The economic burden of purchasing expensive cooking fuels by most households in Ghana could soon be alleviated as scientists begin the exploration of the potential and sustainability of Ethanol as a clean cooking fuel in Ghana.  

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is pioneering the adoption of ethanol-based cookstoves in Ghana.

Thick plumes of smoke penetrate the fresh air at Wulugu in the North-East Region of Ghana as charcoal farmers bury and burn felled trees in a hole dug on a large grassland vegetation located close to the homes of their neighbours.    

The farmers cover with more wet sand, the pile of wood, to intensify the heat within the confinement and to prevent air from entering.

After hours of heavy combustion, the traditional process converts the wood into blackened chunks of lightweight carbon residue.  

Several heaps of charcoal sit along the Tamale-Walewale highway and in the frontage of houses of these traders, inviting potential buyers, mainly travelers and commercial charcoal vendors.  

“Saala Saala” – to wit “charcoal is available” calls the women as they rush to every vehicle that traverses the community.

A number of these bagged charcoal are loaded onto trucks and transported from the North to be distributed to Southern Ghana, ending up in the homes of many.

Charcoal or firewood remains a widely used cooking fuel alternative in most households in the West African sub-region despite the introduction of cleaner alternatives like the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or gasoline.

Although a threat to human health and the environment, the exorbitant cost of LPG makes the use of charcoal more popular in many homes.   

Polluting fuel ruins health, environment

It has been established that polluting fuels and cooking technologies are major sources of household air pollution, especially in developing countries.

They release high volumes of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, lead, and sulphur dioxide.  

According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 4 million people die prematurely from indoor air pollution-related diseases like pneumonia, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and lung cancer.

Women and children are reportedly more prone to these diseases due to exposure to these gasses in their daily activities.

“I always choke when I light fire on charcoal. I have to cover my mouth or leave the kitchen for the smoke to reduce before I cook. Sometimes, I leave it in the open space,” Divina Oppong-wusu, a regular charcoal user, said while she worried about her health.

“I am scared I may suffer some respiratory disease. But I have no option than to resort to charcoal for cooking because gasoline is expensive now,” she added.

As of 2021, about 4.5 million households utilised polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, suggesting that approximately 18.4 million people are exposed to these polluting fuels. Thus, over half of the Ghanaian population risks suffering from diseases caused by indoor air pollution from unclean cooking technologies and fuels.

Polluting fuels such as firewood and charcoal do not only threaten human health, their environmental threats are also of concern.

Climate Change and Energy Transition Policy Lead at Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Charles Gyamfi Ofori, says the fuels contribute to deforestation affecting the plant cover with its attendant impacts on the global ecosystem.  

“Forests act as important carbon sinks as they absorb more carbon dioxide. When forests are decimated, they release these gasses into the atmosphere bringing about greenhouse emissions,” he said.

The Climate Council estimates that the global loss of forests contributes about 4.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide yearly.

Clean cooking still elusive

Clean cooking forms a crucial part of Sustainable Development Goal 7 which essentially seeks to ensure universal access to reliable, affordable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030.

The government of Ghana introduced the promotion of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and improved cookstoves for household and commercial uses as strategies and policies to attain the clean cooking goals.

This was to indirectly facilitate the reduction of the devastating menace of deforestation and indoor air pollution.

However, the available data suggests the population of households in Ghana with access to clean technologies is about 51% short of the SDG 7 target.   

The expensive cost of LPG throws a higher percentage of the Ghanaian female population into what is technically termed as ‘Women Energy Poverty’.

The price of LPG in Ghana has seen an astronomical increase of over 91 percent since January 2022, currently pegged at GHS 13.2 per litre, approximately 1.19 U.S. dollar equivalent.

Although it represents a decrease from the prices in December 2022, it has significantly increased compared to most of the previous weeks observed – according to Statista.  

It remains a worry for Clean Energy Advocates to see women in rural Ghana continuing to trek several miles in search of firewood for domestic use in this fourth industrial revolution.  

“These women tend to expend a lot of metabolic energy when they walk for hours to find firewood and cut down these trees. When they return they use palm kernel, rice or maize husk to light the fire. These release a lot of smoke affecting their health,” Faustina Boakye, a clean energy advocate said.

Therefore, an alternative fuel source deems appropriate in complementing the efforts of existing ones to propel Ghana’s drive towards universal access to clean fuels.  

Ethanol to the rescue

According to the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, research conducted across sub-Saharan Africa on ethanol fuel utilisation reveals a high preference for ethanol-based stoves and fuels over traditional kerosene and charcoal stoves.

However, this cooking fuel alternative has not received the needed attention in Ghana. The recent Population and Housing Census indicates that nearly 0.04% of households in Ghana use alcohol-based fuels as cooking sources.  

Ethanol burns cleanly without harmful emissions, ensuring safety for humans and the environment. The alcohol can be extracted from cassava, sugarcane, water hyacinth, guinea corn or millet.

Spearheading the paradigm shift in cooking behaviour, Entrepreneur and Director of the Institute of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solutions, Lovans Owusu Takyi, believes ethanol usage could safeguard the environment and promote efficient cooking.  

“Most of the women work in small environments so the smoke from these fuel sources tends to affect their eyes and lungs. We want to promote clean smokeless cookstoves that use sustainable fuel. Ethanol is climate-smart and readily available. This is an opportunity to harness Ghana’s bioenergy,” he said.  

Favorability of Ethanol blue flame

A recent pilot study by researchers at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy with support from Oxfam GROW examined consumer behaviours towards using ethanol-based cookstoves and fuels in Ghana.

The study was conducted in two peri-urban localities in Ghana – Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra region and Akuapem North Municipality in the Eastern region.

Users of the cookstove showed a favourable or positive attitude towards ethanol as a cooking alternative.

One of the users shared that: “I can prepare all kinds of food with it, including banku. However, not in large quantities. We are only three. It is a convenient and faster means of cooking. Security against children is also assured”.   

Creative Director of EconexusVentures Limited, Michael Amoah, says the ethanol-based cookstoves present an easier cooking alternative for fishermen who spend days onshore.

“The cookstove will provide the fishermen a freewill to navigate our water bodies as they work tirelessly to bring us some fishes,” he said.

Championing conscious shift in clean cooking

Ghana being a signatory of the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions is yet to run a full-scale adoption of a cleaner energy mix.

Policy Lead for the Climate Change and Energy Transition at ACEP, Charles Gyamfi Ofori, says Ghana has a long way to go in implementing strategies for clean cooking accessibilities.  

He advocates the adoption of Ethanol to ensure universal access to affordable and clean energy before 2030.

“We must accelerate our efforts towards clean cooking. ACEP believes using ethanol as an alternative provides the country with the ability to accelerate our aim of increasing access to clean energy. Once we are able to increase the accessibility to the fuels and stoves on the market, it would prove competitive on the market,” he said.

Charles Gyamfi says the technology would not only serve as a cooking alternative but provide a source of livelihood for farmers in the production of ethanol.

“It is important that we embrace these technologies as they will bring impact on the other economic sectors. It would bring farmers to the production value chain when it comes to ethanol. Industrialization and employment rate can also increase,” he said.  

There are additional benefits to using ethanol-based cookstoves, carbon credits can be awarded to traders of such cleaner fuel sources.

“Women can be entrepreneurs selling these cookstoves. We need support to be able to turn these women into energy entrepreneurs themselves. Women can take carbon credit for selling these,” Faustina Boakye added.  

Although traditional fuel sources such as charcoal and firewood remain the easier cooking option for many households, it defeats the government’s quest to mitigate climate change.  

Ethanol could be the new game changer as prices of LPG continue to shoot up.