2 billion people have access to electricity but still cook with biomass. Load shedding, weak grids, affordability of electricity, accessibility of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), tradition, perceptions, and a lack of suitable cooking appliances all act as barriers to scaling up the use of electricity or gas for cooking – clean cooking.

We already know that increasing access through renewable energy generation is becoming more affordable and opening new windows of opportunity. New business models and smart monitoring are improving the reliability of LPG distribution, appliances can be made more energy efficient but still cook favourite foods so they taste right, and cooking with electricity is becoming increasingly affordable with issues of reliability and sustainability being overcome. The MECS programme is led by the Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience Centre (STEER Centre), within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University. It is funded through UKAid as a key Ayrton challenge and guided by the direction of the Ayrton framework.