Learning from cooks: a user-centred approach to help transform household energy use

This briefing describes the Stockholm Environment Institute's (SEI) shift toward user-centred and qualitative research methodologies to improve the design and adoption of efficient cookstoves, addressing the failures of previous programs that neglected user needs and preferences.

• Approximately 2.7 billion people worldwide depend on traditional biomass—including wood, charcoal, animal waste, and agricultural residues—as their main energy source for cooking. The inefficient burning of these fuels in poorly ventilated areas causes an estimated 1.6 million deaths annually due to acute respiratory infections.
• Inefficient biomass cookstoves contribute to deforestation and climate change by producing black carbon (soot), which is identified as the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.
• SEI is implementing new research methodologies to address the lack of understanding regarding user needs, preferences, and constraints, which has hindered the long-term adoption of efficient stoves. This includes the Household Energy Economic Analysis (HHEA) stated-preference survey tool used in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mozambique between 2008 and 2010, as well as newer qualitative 'generative' ethnographic research in Zambia and northern India.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2012). Learning from cooks: a user-centred approach to help transform household energy use. https://www.sei.org/publications/learning-from-cooks-a-user-centred-approach-to-help-transform-household-energy-use/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Learning from cooks: a user-centred approach to help transform household energy use. 2012. https://www.sei.org/publications/learning-from-cooks-a-user-centred-approach-to-help-transform-household-energy-use/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Learning from cooks: a user-centred approach to help transform household energy use |date=24 April 2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/learning-from-cooks-a-user-centred-approach-to-help-transform-household-energy-use/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2012learning, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Learning from cooks: a user-centred approach to help transform household energy use}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/learning-from-cooks-a-user-centred-approach-to-help-transform-household-energy-use/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }