- Date
- 23rd August 2022
- Categories
- General
By Clement Njobvu (CEEEZ).
From 27th July to 1st August 2022, the Centre for Energy, Environment and Engineering Zambia (CEEEZ) combined synergies with Harvest-Plus (an implementing partner for International Centre for Tropical Agriculture) to disseminate evidence-based information to the general public concerning clean cooking technologies, energy efficiency and health foods at the 94th Agricultural & Commercial Show 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia.
CEEEZ took this opportunity to share MECS works and achievements in Zambia. Via these open interactions with our audience, our main objective was to spark the switch to clean and energy efficient cooking appliances and use the MECS evidence base to challenge a deep-rooted narrative being held across urban households which perceive cooking with electricity to be an expensive option.
Through the results extracted from the MECS Kitchen Laboratory – Zambia report, we conveyed some striking relationships between households’ choice of cooking appliance and the resultant cost implications. Through this interaction, our audience understood that the type of appliance they adopt and use can influence the cost of cooking with electricity (e.g. energy inefficient hotplates are more costly than energy efficient appliances such as the electric pressure cooker (EPC)).
We also demonstrated the energy consumption and compatibility of an EPC with local dishes by cooking nshima (cornmeal porridge) (see photos). The audience also appreciated the rationale behind adopting clean, energy and time efficient cooking, how their adopting of modern energy cooking solutions would significantly contribute towards the systematic fight against energy and time poverty and carbon emissions reduction with the corresponding adverse effects of the climate crisis.
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Featured image, top: Bird’s eye view of the 94th Agricultural & Commercial Show 2022, Lusaka, Zambia (image credit: Clement Njobvu, CEEEZ).