The opportunities for commercial and institutional eCooking: lessons from Nepal
This working paper focuses on the opportunities for electric cooking in commercial, industrial and institutional (CI&I) settings.
Abstract
This working paper focuses on the opportunities for electric cooking in commercial, industrial and institutional (CI&I) settings, drawing on findings from 2 recent MECS funded studies in Nepal.
The studies explored the potential for eCooking transitions in CI&I settings, focussing particularly on different categories of commercial organisations (e.g. restaurants and hotels) and institutions (e.g. schools and hospitals). Industrial cooking, where food is prepared and processed within industry to provide ready-to-eat meals and semi prepared products (Sonesson et al., 2005), was not a primary focus for the Nepal studies and as such is not directly addressed by this working paper although the sector remains a key area of enquiry for the MECS programme.
The focus of the 2 studies responded to a clear gap identified by MECS ‘Jigsaw to scale up’ research in Nepal, which noted that while progress was being made with residential (or household) level eCooking, the opportunities for commercial and institutional level transitions had been overlooked. CI&I eCooking in Nepal has potentially unique benefits such as greater scope to use daytime surplus electricity loads while certain categories of CI&I organisation already benefit from differentiated tariffs for daytime electricity use. Many CI&I organisations in Nepal use LPG and firewood for cooking, suggesting eCooking transitions could also be financially beneficial. Successive LPG price hikes in 2023 are set to continue and MECS research has shown sizable cost savings at the household level when switching from purchased firewood to eCooking (ESMAP, 2020).
This paper is part of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme.
Citation
Sieff R and Todd JF. The opportunities for commercial and institutional eCooking: lessons from Nepal MECS Working Paper 2024
Links
The opportunities for commercial and institutional eCooking: lessons from Nepal