•Such innovation is a first of its kind meko-friendly steam cooking innovation that has attracted the over 20,000 delegates at the summit.
•Director of Faith Engineering Works Wycliffe Ng’ong’a said the innovation is first of its kind in Africa.
As African leaders search for solutions to the devastating impacts of climate change, new innovations showcased at the summit offer hope.
On such innovation is a steam cooker that has attracted the attention of the delegates to the summit.
Director of Faith Engineering Works Wycliffe Ng’ong’a said the innovation is first of its kind in Africa.
“The technology uses a three-component part which includes a steam generator, steam supply line and cooking vessels,” Ng’ong’a said.
He said the new technology, which is set to be launched soon, benefits six schools in the counties of Kwale, Kilifi, Garissa and Nairobi.
Ng’ong’a said the new innovation will save forests.
The innovation resonates well with the summit’s theme of, ‘Driving green growth and climate finance solutions for Africa and the world.’
The gadget uses briquettes to heat water, generating steam that is used to cook food.
“Conventional cooking methods require you to put a fire under the cooking pot but with the innovation we use briquettes that heat the water to generate steam. The steam is then dried to increase the temperature and the pressure,” Ng’ong’a said.
It takes about seven minutes to cook food such as rice.
Ng’ong’a said the cooking time of meals in schools has been reduced to over 70 per cent since up to 10 cooking pots can be used at a time.
The cost of the new innovation ranges from Sh800,000 to Sh20 million depending on the number of cooking pots one requires.
The Zero Carbon Schools is a green cooking programme promoted by the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya (NACONEK) and the Ministry of Education.
It is aimed at supporting a transition to alternative low-carbon energy for more than 6,000 schools.
The new innovation seeks to support the Kenya School Meals Programme, currently feeding more than 2.5 million children.
Ng’ong’a said the new technology does not emit smoke.
The World Health Organization estimates that 19,000 people die each year from air pollution.
WHO says around 2.4 billion people still cook using solid fuels (such as wood, crop waste, charcoal, coal and dung) and kerosene in open fires and inefficient stoves.
Most of these people are poor and live in low- and middle-income countries.
WHO says there is a large discrepancy in access to cleaner cooking alternatives between urban and rural areas: in 2020, only 14 per cent of people in urban areas relied on polluting fuels and technologies, compared with 52 per cent of the global rural population.
Household air pollution is generated by the use of inefficient and polluting fuels and technologies in and around the home that contains a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
WHO says in poorly ventilated dwellings and indoor smoke can have levels of fine particles 100 times higher than acceptable.
The new technology comes at a time African countries are seeking to transition the continent to clean energies that are in abundance in the region.
It also comes amid new campaigns by the Kenyan government to achieve a 30 per cent tree cover by 2032.
Under the new plan, the state plans to grow 15 billion trees in the next 10 years at a cost of Sh600 billion.
This means that each year, the budget is approximately Sh60 billion.
The 15 billion tree campaign translates to 30 trees per Kenyan per year over the next 10 years.
The state hopes that by 2032, the country’s tree cover will have hit 30 per cent from the current 12.13 per cent.
The forest cover increased from 5.9 per cent in 2018 to 8.83 per cent in 2021, while the national tree cover stands at 12.13 per cent above the constitutional target of 10 per cent.