Spatial modeling of cooking energy mixes: The case of West Africa

Cooking is one of the basic human needs that requires energy. Solid biomass is currently the main energy source for more than 2 billion people worldwide. In West Africa, biomass is used by 85% of the population. Modeling cooking scenarios helps understanding current energy mixes and potential paths to increase their sustainability. This study proposes a spatial model that optimizes the cost or carbon footprint of cooking a meal based on local resource availability (biomass, solar energy). We illustrate this method on three countries : Senegal, Niger and Côte d’Ivoire, but it can easily be applied to other regions or countries. The goal of this article is not to advocate for an optimal cooking energy mix, but rather to identify the main drivers of such a mix and to evaluate the effectiveness of potential public policies to enhance it. Our results highlight the strong potential for solar cooking in the Sahel, the low relevance of current electric cooking, and the major role played by traditional biomass. We also analyze how sensitive are the results of cooking optimization models to modeling assumptions, especially regarding biomass characterization. • Cooking energy mix is mainly driven by the availability of biomass and solar energy. • Using solar cookers often reduces costs and carbon footprints of cooking a meal. • Current electric cooking increases costs and carbon footprint compared to gas cooking. • Biomass use characteristics should be studied in depth to reduce result uncertainties.