The Energy Commission has emphasized its commitment to creating awareness and promoting the use of renewable energy technologies across the country.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Ing. Oscar Amonoo-Neizer said his outfit has undertaken a number of initiatives, aimed at preserving the environment through energy efficiency and reduction of harmful waste.

He was speaking at a ceremony to hand over an improved institutional cookstove kitchen to Kpedze Senior High School for emerging winners of the 2022 edition of the Renewable Energy Challenge.

He said a 2014 survey revealed that firewood was predominantly used to cook in educational institutions, informing the Energy Commission to establish woodlots in 250 schools.

He explained that the intervention is designed to provide economic and environmental benefits to the beneficiary schools.

Ing. Amonoo-Neizer said they aimed to “improve and sustain access to woodlots, reduce expenditure on woods, secure school lands, improve greening, and serve as a practical training tool of afforestation”.

He said another initiative was the Renewable Energy Challenge instituted to stir up innovation among students in second cycle schools, in a bid to explore energy-efficient technologies to adopt to conserve energy and protect the environment.

He lauded Kpedze Senior High School for winning the 2022 edition of the Challenge adding the Commission rewarded the school with the improved institutional cookstoves kitchen under its corporate social responsibility.

Ing. Oscar Amonoo-Neizer said the kitchen would ensure efficient use of fuel and reduce emissions generated by the traditional clay stoves.

He implored the management of the school to use the modern kitchen not only as a cooking place but as a training facility for the students.

“I would also like to encourage the headmistress to use this facility for practical learning, allowing students to improve their technical skills. I’m told that some of the students participated in the construction of the facility, and I am very pleased with that”, he added.

The Headmistress of Kpedze Senior High School, Ernestina Peniana lauded the provision of the facility, which brings to an end the use traditional clay stove method to cook to feed the student population.

The method was not energy consuming but harmful to the environment and kitchen staff due to the excessive smoke it produces.

“This modern kitchen is not just a structure, it symbolizes efficiency and environmental responsibility. By harnessing clean energy technology, we are enhancing the health and safety of our kitchen staff, reducing our carbon emission, and contributing our quota to the greener tomorrow”, she said.

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Francis Yaw Agbemadi appealed for the expansion of the STEM program, believing it would help to efficiently train more students.

“We sincerely hope that one day, the science technology engineering, and mathematics education program will be extended to schools that excel in this challenge enabling them to achieve even greater accomplishment”.