The New York Times ran a fascinating article last week about the multifaceted impacts of third world stove soot: “Third World Stove Soot is Target in Climate Fight.” Author Elisabeth Rosenthal deftly explores the intersection of poverty, health consequences and the environment through the lens poor customers’ cooking habits.
The problem of inefficient, smoky stoves is one Acumen Fund is trying to develop a solution for – but it’s been elusive. Low-income people cook with wood that, while laborious to find, is still relatively plentiful and free. (An exception here is Haiti, which has been ravished by deforestation caused by villagers and city-dwellers denuding the countryside in search of wood.) Those interested in a new approach might want to check out MIT MacArthur Fellow Amy Smith, who has been working on the charcoal issue.
Yes, the stoves are a problem – but this is not simply a technological issue. There are lots of stove technologies – rocket stoves, solar cookers and the like – out there that can do the job better and use cleaner fuels, but the capital costs are higher and the distribution models are complex. Incentives from the carbon markets may be part of the solution, but they have not provided enough benefit to drive the adoption of clean cooking products on their own. Even more, getting certified through the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol is a long and complicated process, a real barrier for start-ups interested in attacking the stove problem.
We are committed to finding a solution here, and welcome any suggestions or thoughts as we move forward. These stoves, along with the lack of lighting, are really the two biggest energy issues faced by the poor today.