Factors influencing the adoption of biochar-producing gasifier cookstoves by households in rural Kenya

Use of Biochar-Producing Gasifier Cookstove Improves Energy Use Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality in Rural Households

“…From the users perceptive, the gasifier produced less smoke, saved fuel and produced char as a by-product [17,23]. This study quantified these benefits as discussed earlier.…”

“…Fifty households had been previously trained and issued with a gasifier for free in the Biochar-Energy project 2016-2018. Follow-up visits were done after every three weeks and an interview conducted after two-three months of the gasifier use to assess how it was being used [22,23]. The objective, activities, and involvement in the participatory cooking experiment were first explained to the 50 households.…”

“…Cooking with the gasifier has additional activities which include chopping wood into small pieces, arranging fuel in the canister, harvesting and cooling char, reloading and changing over when fuel chars before the food get ready. These challenges were identified by the cooks as factors that might affect the adoption of the new stove [23]. Although it only happened in 24% of the households, changeover significantly lengthened the time spent on the cooking process an issue that was identified as a factor that might influence the adoption of the new stove [23].…”

“…These challenges were identified by the cooks as factors that might affect the adoption of the new stove [23]. Although it only happened in 24% of the households, changeover significantly lengthened the time spent on the cooking process an issue that was identified as a factor that might influence the adoption of the new stove [23]. Further need for change over affect choice of the type of food cooked with the gasifier households preferring those that take a shorter time to get ready.…”

“…From the 98% of the households who harvested char from the gasifier, 23% and 4% of the households used it to cook and iron their clothes respectively [23]. The char produced from the gasifier was also used as biochar by being applied to the maize plots by households at Kwale.…”