Open source technology for improved cookstoves

Experts in renewable energy sector has ended a six-day workshop in Accra to design “open source improved cook stoves technologies” for the agro-processing industry in Ghana.

It was aimed at bridging the gap between sustainable cookstoves production and its improved technologies to replace the traditional cookstove energy used in the industry.

This would help reduce deforestation and the negative health impact, as well as poverty reduction among women in agro-processing energy sources.

The workshop forms part of the Netherlands Development Organisation’s (SNV’s) renewable energy sector goals to increase access to the use of improved institutional cookstoves for productive use.

Mr Alex Kwame Donyinah, the Associate Adviser and Project Manager for the Energy, Poverty and Gender of the Agro-Processing Project of the SNV, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the workshop was to join forces to be able to supply better products on a commercial and sustainable basis.

He said the advantage of the open source improved cookstove was an effort being directed towards a limited number of designs to be constructed by manufacturers.

“This will reduce cost; improve quality and open up the possibility to attract carbon financing for the open source improved cookstoves.”

Mr Donyinah said the SNV was implementing projects that sought to disseminate over 1,300 improved cookstoves for fish smoking, gari processing, shea butter, rice parboiling and pito brewing in Ghana.

“These improved cookstoves are developed, promoted and constructed by a number of manufactures, who each need to invest in technology development and marketing of their products on a commercial and sustainable basis,” he said.

Mr Emmanuel Aziebor, Associate Adviser and Facilitator, told the GNA that, the workshop provided a rich-mix of international consultants and experts from academia, as well as, cookstove standards and testing experts.

He said they were tasked to contribute knowledge to the development of the open source cookstove.

They were also asked to critically analyse the technology gaps within the existing cookstoves in the market, identify improvements required and best practices and design open source improved institutional cookstoves for productive use.

Mr Aziebor said manuals would be prepared to train manufacturers to produce more of the improved cookstoves and to also help disseminate information through market-based solutions for agro-processors to adopt.

Mrs Philomena Gordor, a fish smoker from Keta, in the Volta Region and a participant in an interview, expressed gratitude to SNV for organising the workshop to assist improve the technology in fish smoking.

She said making improved cookstoves available to agro-processor would help improve the health of women in the industry, adding that; “we have really suffered from excessive smokes from the use of traditional stoves, which had affected our health negatively.”