Problem Definition

Research shows that open fire stoves cause household air pollution (HAP) that claims the lives of about 2 million people annually from toxic gases and smoke. In Ghana, statistics indicate that 28,000 women die annually through smoke inhalation from inefficient cooking devices, costing the nation approximately USD$103,000,000 in terms of medical bills and negative socio-economic effect. HAP causes significant health problems for those people who rely on traditional biomass fuels for their cooking and heating needs, and then suffer from cancer, pneumonia, heart, and lung diseases. In addition to these illnesses resulting from HAP, large scale cooking using rudimentary cookstoves contributes to deforestation by using approximately 10,000 kg of fuelwood per annum, and diminishes local air quality through toxic smoke emissions. Research has proved that the use of institutional cookstove can reduce the fuelwood by approximately 2500kg (75%) as well as cutting down pollution by 90%.

Over the last 30 years, awareness of the environmental and social costs of using traditional fuels and stoves and knowledge about how to reduce emissions from these stoves has grown. There are also some interventions such as the Global Alliance, launched in 2010 by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, which seeks to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households globally by 2020. Indeed, the key message of Global Alliance is that ?Cooking shouldn't kill?. Hence its desire to ensure that it builds ?bridges between the public and private sectors to make the basic but essential act of cooking safe and healthy worldwide?. Furthermore, the knowledge required to design cleaner burning stoves exists in centers of excellence in several locations like Applied Industrial ceramic-Rural Energy & Enterprise development (AIC-REED) around the world.

However, in spite of the global awareness of clean cookstoves as an ideal alternative to open fire stoves, most of the second cycle educational institutions in Ghana continue to use open fire stoves for cooking. Hence, the most terrifyingly huge indoor air pollution in the institutions? kitchen, with its health implications cannot be underestimated. Also, the improved stoves currently available to poorer customers in rural areas, especially those in fish smoking communities, do not always represent best practice or an understanding of design based on modern engineering and some scientific theories. Lack of knowledge on clean cooking and fuels coupled with inefficient traditional cooking devices have contributed immensely to the above mentioned environmental and health problems. Causes of this lack of knowledge are low and no practical promotion and media education of efficient cookstoves and the frequent failure of previous projects.

1.3.2 Overall Project Goal and Objective
Project Goal

To promote low carbon energy technologies that reduce health related diseases associated with smoke inhalation to alleviate poor health of women involved thermal processing in agro-business institutions and communities.
Project Purpose
The purpose of this project is to demonstrate, deploy, and transfer low-carbon energy technology through the promotion of institutional and commercial clean cook stoves in selected areas of the coastal and northern savannah of Ghana.
The project aims at reducing the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere from approximately 2,740 (10,000kg of fuelwood /year) tonnes to 685 (2,500kg fuelwood /year) tonnes by implementing the low carbon technologies in 20 different locations
Specifically, the project will:

? Train local artisans to install institutional clean cook stoves in school kitchens and improved fish smoking stoves for fishing communities.
? Support the beneficiary institutions and communities to establish woodlots of fast growing species as carbon sink
? Create public awareness of improved Institutional cookstove and fish smokers as alternative to open fire stove promoted.

1.3.3 Expected Outputs

Output 1: 10 institutional clean cook stoves and 10 improved fish smoking stoves constructed, maintained, and used in the kitchens of ten selected secondary schools and four fishing communities respectively.
Output 2: 5 ha of woodlots established in 10 institutions and four communities within the project areas.
Output 3: Public awareness of improved institutional cook stove and fish smokers as alternative to open fire stove.