Emerging Cooking Solutions Zambia
Vagga till Vagga (now called Emerging Cooking Solutions) wants to provide an alternative source of energy to families through an inclusive waste-to-energy business project based on waste sawdust and husks. Vagga till Vagga AB and its subsidiary Millions of Stoves Sweden AB have developed a waste-to-energy inclusive business project. Pellets are produced using waste sawdust and husks from forest plantations in the Copperbelt region to generate an energy-efficient, smokeless alternative fuel source to firewood and charcoal. The pellets are used in micro-gasifying stoves for cooking. Such stoves produce biochar as a by-product. Biochar can be used as soil amendment to improve plant growth and is in fact sequestered atmospheric carbon. The aim of this project is to distribute 30 stoves and start pellet production. Supamoto is a distribution company in Zambia
The SupaMoto cookstove turns out to be a considerable time saver for respondents, who spend far fewer hours per day cooking and also, 84% of respondents now use the cookstove as their main source of heat for cooking.
Impact on quality of life: Almost no respondents reported negative effects, and almost half of them noted an improvement in the taste of food. Among the 37% of respondents who received a solar lighting device, 63% are using it for cooking at night.
The project will provide peri-urban households with a high-performing and affordable alternative to charcoal. Production capacity of the biomass pellets will increase to 1,500 tonnes per month. Each stove that replaces charcoal with sustainably-produced biomass pellets mitigates 4 tonnes of CO2e per year, resulting in a total of more than 80,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions avoided annually. Customers with a 24-month subscription will save approximately EUR 50 per year and significantly improve household health. The project will also create close to 100 new jobs.