Household air pollution from inefficient cooking practices using solid fuels and kerosene is a major health and environmental problem, affecting 2.6 billion people and causing 4 million premature deaths annually. Moreover, these practices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2, which has risen significantly in the atmosphere and drives climate change.

There is an urgent need to shift to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources for cooking and to contribute to this need, we are constantly innovating systems and products to ensure access for all to clean affordable energy for households especially in low developed communities like sub-saharan Africa. A case in point is the Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC).

– Locally made for clean household cooking

The ISEC is a revolutionary device that combines solar power and electric heating to provide a reliable and sustainable cooking solution. In our efforts to transform African lives and communities, we have worked in collaboration with the ISEC global learning community to design, produce, and disseminate ISECs in the different parts of the world. These cookers are affordable, clean, and efficient in cooking and therefore in addition to contributing towards combating climate change and reducing health hazards, the cookers increase cooking cost-savings, and avail more time for women and girls to be involved in other productive activities while cooking.

ISECooking projects development is based on a unique model of local manufacturing and global collaboration. Our goal is to make ISECookers affordable and adoptable for different local environments, using mostly indigenous resources. To achieve this, we have established a network of collaborators from various sectors and regions, who share scientific and design information and develop open-source resources for anyone who wants to make an ISECooker. Our collaborators include academic institutions, organizations, researchers, students, community leaders, and industries from Africa, Asia, USA, and the Caribbean. They are all involved in producing ISECookers in their respective countries and receive a grant funded by UKAid through MECs. This global learning community is chaired by Pete Schwatz, a physics professor at Cal Poly, and ASEI is responsible for the grant administration. We invite you to join us in this innovative and impactful project.