KNUST moves to promote clean energy use

News | Published: 15th May 2015 Share Tweet

A new laboratory for facilitating research and training in designing improved cookstoves for enterprise development in Ghana has been commissioned.
Ā 
The facility was created in response to the lack of research into improving cookstoves in Ghana.
Ā 
According to Paolo Dalla Stella, aĀ sustainableĀ development analyst at the Ghana office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a study last year showed that 47 per cent of Ghanaian manufacturers lack facilities to test their cookstoves.

ā€œKNUST has all the credentials and now the tools to become a centre of excellence for clean cookstoves.ā€

Dorothy Adjei, Ghana Energy Commission

The Cookstove Testing and Expertise Laboratory resulted from a partnership involving UNDP Ghana office, US-based International DevelopmentĀ InnovationĀ Network, Ghana Energy Commission and theĀ TechnologyĀ Consultancy Centre (TCC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), which is hosting the facility.
Ā 
The laboratory, which was commissioned on 31 March in Kumasi, Ghana, aims to carry out efficiency, performance, emissions levels and heat content tests on locally-produced and imported cookstoves.
Ā 
Experts and local manufacturers from Benin, Burkina Faso, CĆ“te d'Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leonecould also benefit from hands-on training on cookstoves and standard testing at the facility, says George Yaw Obeng, the director of the TTC.
Ā 
The US$150,000 facility will facilitate continuous technological improvement and innovation in the design and manufacture of improved cookstoves, Obeng adds. The UNDP Ghana office provided US$100,000 and the TCC the rest through internally generated funds to establish the facility.
Ā 
The facility is expected to encourage the supply of fivemillion clean and improved cookstoves for use by four million households in Ghana by 2020, a target set by the Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
Ā 
Obeng explains that high carbon emission cookstoves produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide when fuels such as charcoal are burned to produceĀ energyĀ for cooking.


"If a stove is efficient in its use of fuel for cooking and combustion is complete, less carbon dioxide and other gases will be emitted into the atmosphere to reduce global warming,ā€ he says. ā€œBy reducing woodfuel or charcoal consumption, improved cookstoves contribute to reduce deforestation and forest depletion.ā€
Ā 
Dorothy Adjei, the programme officer in charge ofĀ bioenergy at Ghana Energy Commission, says a high number of cookstoves on the Ghanaian market are not scientifically improved in terms of emission levels.
Ā 
Ghana Energy Commission and Ghana Standards Authority are currently developing technical standards to regulate the energy efficiency and safety of cookstoves, Adjei says.

News Source
www.scidev.net