ACREST is a center for information, demonstration, awareness, production and research on renewable energy and sustainable technologies in Africa. ACREST's mission is to promote renewable energy technologies and sustainable technologies to improve the living condition of people and fight poverty.
ACREST has established a production unit for improved cook stoves. So far more than 1000 improved cook stoves have been built and disseminated. Those stoves are affordable and save up to 60% of firewood.
Contact Information
Our Focus
ACREST focuses on two main thematic areas: Renewable energies (solar, wind, hydro, biomass, biodiesel, biogas, muscular – human and animal), and Sustainable technologies (affordable water supply technology, food processing, transport, improved cook stoves, low-cost building materials etc.). Given the lack of expertise in this thematic area, ACREST has opted to put emphasis on training and capacity building through south-south cooperation. The Center has built its power generation unit (mini-hydropower plant) that provides part of the energy used at the center's workshops and supplies electricity to 15 households. Our main target are the rural off grid people. The center builds solar dryers for food processing. ACREST also builds affordable water filtration systems.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
Our improved cook stoves are very appreciated by the local community. The main barrier is the cost of the improved cook stove. Most of the users cannot afford the $20 per stove. The saving of firewood makes the stove very attractive. However, users of new improved stoves occasionally still use the traditional three stone fire for cooking some special meals.
ACREST plans to use carbon credits to subsidize the production of improved stoves so as to address the affordability barrier. We are currently looking for potential companies willing to pre-finance the expansion of our production units. ACREST's current potential of annual production capacity is 14,000 stoves. We are exploring partnership so as to recruit more staff for stove production. There is a huge potential market in the region around ACREST: out of the 250,000 households living in the proximity of ACREST (40 Km), 98% still rely on biomass for cooking using the three stone fire. This is a potentially big market for the dissemination of clean cook stoves. ACREST's stove, which is similar to GIZ's stove in Kenya, can save up to 1.5 tons of CO2 annually. With a subsidy of $10 per stove, the selling price will be $10 which is very affordable to local people. The demand for a low-cost improved stove is very high in the region.
We have two types of stove: wood stove with ceramic liner and charcoal stove with ceramic known in Kenya as Jiko. ACREST staff were trained by Kenyan experts on Kenya Ceramic Jiko. Our technology is therefore proven and reliable.
We constantly monitor our products to get feedback from the users. We address all setbacks/constraints once we identify them or they are brought to our attention. We organize stove exhibitions during local events to showcase the importance and advantages of using improved cook stoves.
Relevant Publications or Studies
None noted
Our Contribution to the Partnership
ACREST was officially registered as an NGO in 2005. So far, we have gained a lot of expertise in this ceramic stove sector. We would like to expand our production so that we can increase the number of people using clean cook stoves. We would like to participate in this Partnership by sharing our experience with others. ACREST could also offer regional training to other Partners willing to be trained on stove construction, production of briquettes and construction of biogas plants.
