STOCKHOLM and LUSAKA, Zambia, November 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Half the world's population cooks over smoky open fires. The deforestation rate in Africa is devastating because of charcoal production for cooking. Swedish Clean-tech start-up Emerging Cooking Solutions has developed an ingeniously simple solution now being rewarded by WWF.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121122/577820 )

• More people die from smoke from cooking than from malaria. The forests of Zambia are gone within twenty years if nothing is done to decrease charcoal production. On Madagascar, 94% of the rainforest has been destroyed. Many other African countries are struggling with this enormous problem. We believe that we have found a key; a solution that besides the effect on health and environment also relieves financial pressure on African households, says Per Löfberg, who together with Mattias Ohlson has founded the company.

• By pelletizing biomass that today is being discarded or burnt in the open, the company is creating a new possibility for developing countries. Emerging Cooking Solutions replace charcoal with pellets. A renewable and cost-effective alternative that when used in so-called wood-gas stoves allows for healthy, smoke-free cooking.

• Our business model makes it possible for low-income people to get access to an incredibly nice and clean stove simply by buying pellets at a lower price than what they already spend on charcoal. We have tested the model during 2011-2012 in the Copperbelt region in Zambia. We are now ready for expansion in Zambia and eventually to other African countries, says Mattias Ohlson.

In connection with the award-ceremony the company launches a portal where individuals and companies can aid African families by sponsoring smoke-free cooking time. Each stove reduces CO2 emission with at least four tons and saves six tons of living forest from felling each year.  

-I've seen the forests disappear since childhood and am so happy to finally be able to work with a real solution, says Sonta Kauti, director of operations, Zambia.

http://www.climatesolver.org

http://www.givecooking.com

The concept has been developed since 2010. Emerging Cooking Solutions are based in Malmö Sweden and Lusaka Zambia. They are since 2012 part of the incubator program at MINC, Malmö Sweden.

For more information:http://www.emerging.se
Contact: Per Löfberg,per@emerging.se
Phone: +46735023157

Mattias Ohlson will speak at the National Renewable Energy Forum on the 28^thof November, Lusaka