The project focuses on the distribution of fuel-efficient ONIL cookstoves to rural households in Mexico. Households in rural areas of the country traditionally use inefficient open fires for the preparation of meals. To boil one liter of water, the traditional open fire method requires approximately 200 grams of wood, while the ONIL Stove requires only 107 grams. Additionally, the stove retains part of its heat, which can later be used for the preparation of additional meals. In sum, ONIL cookstoves reduce the amount of firewood required for the meal preparation process by up to 58 percent. This reduction decreases the amount of CO2 emissions caused by the meal preparation process by about 2.9 tons of CO2e for each stove.
The stove is made of cast concrete, which is moulded in fiberglass, and of a clay combustion chamber insulated with pumice. The fire is contained in the insulated combustion chamber, thus burning the oil vapor which is normally emitted as smoke. Only households with fire wood as primary fuel for cooking prior to the installation of the ONIL stoves can benefit from the project activity. To ensure that conventional open fires will not be used anymore, technicians control the proper installation and usage of ONIL cookstoves in a representative sample of households.
How improved cookstoves contribute to climate actionAccording to a statistic from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2022) around a third of the global population still relies on unsafe and environmentally harmful cooking methods. This includes, for example, cooking over open fires or using polluting cooking fuels, such as coal or kerosene. Improved cookstoves tackle this problem by using thermal energy more efficiently. Depending on the model, an improved cookstove can reduce fuel consumption by up to 70 percent, which significantly saves CO2 emissions and can lower the pressure on local forests as less firewood needs to be harvested.
Improved cookstove projects allow the distribution of the - often simple - devices made from metal or clay to households, small enterprises or community facilities. Especially for households, this has an impact beyond the CO2 reduction: better indoor air quality decreases respiratory diseases and families can save time and money as less fuel is needed. Improved cookstoves projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.
