This project will involve the distribution of 20,000 energy efficient stoves within Vadodara District, Gujarat, India. Most families in the area use the traditional 3-stone or a moulded clay cooking stove that produces a big fire and consumes large amounts of firewood. This means that a lot of time is spent collecting firewood that would be used otherwise for other developmental activities. The three stone fire also produces a lot of smoke which causes respiratory disease, particularly in women/girls who use it for cooking, but also in young children of both sexes and other people (e.g. the elderly) who spend a lot of time indoors. The use of this inefficient cooking method also has unintentional negative impacts on the environment surrounding local people.
The project will be attempting to address these issues by distributing energy efficient stoves to households in Vadodara District that in the absence of this project would cook primarily using traditional inefficient firewood stoves. The Stove to be constructed is the Carbon Zero Stove (CZS) stove, that saves over 50% firewood as compared to the three stone stove. The stoves will be constructed, distributed and installed by local people under the guidance of co2balance India Ltd. These stoves will utilise the efficient rocket technology. These stoves will be using less firewood and emitting less smoke, which will reduce daily firewood costs and alleviate illness caused by smoke inhalation.
