A bridge to clean cooking? The cost-effectiveness of energy-efficient biomass stoves in rural Senegal

Rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa have experienced limited progress towards the sustainable development goal of universal access to clean cooking. Energy-efficient biomass cookstoves (EEBCs) are considered a potential bridge technology, but EEBC models vary widely, and there is a lack of understanding about their real-world use implications. We conduct a randomized controlled trial in rural Senegal to compare a low-cost, locally produced stove designed to achieve fuel savings and an expensive, imported stove shown to be more efficient and emissions-reducing in the laboratory. We find that the two EEBCs perform similarly: both reduce fuel consumption but have no significant impact on cooking time and fuel collection, emissions, or objective health measures. We conclude that the technically advanced option is not cost effective for most of our sample, while the low-cost EEBC can be seen as a stop-gap solution that primarily reduces fuel use. The findings underpin the importance of customizing EEBC dissemination to local context and baseline cooking patterns. • We use a field experiment to compare low-cost and advanced energy-efficient biomass stoves. • 70 % of treated households adopt the stoves, with higher rates for the simple stove. • Both stoves reduce fuel consumption, but neither reduces pollution levels or improves health. • Results vary across regions, highlighting the importance of targeting in stove programmes. • The simple stoves are much more cost effective than the advanced ones.