Global Ecovillage Network/Solution Library/Amrich enterprise

▼This solution entry was ported from the Global Ecovillage Network's Solutions Library.This is open edit, but please leave your comments on the talk page before editing.

In Ghana, the cooking is done in the kitchens which are either room on the inside of the home or small separate buildings. Most often, the kitchens have little ventilation. Black residue covers the walls, evidence of years of cooking. Some women complain of respiratory problems from the smoke. Along with the health problems noted, sixty two percent of women stated that the firewood was becoming either more expensive or harder to gather.

This is an implant that is efficient in reducing the amount of firewood fuel used in cooking and also the smoke which has serious health implications of the women who cook in the kitchen. This targets women in rural areas who use traditional cookstoves and the urban poor who use firewood as fuel for their traditional stoves are the primary beneficiaries of this implant.

The empress is very efficient and simple implant used for traditional rounded clay stoves which uses firewood fuels and it reduces wood usage by 63% and also decreases soot produced from by 89%, increasing in thermal Efficiency and Power rating by 2.7 times 2. This empress implant is easy to produce, install and does not require any maintenance procedure. "I tested the implants with another improved cookstove. Of the three stoves, the empress used the least wood per meal, boasting a 38% wood reduction from the traditional stove. Furthermore, the implant stove showed a 17% reduction in cooking time. Additionally, users felt that the other stove did not allow enough room for the amount of wood that they wanted to burn at once. Generally, Ghanaian people burn large amounts of wood while they cook, creating huge fires with massive flames. The other stove does not support this type of cooking, making it a less than ideal alternative for the Ghanaian people. Unlike the other stove, the empress was very well received by the Ghanaian women, and the implant dramatically decreased the amount of smoke produced by the fires. Personally, seeing the women react to the implant was my great. Their positive reactions helped me realize just how important and incredible nature of this implant".

This project will see about 1500 people using high efficient stoves while proposing a feasible, affordable, scale-able, locally built solution for the reduction of firewood consumption for cooking in rural areas.

This business has social impacts that see the reduction of the growing unemployment rate in the country, gender empowerment and improve women quality of life, saving 2600 days in the life of women in rural Ghana. Notable environmental impacts are the reduction in Black Carbon emissions in the atmosphere to the tune of 400.000 tons per year contributing to the mitigation of climate change and its impacts. Women in rural areas who use traditional cookstoves and the urban poor who use firewood as fuel for their traditional stoves are the primary beneficiaries of this implant.