Solar E-Cooking with Low-Power Solar Home Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa

The e-cooking feasibility was evaluated for two of the main staple foods across rural Sub-Saharan Africa (rice and maize porridge) considering basic solar home systems (SHS) of 100–150 W and using inexpensive market available low-power DC cooking devices (rice cooker and slow cooker). The coverage of e-cooking necessities was spatially evaluated for the African continent considering households of two, five, and eight people. While households of two people were able to be covered >95% of the days, the increase in e-cooking necessities implied that only larger PV generators (150 W) located in high irradiation sites (>2400 kWh/m2/year) were able to fulfill e-cooking, even in scenarios of households of five and eight people. Furthermore, the economic cost and the greenhouse gases emission factor (GHG) of e-cooking via small SHS were evaluated and benchmarked against traditional technologies with wood and charcoal considering three-stone and improved stoves and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cookers. The GHG for e-cooking was 0.027–0.052 kgCO2eq/kg.meal, which was strikingly lower than the other technologies (0.502–2.42 kgCO2eq/kg.meal). The e-cooking cost was in the range of EUR 0.022–0.078 person/day, which was clearly lower than LPG and within the range of the cost of cooking with wood and charcoal (EUR 0.02–0.48 person/day). The results provided a novel insight regarding market available technologies with a potential of changing cooking conditions in this region.

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BioLPG for Clean Cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Present and Future Feasibility of Technologies, Feedstocks, Enabling Conditions and Financing

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14133916 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (13) ◽

pp. 3916

Author(s):

Kimball C. Chen ◽

Matthew Leach ◽

Mairi J. Black ◽

Meron Tesfamichael ◽

Francis Kemausuor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Waste ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Green Economy ◽

Energy Access ◽

Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽

Public And Private ◽

Middle Income ◽

Private Sector Investment ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Public And Private Sector

Energy supply for clean cooking is a priority for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, i.e., propane or butane or a mixture of both) is an economically efficient, cooking energy solution used by over 2.5 billion people worldwide and scaled up in numerous low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Investigation of the technical, policy, economic and physical requirements of producing LPG from renewable feedstocks (bioLPG) finds feasibility at scale in Africa. Biogas and syngas from the circular economic repurposing of municipal solid waste and agricultural waste can be used in two groundbreaking new chemical processes (Cool LPG or Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion (IH2)) to selectively produce bioLPG. Evidence about the nature and scale potential of bioLPG presented in this study justifies further investment in the development of bioLPG as a fuel that can make a major contribution toward enabling an SSA green economy and universal energy access. Techno-economic assessments of five potential projects from Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda illustrate what might be possible. BioLPG technology is in the early days of development, so normal technology piloting and de-risking need to be undertaken. However, fully developed bioLPG production could greatly reduce the public and private sector investment required to significantly increase SSA clean cooking capacity.

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Maintaining paediatric cardiac services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa: guidelines for a “scale up” in the face of a global “scale down”

Cardiology in the Young ◽

10.1017/s1047951120003650 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (11) ◽

pp. 1588-1594

Author(s):

Ogochukwu J. Sokunbi ◽

Ogadinma Mgbajah ◽

Augustine Olugbemi ◽

Bassey O. Udom ◽

Ariyo Idowu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Scale Up ◽

Global Scale ◽

International Travel ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Continent ◽

Tertiary Centre ◽

The Face ◽

Scale Down ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

International Experts

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic is currently ravaging the globe and the African continent is not left out. While the direct effects of the pandemic in regard to morbidity and mortality appear to be more significant in the developed world, the indirect harmful effects on already insufficient healthcare infrastructure on the African continent would in the long term be more detrimental to the populace. Women and children form a significant vulnerable population in underserved areas such as the sub-Saharan region, and expectedly will experience the disadvantages of limited healthcare coverage which is a major fall out of the pandemic. Paediatric cardiac services that are already sparse in various sub-Saharan countries are not left out of this downsizing. Restrictions on international travel for patients out of the continent to seek medical care and for international experts into the continent for regular mission programmes leave few options for children with cardiac defects to get the much-needed care.There is a need for a region-adapted guideline to scale-up services to cater for more children with congenital heart disease (CHD) while providing a safe environment for healthcare workers, patients, and their caregivers. This article outlines measures adapted to maintain paediatric cardiac care in a sub-Saharan tertiary centre in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve as a guide for other institutions in the region who will inadvertently need to provide these services as the demand increases.

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Cost determination and sustainable financing for rural water services in sub-Saharan Africa

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2007.012 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 373-391 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Peter A. Harvey

Keyword(s):

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Water Services ◽

Innovative Strategies ◽

Water Users ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Cost ◽

National Governments ◽

Cost Determination ◽

Sustainable Financing

Access to safe, sufficient and affordable water in rural Africa will not increase unless sustainable financing strategies are developed which ensure the sustainability of existing water services. There is a strong need for international donors and national governments to confront the true costs associated with sustained service provision in order to develop practicable long-term financing mechanisms. This paper presents a systematic approach that can be applied to determine the overall cost of service delivery based on respective cost estimates for operation and maintenance, institutional support, and rehabilitation and expansion. This can then be used to develop a tariff hierarchy which clearly indicates the cost to water users of different levels of cost recovery, and which can be used as a planning tool for implementing agencies. Community financing mechanisms to ensure sustained payment of tariffs must be matched to specific communities and their economic characteristics; a blanket approach is unlikely to function effectively. Innovative strategies are also needed to ensure that the rural poor are adequately served, for which a realistic, targeted and transparent approach to subsidy is required.

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The Slave Trade: The Formal Demography of a Global System

Social Science History ◽

10.1017/s0145553200020769 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 255-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Patrick Manning

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

North Africa ◽

Atlantic Coast ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Continent ◽

Middle Passage ◽

Global System ◽

Plantation Life ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Additional Losses

If the best-known aspects of African slavery remain the horrors of the middle passage and the travail of plantation life in the Americas, recent work has nonetheless provided some important reminders of the Old World ramifications of slavery (Miller 1988; Meillassoux 1986; Miers and Roberts 1988; Manning in press-a). Millions of slaves were sent from sub-Saharan Africa to serve in households and plantations in North Africa and the Middle East and suffered heavy casualties on their difficult journey. Millions more, captured in the same net as those sent abroad, were condemned to slavery on the African continent. The mortality of captives in Africa, therefore, included not only losses among those headed for export at the Atlantic coast but the additional losses among those destined for export to the Orient and among those captured and transported to serve African masters.

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Proposing a Paradigm Shift in Rural Electrification Investments in Sub-Saharan Africa through Agriculture

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12083096 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 3096 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

George Kyriakarakos ◽

Athanasios T. Balafoutis ◽

Dionysis Bochtis

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Business Models ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Rural Electrification ◽

Agricultural Cooperatives ◽

New Approach ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Cost ◽

Cross Subsidization

Almost one billion people in the world still do not have access to electricity. Most of them live in rural areas of the developing world. Access to electricity in the rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa is only 28%, roughly 600 million people. The financing of rural electrification is challenging and, in order to accomplish higher private sector investments, new innovative business models have to be developed. In this paper, a new approach in the financing of microgrid electrification activities is proposed and investigated. In this approach, agriculture related businesses take the lead in the electrification activities of the surrounding communities. It is shown that the high cost of rural electrification can be met through the increased value of locally produced products, and cross-subsidization can take place in order to decrease the cost of household electrification. The approach is implemented in a case study in Rwanda, through which the possibility of local agricultural cooperatives leading electrification activities is demonstrated.

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A Systematic Review of the Incremental Costs of Implementing a New Vaccine in the Expanded Program of Immunization in Sub-Saharan Africa

MDM Policy & Practice ◽

10.1177/2381468319894546 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 238146831989454

Author(s):

Joe Brew ◽

Christophe Sauboin

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Data Collection ◽

Interquartile Range ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

World Health ◽

African Countries ◽

Vaccine Type ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Cost

Background. The World Health Organization is planning a pilot introduction of a new malaria vaccine in three sub-Saharan African countries. To inform considerations about including a new vaccine in the vaccination program of those and other countries, estimates from the scientific literature of the incremental costs of doing so are important. Methods. A systematic review of scientific studies reporting the costs of recent vaccine programs in sub-Saharan countries was performed. The focus was to obtain from each study an estimate of the cost per dose of vaccine administered excluding the acquisition cost of the vaccine and wastage. Studies published between 2000 and 2018 and indexed on PubMed could be included and results were standardized to 2015 US dollars (US$). Results. After successive screening of 2119 titles, and 941 abstracts, 58 studies with 80 data points (combinations of country, vaccine type, and vaccination approach–routine v. campaign) were retained. Most studies used the so-called ingredients approach as costing method combining field data collection with documented unit prices per cost item. The categorization of cost items and the extent of detailed reporting varied widely. Across the studies, the mean and median cost per dose administered was US$1.68 and US$0.88 with an interquartile range of US$0.54 to US$2.31. Routine vaccination was more costly than campaigns, with mean cost per dose of US$1.99 and US$0.88, respectively. Conclusion. Across the studies, there was huge variation in the cost per dose delivered, between and within countries, even in studies using consistent data collection tools and analysis methods, and including many health facilities. For planning purposes, the interquartile range of US$0.54 to US$2.31 may be a sufficiently precise estimate.

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Pensée 2: The “African” in Africana/Black/African and African American Studies

International Journal of Middle East Studies ◽

10.1017/s0020743809090606 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 193-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carolyn Somerville

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

North Africa ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

The Political ◽

African Continent ◽

Black African ◽

Academic Fields ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Middle East Studies ◽

Research And Policy

In Pensée 1, “Africa on My Mind,” Mervat Hatem questions the perceived wisdom of creating the African Studies Association (focused on sub-Saharan Africa) and the Middle East Studies Association a decade later, which “institutionalized the political bifurcation of the African continent into two academic fields.” The cleaving of Africa into separate and distinct parts—a North Africa/Middle East and a sub-Saharan Africa—rendered a great disservice to all Africans: it has fractured dialogue, research, and policy while preventing students and scholars of Africa from articulating a coherent understanding of the continent.

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African Politics: A Very Short Introduction

10.1093/actrade/9780198806578.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ian Taylor

Keyword(s):

Political Violence ◽

African State ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Politics ◽

African Continent ◽

African Countries ◽

Short Introduction ◽

State And Society ◽

The World ◽

Sub Saharan

African Politics: A Very Short Introduction explores how politics is practised on the African continent, providing an overview of the different states and their systems. It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Exploring the historical and contemporary factors that account for Africa’s underdevelopment, it also analyses why some African countries suffer from high levels of political violence while others are spared. Unveiling the ways in which African state and society actually function beyond the formal institutional façade, this VSI discusses how external factors—both inherited and contemporary—act upon the continent.

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Drivers of the Adoption and Exclusive Use of Clean Fuel for Cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Learnings and Policy Considerations from Cameroon

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17165874 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (16) ◽

pp. 5874 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alison Pye ◽

Sara Ronzi ◽

Bertrand Hugo Mbatchou Ngahane ◽

Elisa Puzzolo ◽

Atongno Humphrey Ashu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Economic Status ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

Household Wealth ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

World Health ◽

Solid Fuels ◽

Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽

Financial Barriers ◽

Middle Income ◽

Sub Saharan

Household air pollution (HAP) caused by the combustion of solid fuels for cooking and heating is responsible for almost 5% of the global burden of disease. In response, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended the urgent need to scale the adoption of clean fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). To understand the drivers of the adoption and exclusive use of LPG for cooking, we analysed representative survey data from 3343 peri-urban and rural households in Southwest Cameroon. Surveys used standardised tools to collect information on fuel use, socio-demographic and household characteristics and use of LPG for clean cooking. Most households reported LPG to be clean (95%) and efficient (88%), but many also perceived it to be expensive (69%) and unsafe (64%). Positive perceptions about LPG’s safety (OR = 2.49, 95% CI = 2.04, 3.05), cooking speed (OR = 4.31, 95% CI = 2.62, 7.10), affordability (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.38, 2.09), availability (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.72, 2.73), and its ability to cook most dishes (OR = 3.79, 95% CI = 2.87, 5.01), were significantly associated with exclusive LPG use. Socio-economic status (higher education) and household wealth (higher income) were also associated with a greater likelihood of LPG adoption. Effective strategies to raise awareness around safe use of LPG and interventions to address financial barriers are needed to scale wider adoption and sustained use of LPG for clean cooking, displacing reliance on polluting solid fuels.

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