turn to zero

Cooking with Corn Cobs Instead of Coal

Project facts

Project type: Energy efficiency, renewable energy

Project location: Provinces of Shanxi, Hubei and Guizhou, China

Project standard: Gold Standard VER

Annual emission reduction: 399.501 t

Project start: March 2009

This project replaces coal consumption from traditional coal burning stoves with improved clean biomass burning semi-gasifier stoves in rural households within Shanxi Province, Hubei Province and Guizhou Province in China. CO₂ emissions can be avoided by reducing coal consumption by using the inner part of the corn cub for cooking. The cleaner stoves improve indoor air quality which benefits the health of the women and children.

Offset emissions

Project overview

The project

One of the most visible signs of the urban-rural disparity in China is in the household energy sector. While cleaner-burning petroleum-based fuels are increasingly common in wealthier areas, at least 50 percent of all households still depend on solid fuels like wood or coal as an important household fuel. A practice resulting in pollution exposures that the World Health Organization estimates to be annually responsible for over 420,000 premature deaths in China alone.

myclimate, Impact Carbon and the China Association of Rural Energy Industry (CAREI) have partnered to alleviate the health and climate burdens found in rural China due to the inefficient and dirty use of solid fuels such as wood and coal for household energy demands. This partnership promotes the use of efficient and clean household energy technologies that can be used for cooking, heating, and water purification throughout China.

Carbon finance revenues will be reinvested into the project for social marketing campaigns, quality control measures, solidifying supply chains, and a host of other activities.

This project contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

No poverty

Households save around USD 1,000 on fuel over the stove’s five year lifetime and EUR 80 for every Euro spent on the stove.

Good health and well-being

516,027 people profit from better air.

Gender equality

Women save time and money.

Affordable and clean energy

136,000 stoves have been installed in three provinces.

Decent work and economic growth

278 jobs have been created.

Responsible consumption and production

Sustainable cooking stove production.

Climate action

1 million tonnes of coal have been avoided since the start of the project and each stove avoids about 4.5 t CO₂ per year.

Life on land

Reuse of otherwise unused biomass as an energy source.

Partnerships for the goals

The project strengthens the global partnership for sustainable development.

The new efficient stoves can be lit with the rest of the corn cobs, which were not being used before the project. © myclimate

This grandmother paid 300 Yuan (USD 50) for her stove, myclimate subsidizes a stove with the same amount. The average income of the underclass is around USD 300. © myclimate