KCB helps schools shift to clean cooking energy

Article by Joshua Ochieng

Driving through the countryside of Kenya, it would be difficult not to notice smoke billowing from the kitchens of homes and schools close to mealtimes.

In schools, if you checked the backyards, you will most likely find short logs and stumps stacked high and a staffer splitting some of those logs. In the kitchen, you will need to squint your eyes to make way through the thick smoke, your body gasping for fresh air.

When the frenzy of cooking and feeding hundreds of students dies down, you will probably notice the kitchen and dining area roofs layered with soot, and sprawled on the floor, the soot-riddled pans.

This is the typical situation in schools in Kenya, most of which rely on firewood for their cooking needs. Despite efforts to transition to eco-friendly cooking methods, the situation is still prevalent.

According to a 2019 survey conducted by the Clean Cooking Association of Kenya, 58 percent of Kenyan households still use fuelwood to cook meals.

The prevalence is higher in rural areas, sitting at 93.2 per cent.

Data from the Kenya Medical Research Institute 2024 indicates that Kenyan boarding schools need 250 tonnes of firewood each year to comfortably meet their cooking energy needs, placing stress on forests for the supply of this firewood.

But the situation is changing. Some schools are phasing out use of firewood and transitioning to Liquid Petrol Gas.

Sinaga Girls Secondary School and St Pius Got Matar Secondary School, both in Siaya county, are among the pioneering secondary schools in the country that are using gas to cook. The impact of this energy transition has been profound.

HEALTHIER AND STRESS-FREE

Gregory Ochieng was a student at Got Matar Secondary School in Bondo in 2018 before the introduction of LPG.

He recounts how occasionally, he would have to choose either to miss a meal or be late for a lesson because the school food, which was being prepared using firewood, wasn’t ready due to wet firewood or firewood of poor quality.

Now a teacher at the same school, he appreciates the impact LPG has had in the school.

“Initially, when the food was cooked, it had some smell because of the firewood that was used. But we have transformed from firewood to green energy and the lives of our students, cooks and teachers have improved. The quality of the food is also good,” he says, occasionally smiling with relief.

Walking into the school’s kitchen in mid-afternoon, we find Nicholas Okello, the school’s head cook, and his colleagues having a hearty chat.

Normally at that time, they would be busy splitting firewood to start preparing supper for the students. Today, however, they are not in a hurry because they are using LPG, which required no prior action to utilise.

He narrates how hazardous firewood was to their health. They regularly suffered chest pains, respiratory issues and eye problems because of the heavy smoke from firewood.

FASTER, CLEANER COOKING

A distance away from Bondo in Siaya county stands Sinaga Girls’ Secondary School. A sky-blue and white façade draws you in as you walk through the gates.

The greenery around the school is absorbing. It’s midmorning and students are about to go for tea break.

Usually there would be smoke billowing from the kitchen chimneys, but there is none.

The cooks have already set the huge tea urns on a large table just outside the dining hall. We walk into the kitchen and more cooks are busy shuffling around, preparing meals.

Lunch is a few hours away, yet they are at the tail end of getting the meal ready. Christine Atieno, the head cook, attributes the speedy execution to the availability of LPG.

“We don’t have to spend hours splitting firewood and carrying them into the kitchen. The gas has made our lives easier,” she says, her joy evident in her smile.

“We are now cooking faster and in a cleaner space.” Doing away with firewood has freed up space inside the kitchen that they would use to store firewood temporarily.

They used it to install an extra cooking stove instead. The kitchen is cleaner and the staff is no longer affected by the smoke from firewood.

Deputy principal Jane Nyabera proudly points to a 10,000-litre water tank installed next to the staffroom. The tank was donated to the school by KCB Foundation as a token of appreciation to the school for choosing to partner with KCB Bank to install a 2-tonne Liquid Petrol Gas tank.

The LPG tank lasts the school nine to 10 weeks, serving a population of slightly more than 1,000 students, teachers and non-teaching staff.

Previously, the school consumed more than 10 truckloads of firewood every term for their cooking energy needs.

In some instances, they would need much more because of the low quality of firewood supplied, which brought uncertainty to their budgeting processes.

Similarly, before the installation of LPG, Got Matar Secondary School consumed up to 12 pick-ups of firewood every term to sufficiently meet their cooking energy needs. This put a lot of pressure on the country’s forest cover.

GREEN LENDING

Both these schools are among the more than 70 institutions that have benefitted from partnering with KCB to install Liquid Petrol Gas facilities.

Through the KCB Foundation, schools access grants of up to 30 per cent of the total cost of buying and installing the LPG facility, while 70 per cent is financed by the bank.

The bank has extended more than Sh72 million in grants to schools countrywide to facilitate the transition to green energy, in effect supporting Sustainable Development Goals 3, 7 and 13, which speak to good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, and climate action respectively.

In its 2023 Sustainability Report, the bank reports that it has channelled 15 per cent of its loan book towards green loans, which is a demonstration of its commitment to furthering sustainable initiatives, among them facilitating the transition to green energy.

Jane Nyabera and Gregory Ochieng both agree that the LPG grants extended to their schools by the KCB Bank will go a long way in mitigating the negative effects of using firewood for their energy needs.

“When you cut down trees for firewood, you cause soil erosion, which will lead to low agricultural production,” Gregory says. He encourages other institutions to consider going green by installing an LPG facility.