Clean Cook Stove, Alternative To Cooking Gas, Says UNILAG Don

Nigerians, who had hitherto cried out over the recent increase in the cost of cooking gas, can now heave a sigh of relief with the introduction of the clean cook stove to consumers.

Project Lead, Air Quality Monitoring Research Group (AQMRG), University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dr. Rose Alani, who spoke exclusively with Daily Independent in Lagos, said that the clean cook stove is the best alternative to cooking gas as it is cost-effective, as well as helps the user to ensure a clean environment.

Saying that the clean cook stove is more efficient due to its design in such a way that it produces high heat, Dr. Alani noted: “Though some of them can use firewood, maybe 30 percent of firewood that would have been used in a normal conventional cooking.

“Because of the way that the clean cook stove is built, it is designed in such a way that the heat efficiency is very high. It is not the normal conventional cooking that you put firewood and all the heat is spreading everywhere, inconveniencing people around.”

One of the advantages of the clean cook stove, according to Dr. Alani, is that “it is compacted and  everything is brought together in such a way that no heat escapes. 

“They forced oxygen inside it to make sure that the combustion is complete.”

The university don, noted that it is the incomplete combustion that brings out the pollutants and other harmful substances, added: “For the clean cook stove, the smoke is completely reduced to about 90 percent. We just have about 10 percent of smoke coming out and the heat efficiency is much.”

Another gain of the clean cook stove to the user, Dr. Alani said, is that with it, one can use about 30 percent of firewood, thereby  helping to control deforestation.

She said that since the stove is front-loaded, “the user can put firewood, she can use charcoal, even cow dung, pellets from agricultural waste like rice husk, corn curbs and others.

With this, the university don noted, “one can cook conveniently well and cook the quantity of food she wants, even without using gas.”

Saying that the clean cook stove is highly affordable to the average Nigerian, Dr. Alani added that “the user earns carbon credit because he is also cutting down on carbon emissions.”