Clean Cooking
EcoLinks is contributing to sustainable development in Ghana
through introducing and distributing improved cooking stoves
Project Overview
This project recognizes the critical role clean cooking plays in improving health, reducing environmental degradation, empowering women, and promoting sustainable development. By providing access to clean cooking technologies and raising awareness, we aim to transform the lives of those who rely on traditional (and often harmful) cooking methods.
Traditional cooking methods, such as open fires and inefficient stoves, often produce high levels of indoor air pollution due to the incomplete combustion of solid fuels like wood, crop waste, or coal. This results in the release of harmful pollutants, including fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds. Prolonged exposure to these pollutants can lead to severe respiratory diseases, particularly among women and children who spend a significant amount of time near cooking areas.
We are distributing highly subsidized, improved cooking pots to communities who need them the most. Our clean cooking pots require 30% less fuel to run, produce little/no smoke and 60% less emissions.
Our Impact
Check out our video to see how our project is making an impact:
Other Benefits of Our Clean Cooking Project:
- Reduces the environmental impact of cooking by promoting cleaner and more efficient cooking technologies. This includes reducing deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental consequences of traditional cooking methods.
- Increases the time women have for studying and pursuing other activities by reducing the time they need to spend gathering cooking fuels.
- Can contribute to significant economic savings for households by reducing the need for purchasing fuel and the health costs associated with exposure to indoor air pollution.
- Promotes local industrial development through local production of stoves
- Provides long-term benefits thanks to the implementation of community development programs
The Need for Clean Cooking
Health
The use of biomass fuels (wood, coal and crops) for cooking releases smoke and other fumes into the air which contributes to indoor air pollution. Cooking with biomass fuels can cause a variety of health problems including chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, and ultimately premature death.
Environment
The burning of biomass fuels releases CO2 and other harmful gasses into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change. Burning biomass such as wood also degrades forests and can also lead to biodiversity loss.
Gender Equality
Women and girls spend a disproportionate amount of time compared to their male counterparts cooking over traditional stoves and thus are at a greater risk of developing health problems. The time that they might otherwise use for education or earning money is consumed by fuel collection and cooking.
The Status of Clean Cooking in Ghana
In 2021, it was estimated by the Clean Cooking Alliance that only 30.3% of Ghana’s population had access to clean cooking supplies, which includes both clean fuels and clean cooking stoves.
It was further investigated, and according to data only 12.2% of the rural population had access to it, compared with 45.5% of the urban population.
As these figures suggest, 70% of the Ghanaian population do not have access to clean cooking, leaving them to rely on unsustainable and unhealthy methods of cooking.
EcoLinks' clean cooking project will make a significant positive impact on the communities it serves, creating a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for all.
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Future Projects:
Bio-ethanol Clean Cooking Stoves - Project Coming Soon!
Bio-ethanol is produced through the fermentation of different starchy crops such as sugarcane, corn, or cassava and therefore can be produced locally (for example, cassava grows well in Sub-Saharan Africa). It is biodegradable, less toxic and its burning produces fewer particulates than other fuels making it healthier for both people and the planet. EcoLinks is currently exploring the potential of bio-ethanol as a fuel source.
Watch this page for project developments!
