Households in the US are being nudged to switch to greener electric appliances with tax credits and rebates. In East Africa, they are being enticed with pay-as-you-go financing and long-term energy cost savings. Nairobi-based cookstove maker BURN Manufacturing makes a portable household induction unit to help households with reasonably reliable electricity connections upgrade from charcoal, firewood and other fuel-powered cookstoves.
The smart induction stoves allow users to pay over time with online and mobile payments and track their electricity usage through a smartphone app. A $15 million loan from the European Investment Bank will support manufacturing and distribution of the electric stoves. BURN’s goal is to reach one million East African households.
Climate + gender + health
Nearly 60% of Africa’s domestic energy needs still depend on charcoal and firewood. It’s a major cause of deforestation and health problems on the continent. The health impacts, due to smoke inhalation, disproportionately affect women and children.
BURN says its stoves have been adopted by thousands of grid-connected households in Kenya and Tanzania that previously cooked with charcoal. “This investment by EIB will help us transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, allowing them to cook on grids that are 80% to 95% powered by renewable energy,” said BURN founder Peter Scott.
Cleaner, cheaper cooking
BURN’s cooking products also include ethanol, wood, briquette and LPG-fueled models to suit households with different levels of access to a reliable energy grid.
A €10 million ($10.8 million) results-based financing investment by the Nordic Environment Finance Corp. last year supported BURN’s introduction of connected cooking devices that allow electric cooker customers to make weekly payments for their appliances. BURN says low-income urban households can save as much as 50% a week by switching from charcoal.