Energy Efficiency Day 2021: Benefits of efficient cooking stoves 

SIR: Energy Efficiency Day 2021 (#EED2021), commemorated on the first Wednesday in November, is a collaborative effort of dozens of energy efficiency advocacy groups around the world to recognize and celebrate the multiple benefits of energy efficiency.

As we share tips, tools and stories that promote the multiple benefits of energy efficiency, from lower costs to healthier homes, the story of Mama Audu readily comes to mind. Mama Audu is a 32-year-old mother of five who resides in Kaduna, North-Western Nigeria. She grew up cooking on a three-stone inefficient stove. Upon getting married, she continued the practice, which resulted in incessant cough and teary eyes.

One day, she came across a flier during a roadshow sensitization exercise organized by Methano-Green Clean Energy, a USADF-supported renewable energy company in Abuja. After a public demonstration of ‘LAAFIA Stove (generic name of Methano-Green Stove), she purchased one. Three months later, her story has changed: “LAAFIA Stove gives me joy anytime I use it to cook. It is non-smoky, and the cough and watery eyes caused by smoke are now a thing of the past,” enthused Mama Audu. However, the story of ensuring energy efficiency began earlier than that.

With clean energy solutions like efficient cooking stoves – according to Adamu Garba, Executive Director of DDI – there is a significant social, health and economic benefit for the family. “Cooking time is reduced by at least 50 per cent, fuel efficiency is increased by at least 30 per cent; and there’s a significant reduction in harmful emissions and hence, improved health,” noted Garba.

As we commemorate #EED2021, Mama Audu and 11,000+ others who have been served by this intervention, are clear examples that indeed energy efficiency results in significant benefits for the family – it saves money, cuts pollution, reduces energy waste, and creates jobs.
Lucky Ihanza, a Development Communications Specialist, wrote from Abuja.