Explore use of ethanol as clean cooking fuel option

Alliance High School kitchen

Alliance High School kitchen during the official launch of a clean cooking initiative on March 8, 2021.

Photo credit: File | nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Ethanol is an alcohol fuel produced in the country from sugarcane molasses at plants primarily serving the beverage industry.
  • Discussions about ethanol have revolved around its use as a blend for petrol in the transport sector.

There is growing international recognition of bioethanol as an essential part of the toolkit for addressing the problems of dirty cooking. It is also fast emerging as a complementary solution to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Kenya with great potential to reduce the use of kerosene and charcoal at the bottom of the market.

Ethanol is an alcohol fuel produced in the country from sugarcane molasses at plants primarily serving the beverage industry. Discussions about ethanol have revolved around its use as a blend for petrol in the transport sector. However, it is as a clean cooking fuel that a huge opportunity exists to add value to our sugar and agricultural sectors by producing it at a large scale domestically.

Our longstanding reliance on wood fuels for cooking strains the agriculture sector while WHO cites inefficient burning of wood-based fuels as among significant causes of global warming through carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions. Household air pollution kills more than 400 Kenyans every week (significantly more than Covid-19 does).

Shifting to clean forms of cooking is essential. LPG uptake has grown in recent years but the scale of the challenge requires a range of modern solutions for different parts of the market. We have a long way to go to meet the Energy ministry goal of 100 per cent access to clean cooking solutions by 2028. 

Adoption of ethanol has faced several challenges, not least in awareness and availability. However, innovative business and delivery models that leverage existing fuels infrastructure and reduce distribution costs mean bioethanol cooking fuel can be a clean, affordable and scalable solution for the poor. 

Pilot projects

There has been much talk of the need to ‘build back better’ in the wake of the pandemic. If we truly believe in a clean, green future that leaves no citizen behind, then we have to urgently dump unsafe cooking methods. What better moment for the government to support this industry than now?

Several pilot projects have been conducted on ethanol production and use. The road to a large-scale, demand-driven local production industry is in plain sight if the government implements policies to reduce consumer prices and accelerates uptake.

The growth of national bioethanol industry requires strong and intentional collaboration between the public and private sectors. Only 1.8 million litres of cooking-grade bioethanol is produced locally yearly but demand may be in the tens of millions. That can create hundreds of thousands of rural jobs and boost smallholder farmers’ incomes. 

The government should adopt a strong and supportive policy environment and reassess the taxes and duties that affect the uptake of clean cooking solutions. The National Treasury ought to prioritise these to reduce the enormous economic burden of fossil fuels on the health and agriculture systems.

Mr Njugi is the CEO, Clean Cooking Association of Kenya (CCAK). ak.or.ke