Envirofit introduces improved charcoal cook stove to Ghanaian market
Envirofit, an American-based energy efficiency corporation, on Monday introduced Charcoal Cook stove in the Ghanaian market with the aim of reducing pollution and energy dependency while improving environmental, economic and health benefits for consumers.
The cook stove, nicknamed CH2200 Envirofit Cook stove, is said to have some advantages over its traditional charcoal-stove counterparts and the benefits include, improvement in combustion resulting in efficiency of up to 40 per cent, a reduction in biomass fuel consumption by 60 per cent, and a decrease in smoke and toxic emissions by 80 per cent.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the first session of a consultation workshop jointly organized by the Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (CEESD) and Envirofit in Accra, Mr Edward Antwi, Assistant Director of the Centre said the stove had ultra-low carbon monoxide and particulate emissions that reduced carbon monoxide levels up to 30 per cent.
He said the stove had passed the World Health Organisation’s standard for 60 minute carbon monoxide exposure limits, adding it had a regulator that made it easy to control combustion.
Mr Antwi said efforts were far advance to use Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to distribute 20,000 efficient, clean burning and durable CH2200 stoves at an affordable price in two selected districts in the Ashanti Region.
He said CDM was one of the instruments defined in the Kyoto Protocol (KP) intended to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was to prevent dangerous climate change and to assist industrialized countries in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments.
Mr Antwi said the KP bonded developed countries to promote investment in developing countries in projects that reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
“By taking advantage of the CDM, a developing country could gain benefits such as transfer of technology and know-how, promotion of foreign direct investment in areas that would not have received support without the CDM, creation of job opportunities and new markets,” he said.
Mr Antwi expressed the hope that the roll out would improve local forest cover, reduce indoor air pollution, save expenditure on charcoal, create job opportunities for local entrepreneurs, especially the youth, as well as enable relatively poor people to own their stoves through micro financing.
He said after a successful roll out of the cook-stove, the management of Envirofit would launch the product in Accra and other regional capitals.
Mr Antwi said CEESD, an NGO, was devoted to technologies that offered engineering solutions to global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation and pollution in local communities.
He said the organisation promoted interventions that led to sustainable development of local communities through capacity building, research and development, volunteerism, and projects on energy, agriculture and environment.
Source: GNA