Africa's premier clean cooking company BURN has introduced its latest generation of tech-enabled electric cooking (e-cooking) products. The ECOA Electric Induction Cooker and the ECOA Electric Pressure Cooker, both locally designed and assembled, mark Africa's pioneering venture into modern e-cooking solutions. Featuring Internet-of-Things (IOT) sensors, these products enable comprehensive end-to-end customer management, including real-time energy consumption monitoring. The rollout of these products has commenced in Kenya and is set to expand to five additional African countries by the end of the year.
These innovative products are poised to transform cooking practices across Africa, offering families a more affordable and sustainable cooking alternative. To enhance accessibility for low-income households, BURN has devised a groundbreaking "pay as you cook" financing option. This allows users to make small payments via their mobile phones, gradually acquiring ownership of the cooking devices through weekly installments, culminating in full ownership within a year. In regions of Kenya where 1.2 million people survive on less than $2 a day, households typically spend approximately $8 per week on charcoal. Upon achieving full ownership, users can save around $3 weekly on fuel, equating to an estimated 50% reduction in annual household fuel costs.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, around 950 million people rely on wood or charcoal for daily cooking, often utilizing open fires or inefficient stoves. The use of polluting fuels has widespread negative impacts on socio-economic factors, gender dynamics, health, and the environment. BURN's e-cooking products offer a solution, potentially reducing annual CO2 emissions by up to 4 tons per user, equivalent to the CO2 absorbed by 200 mature trees in a year.
Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, emphasised the company's shift toward electric cooking as the future of clean cooking in Africa. This move, supported by $17 million in funding from various partners, represents a significant opportunity to provide zero-indoor-emission cooking access to low-income households. BURN's entry into e-cooking follows three successful years of pilot testing in Kenya and Tanzania, with positive results indicating reduced charcoal usage, improved quality of life, and widespread adoption of electric cooking.
The launch aligns with Africa's increasing commitment to clean energy, with over 75% of Kenya's electricity sourced from renewables and approximately 50% of the continent's population having access to electricity. BURN aims to reach 50,000 African households with its e-cooking products by the end of 2023, leveraging carbon financing to subsidise product and electricity costs in targeted markets. The carbon projects will adhere to Gold Standard's new metered methodology, ensuring the delivery of high-integrity carbon credits.
Founded in 2011, BURN has emerged as Africa's leading clean cooking company, dedicated to revolutionizing the clean cookstove sector. With operations in nine African countries and a workforce of 2,500, BURN has distributed nearly 4 million clean cookstoves, positively impacting over 20 million lives and preventing 14 million tons of CO2 emissions. To learn more, visit burnstoves.com.
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