Fuelwood Use Efficiency in Cooking Technologies for Low Income Households in Malawi

Abstract

Biomass, mainly firewood and charcoal contributes over 90% of Malawi’s total energy demand. As a result, deforestation is increasing at unprecedented rate threatening firewood supply. Individual assessment of various cooking technologies has been widely studied without comparing among cooking technologies. This study compares the performance of the three-stone fireplace, Rocket stove and Chitetezo stove cooking technologies in Malawi. We use Specific Fuel consumption (SC) as a proxy for principal indicator of technology efficiency. The finding reveals that Rocket stove uses less time, less fuelwood and produces less smoke.

Keywords:  Cooking technology, dry wood consumption, specific fuelwood consumption