way.
“Current methods of production of charcoal have efficiencies of around ten percent but at the end of the program we hope to achieve at least 40 percent efficiency,” he added.
“We hope to identify farmers who will grow trees commercially which will be the source of sustainable biomass.”
Njuguna said that the trees will then be bought by processors who will use efficient kilns which have a conversion rate of above 40 percent up from the current 10 percent.
According to the ministry of energy, up to 95 percent of the energy consumed in rural areas is in the form of fuel wood, agricultural residue and animal waste.
“Low efficiency devices contribute to deforestation and climate change,” he said. As a result, he noted, that the price of charcoal has doubled in the past year due to dwindling forest resources.
“In the first two years, the project will be piloted in five counties and thereafter rolled out to the rest of the country,” he said.
German Development Cooperation (GIZ) component leader Anna Ingwe said that her organization has assisted over 1.3 million households to replace the traditional stoves with improved cooking stoves.
“As a result, the country has saved 1.4 million tons of trees annually as a result of the new technology,” Ingwe said.
She added that Kenya has a scalability potential based on the number of people who currently cook using inefficient stoves.
“All stakeholders must work to overcome the market barriers that currently impede the manufacture and adoption of clean cook stoves especially among the low income segment of the population,” the GIZ official said.
She said the fact that most of the firewood is collected by rural households for free has reduced incentives for the adoption of improved cook stoves.
“However, the time saved in the collection of firewood especially by women makes it an ideal choice for cooking,” he said.
Global Alliance for Clean Stoves Executive Director Radha Muthaiah said that many households in Kenya still continue to use wood and charcoal to cook their meals on open fires.
“If this way of cooking is used in poorly ventilated homes, it can result in cataracts, pneumonia or even death,” Muthaiah said.
According to the World Health Organization smoke from dirty stoves causes almost two million deaths globally every year.
The alliance is advocating for 100 million households especially those in developing countries to adopt clean and efficient cook stoves and fuels by 2020.
“So far approximately 2 million households have switched to efficient cooks stoves,” she said. The director said that governments need to prioritize clean cooking solutions as a tangible and practical household energy solution.
“Efforts should be directed to address the lack of knowledge among the general population as well as the environmental and health benefits,” she said.
“Regional governments should work together to help develop internationally recognized standards that clearly define what is a clean and efficient cook stove,” she said.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario