ESMAP Webinar: Scaling Up Solar Cooking As An Emissions-Free Solution: Challenges and Opportunities
Globally, 2.8 billion people still cook still cook with traditional polluting fuels and technologies, costing the world more than US$2.4 trillion each year, driven by adverse impacts on health ($1.4 trillion), climate ($0.2 trillion), and women ($0.8 trillion from lost productivity). Moreover, 4 billion people do not have access to efficient, clean, convenient, safe, affordable, and reliable methods of cooking (ESMAP, 2020). Lack of progress toward universal access to clean cooking is jeopardizing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) and progress across several related SDGs.
Solar cooking is a proven thermal process that uses appropriate technology to convert incoming sunlight (light energy) directly to heat (thermal energy) for cooking. Solar cooking is a clean cooking solution that is carbon-free and can be implemented relatively quickly compared with other technologies due to its off-grid nature. However, the current adoption of solar cookers as primary cooking equipment is still very limited with most countries report less than 0.05 percent of the population using them.
This webinar presented solar cooking applications at the household, institutional, and the displacement settings and brought together perspectives from various stakeholders to discuss types of interventions, lessons learned from past programs, and challenges and opportunities of scaling up solar cooking as a clean cooking solution.
CHAIR | Gabriela Elizondo Azuela, Program Manager, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), World Bank
MODERATOR | Yabei Zhang, Senior Energy Specialist, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), World Bank
PRESENTERS
- Caitlyn Hughes, Executive Director, Solar Cookers International (SCI) | Presentation
- Deepak Gadhia, Solar Cookers International Global Advisor | Presentation
- Bruce Elliott-Litchfield, Founder, Sun Buckets | Presentation
- Ahava Zarembski, CEO, Sun Buckets
DISCUSSANTS
- Paul Mbuthi, Deputy Director of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Energy, Kenya
- Dana Rysankova, Senior Energy Specialist, Energy & Extractives Global Practice, World Bank
- Kenta Usui, Senior Energy Specialist, Energy & Extractives Global Practice, World Bank
- Steven Bihinda, Renewable Energy Senior Engineer, Rwanda Ministry of Infrastructure
Contact: Yabei Zhang, Clean Cooking Fund Lead
