Wood fuel Utilization Patterns and Cooking Devices Efficiency Analysis for Likia Residents, Njoro Kenya

Abstract

Over 2.6 billion people of the world’s population prepare their food and heat their homes with coal and the traditional biomass fuel. Wood fuel continues to be used as a major source of energy without a replacement program and is partly the cause of wide spread deforestation at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares per year. Crucial to slowing the loss of the vegetation is promoting alternative sources of energy and/or using fuel efficient devices. This study examined the efficiency of cooking devices and the wood fuel consumption patterns among the rural population sampled from Kenya in Likia village near Njoro, so as to determine the more efficient cooking device and corresponding wood fuel. Initially, a survey was carried out capturing baseline data on the wood fuel utilization patterns and Split Plot in Randomized Complete Block Experimental Design used to select an efficient heating device where heating devices were a sub plot factor and the sources of energy as main plot factor to study the efficiencies of the devices. The results showed that wood fuel was the major source of cooking energy among the study population, and there were significant differences in the efficiencies of the devices due to the fuel type, the devices and interaction between the fuel and the devices. Among the recommendations made include the need to promote on-farm forestry specifically for wood fuel and timber production; effective management of natural forests, creating awareness about the key ecological services provided by forest ecosystems and delayed possible deforestation; promotion of energy saving stoves, the improvement of biomass briquette burning properties alongside the design of stoves for briquette use. Ultimately these results are expected to contribute to the slowing down of deforestation of the Mau Forest which is major water catchment for East Africa with overflow benefits to the Sudan and Egypt and promote sustainable uses of forest resources.

Keywords: Wood fuel, Cooking devices, Efficiency