Adoption of cleaner cookstoves: Barriers and way forward

Globally 2.6 billion people, representing around 38% of the total population, depend on solid biomass fuels to meet their basic energy needs for cooking. While rural communities are shifting to modern fuels such as LPG and electrical energy for cooking, the International Energy Agency estimates that, in the absence of new policies, the number of people relying on solid biomass will increase to over 2.7 billion by the year 2030 because of population growth, calling for a higher adoption rate of improved biomass cookstoves. This article highlights the key barriers to adoption of improved cookstoves (ICS), sharing experiences from the field in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. More emphasis on technical design of stoves to achieve higher thermal efficiency and lack of sufficient attention to consumer perspectives such as user-friendliness, purchasing capacity, income variability of rural households as well as to local capacity development of market players and stove builders create the dissemination challenge. The article suggests that stronger stakeholder partnerships, knowledge sharing, and satisfaction of user requirements through appropriate designs and diversified financing options will be required for a rapid growth of supply and demand of ICS.