Opening the black pot: a service design-driven approach to understanding the use of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya

The document examines the slow adoption of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya, arguing that a combination of service design, behavioral insights, and social-ecological systems thinking is necessary to better align stove development with user needs. Based on a study of advanced biomass pellet cookstoves near Nairobi, it recommends tailoring interventions to specific user archetypes, stabilizing the biomass pellet fuel supply chain through subsidies, and establishing localized technical support and repair networks.

• The adoption of cleaner and more efficient stoves in peri-urban Kenya is slow, but can be improved if producers and implementers use service design methods, behavioral insights, and social-ecological systems thinking to better understand user needs.
• Resource allocation for cookstove programs should be differentiated by user motivation: users motivated by saving money require more after-sales support, while those motivated by convenience are more self-sufficient but require better fuel purchase and supply chain facilitation.
• Scaling up advanced gasifier cookstoves in Kenya requires a stabilized biomass pellet fuel supply infrastructure, which could be supported by introducing subsidies for fuels either directly to consumers or upstream to aid research and development.
• Successful transition to new cooking systems requires coordinated, local support throughout the user journey, including technical repairs, potentially delivered by the cookstove users themselves.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2020). Opening the black pot: a service design-driven approach to understanding the use of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya. https://www.sei.org/publications/opening-the-black-pot-a-service-design-driven-approach-to-understanding-the-use-of-cleaner-cookstoves-in-peri-urban-kenya/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Opening the black pot: a service design-driven approach to understanding the use of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya. 2020. https://www.sei.org/publications/opening-the-black-pot-a-service-design-driven-approach-to-understanding-the-use-of-cleaner-cookstoves-in-peri-urban-kenya/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Opening the black pot: a service design-driven approach to understanding the use of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya |date=6 July 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/opening-the-black-pot-a-service-design-driven-approach-to-understanding-the-use-of-cleaner-cookstoves-in-peri-urban-kenya/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2020opening, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Opening the black pot: a service design-driven approach to understanding the use of cleaner cookstoves in peri-urban Kenya}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/opening-the-black-pot-a-service-design-driven-approach-to-understanding-the-use-of-cleaner-cookstoves-in-peri-urban-kenya/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }