How Cooking with Solar Power in China Decreases Air Pollution and Empowers Women
The Henan province sits in central China, a beautiful landscape known for the birth of Chinese civilization. Yet it’s also home to an unfortunate reality: Nearly three-fourths of households in Xichuan County, situated in the southwest corner of the province, use coal-fired stoves as their primary cooking appliance. These eat up wood and coal, contribute to deforestation, and emit smoke that is harmful to people’s health and the environment.
While prevalent in this region, the challenges of coal-powered cooking are not unique to the Henan province. Globally, the Clean Cooking Alliance, a US-based non-profit, says more than three billion people rely on non-planet-friendly fuels like wood, charcoal, coal, and kerosene to cook their food every day.
