Household energy

Around 2.4 billion people use biomass fuels - wood, charcoal and animal dung - for their domestic energy needs. These are typically burned in inefficient stoves or on open fires, with serious consequences for health and the environment. SEI identifies and designs actions to help households transition to cleaner technologies and energy sources.

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Initiatives

Governing bioeconomy pathways

2 miners in tunnel with shovels, black and white photo

Carbon lock-in

Two women cook around a wood-burning fire in South Africa.

SEI’s Rob Bailis talks to Global Dispatches podcast about new research on cleaner cooking for the climate

Perhaps counterintuitively, some fossil-based cooking fuels are better for climate and health than the biomass fuels used by 2.4 billion people, research shows.

A tea kettle rests upon a stone bordering a wood-fired pit.

Novel research shows health, climate benefits of increasing access to electricity and gas for cooking in low- and middle-income countries

Expanding the use of LPG and/or grid electricity to replace biomass-fueled cooking in low- and middle-income countries benefits human health and climate.

SEI Topics