Energy is very important for economic growth and social progress. In areas where people have a low standard of living, there is often little access to good energy sources. More than 3 billion people in the world still use traditional biomass, such as wood or dung, for cooking. This has many negative consequences.

Using these cooking methods causes health problems, wastes a lot of time and energy and makes people less productive. This slows down economic development. It also costs a lot of money to solve the problems.

Furthermore, the unsustainable use of biomass causes environmental degradation. Soil fertility decreases, leading to lower agricultural yields. As a result, households earn even less money. Traditional cooking methods are also often inefficient, expensive and time-consuming. Better cooking solutions can therefore bring many benefits to households, such as more time, lower costs and better health.