16. Cookbooks

Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS)

Currently 2.3 billion people globally cook using traditional polluting fuels and technologies and 4 billion people have no access to modern energy cooking.

The negative impact on air quality from traditional stoves and fuels, results in 3.2 million premature deaths every year; 237,000 of those are children under the age of five. In addition, the CO2 emissions from biomass cooking equates to about 2% of the global total. MECSis an eight-year research programme funded by UK Aid (FCDO) working to accelerate a transition from biomass to genuinely ‘clean’1 cooking. We work in close partnership with multiple stakeholders, including NGOs, governments, private sector, and communities, across 16 countries. MECS is seeking a new approach to clean cooking, with evidence pointing to the viability, cost effectiveness, and user satisfaction that energy efficient electric cooking devices provide. The cookbooks demonstrate the use of energy efficient electric appliances that cook traditional dishes with no impact to health.