Learning from Cooks: a User-Centred Approach to Help Transform Household Energy Use

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) argues that the failure of clean cookstove programs to transform markets is largely due to a neglect of user needs, preferences, and cultural contexts. SEI advocates for a user-centered approach that combines quantitative economic modeling with qualitative ethnographic research to understand the social, emotional, and ergonomic factors influencing household energy choices.

• Approximately 2.7 billion people globally rely on traditional biomass—including wood, charcoal, animal waste, and agricultural residues—for primary energy and cooking. The inefficient burning of these fuels in poorly ventilated areas causes an estimated 1.6 million deaths annually from acute respiratory infections.
• Inefficient biomass burning produces black carbon (soot), which is identified as the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. A large-scale transition to cleaner cookstoves could provide immediate benefits by slowing climate change, reducing regional warming and precipitation disturbances, and improving human health.
• The difficulty in achieving long-term adoption of efficient stoves stems from a failure to understand the specific market needs, preferences, and constraints of users. SEI employs a dual methodology: the Household Energy Economic Analysis (HHEA) uses stated-preference surveys to model economic trade-offs (cost, safety, convenience), while qualitative 'generative' research captures ethnographic data on culture, social norms, and habits.
• A 2011 case study in Haryana State, India, revealed that while women view traditional clay chulha stoves as health hazards and irritants, they value specific features: the ability to use free local materials, the use of dung cakes for low-flame heat regulation, the taste of roti baked over an open flame, and the aesthetic appeal of decorated stoves. These findings suggest that new designs must accommodate multiple fuel types (wood and dung), provide an open flame, and be portable.
• SEI recommends that cookstove evaluation move beyond purely technical parameters (such as fuel savings and pollution reduction) to include 'usability' parameters. Because energy use is highly contextualized and varies by region or district, policies and standards must incorporate user perspectives and social-cultural factors to successfully shift behavior on a large scale.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2012). Learning from Cooks: a User-Centred Approach to Help Transform Household Energy Use. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2012-Cookstoves.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Learning from Cooks: a User-Centred Approach to Help Transform Household Energy Use. 2012. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2012-Cookstoves.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Learning from Cooks: a User-Centred Approach to Help Transform Household Energy Use |date=2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2012-Cookstoves.pdf |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}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-DB-2012-Cookstoves.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }