Eradicating Energy Poverty in Haiti

When Madame Agathe woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick last month, she also felt a sense of relief.

To make an herbal tea - which would have taken her nearly an hour with her charcoal stove - she didn't need to go outside and light a fire. Madame Agathe went to her newly electric kitchen, boiled water, and 10 minutes later was sipping a soothing drink.

Madame Agathe is one of the participants in EarthSpark's electrification of cooking pilot program in Les Anglais. Through this project 29 households are now using electric pressure cookers and induction stoves to cook meals for over 120 people. Each of the households have participated in hands-on trainings with the devices. After one month of electric cooking, participants are excited about the benefits and opportunities of electric cooking:

• Participants are reporting significantly faster cooking times, opening up more time for other activities like education, work, and also simply for leisure.
• Participants are saving money on charcoal and happy with the convenience of being able to cook indoors
• Participants are enjoying cooking without the harmful smoke that normally comes with cooking with charcoal and wood in traditional stoves
• Participants are surprised and pleased that they are able to cook their same traditional meals effectively with the new electric technology.

EarthSpark and the study participants will track cooking trends and attitudes over the next few months. This will help create a strong evidence-base for expanding opportunities for clean electric cooking in other communities in Haiti and around the world. Keep an eye out for upcoming reports and mini-documentaries on our clean cooking work!

What was the last new technology that you adopted, and how has it changed your life? EarthSpark's president, Allison Archambault's recently posted TEDx talk about our work in Haiti and her own adventures in electric cooking remind us that from Marie Agathe's kitchen to our own, we're all part of the energy transition currently underway. Climate change and social justice are inextricably linked, and we can all push for progress in many ways, wherever we are.

Thank you, as always, for your kind support and engagement with EarthSpark. We couldn't do this work without you.

Sending warm wishes to you and yours,

Wendy and the rest of the EarthSpark team

Links:

• "Electric Everything" TEDx talk by EarthSpark's President

• Marie Agathe's Black Beans (PDF)