Kiambu County Government, in partnership with Energy Services Limited(EKI), plans to distribute better energy saving stoves to help reduce deforestation
The pilot phase of the project is in Kiambu, Kajiado and will distribute approximately 184 energy-saving cook stoves in its pilot phase and about 200,000 stoves during the main phase.
EKI Energy Services Limited, also known by EnKing International, is an Indian firm that focuses primarily on climate change, carbon offsets and sustainable solutions. It launched the zero-investment project aimed at traditional three-stone cooking.
Mr. Rajiv Singh EKI Regional Manager stated that the Green Cooking initiative was launched in 2018 to provide better cook stoves (ICS) at no cost to economically disadvantaged households. This will empower their kitchens with a cleaner and more efficient cooking solution.
“The stoves help to reduce deforestation because they consume 50% less firewood, Furthermore, the stoves will reduce household pollution, thereby improving household health,” said Sharma
He added that the improved stoves help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases with the reduction in the use of carbon-intensive fuel – firewood
“Every household using an improved cooker stove reduces their smoke emissions by up to 30% to 40% reducing the health risk of every member in the household especially that of the person cooking food” he added
Jennifer Musyoki, chief officer of water and natural resources in Kiambu, who also attended the training for trainers to distribute pilot-phase stoves in the County, praised this project and said it will improve the economic well being of beneficiaries. This will allow them to focus more on income generation and not on fetching firewood.
“With this Jiko we will not need to walk endless kilometers every day just to bring back a pile of wood to make a family meal” she said
AKI International estimates that 3 billion people worldwide still use polluting biomass fuels in their daily cooking. There are more than 4 million deaths each year due to lung disease caused by smoke emissions, with 12% being infants.
By Grace Naishoo
Source: kenyanews