eCook - a transformational household solar battery-electric cooker for poverty alleviation

The project proposes examining in greater detail the feasibility of using solar electric cooking (eCook) in Africa.

The proposition is that if the current downward trends in solar photovoltaic technology costs and in energy

storage costs (specifically lithium iron phosphate batteries) continue, then by 2020 a system sized for cooking

would have a lifetime monthly cost comparable to the monthly spend on biomass (mainly charcoal) made by a

sizeable proportion of biomass users. Biomass based cooking is a root cause of acute respiratory infections

which leads to millions of deaths per year. It is also a contributor to climate change emissions, and a cause of

local deforestation with wider impacts. Increases in urban populations are leading to increases in charcoal

prices; globally some 300 million households currently spend more than $10 a month on biomass fuel.

Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for 'access to affordable, reliable, sustainable modern energy for all' by

2030. The strategic use of solar photovoltaics and batteries for cooking would be a gateway enabling

households to convert their current biomass expenditure into decentralised electrical infrastructure.