Modelling the Costs and Benefits of Modern Energy Cooking Services—Methods and Case Studies

Matthew Leach, Chris Mullen, Jacquetta Lee, Bartosz Soltowski, Neal Wade, Stuart Galloway, William Coley, Shafiqa Keddar, Nigel Scott and Simon Batchelor
Additional contact information
Matthew Leach: Gamos Ltd., 231 Kings Rd, Reading RG1 4LS, UK
Chris Mullen: School of Engineering, Merz Court, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Jacquetta Lee: Gamos Ltd., 231 Kings Rd, Reading RG1 4LS, UK
Bartosz Soltowski: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Institute for Energy and Environment, Royal College Building, University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK
Neal Wade: School of Engineering, Merz Court, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Stuart Galloway: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Institute for Energy and Environment, Royal College Building, University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK
William Coley: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Institute for Energy and Environment, Royal College Building, University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK
Shafiqa Keddar: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Institute for Energy and Environment, Royal College Building, University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK
Nigel Scott: Gamos Ltd., 231 Kings Rd, Reading RG1 4LS, UK
Simon Batchelor: Gamos Ltd., 231 Kings Rd, Reading RG1 4LS, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-28

Abstract: Globally, 2.8 billion people still cook with biomass, resulting in health, environmental, and social challenges; electric cooking is a key option for a transition to modern energy cooking services. However, electric cooking is assumed to be too expensive, grids can be unreliable and the connection capacity of mini-grids and solar home systems is widely assumed to be insufficient. Developments in higher performance and lower cost batteries and solar photovoltaics can help, but they raise questions of affordability and environmental impacts. The range of issues is wide, and existing studies do not capture them coherently. A new suite of models is outlined that represents the technical, economic, human, and environmental benefits and impacts of delivering electric cooking services, with a life-cycle perspective. This paper represents the first time this diverse range of approaches has been brought together. The paper illustrates their use through combined application to case studies for transitions of households from traditional fuels to electric cooking: for urban grid-connected households in Zambia; for mini-grid connected households in Tanzania; and for off-grid households in Kenya. The results show that electric cooking can be cost-effective, and they demonstrate overall reductions in human and ecological impacts but point out potential impact ‘hotspots’. The network analysis shows that electric cooking can be accommodated to a significant extent on existing grids, due partly to diversity effects in the nature and timing of cooking practices.

Keywords: clean cooking; energy access; life cycle assessment; power systems; mini-grid (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3371/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3371/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:12:p:3371-:d:571032

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().