Volcanic Rocks as an Environmentally Friendly Alternative to Charcoal, Kerosene

July 29, 2022

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, about 94 percent of Ugandan households use firewood or charcoal for cooking. Only 38 percent of households had access to electricity (on-grid) by 2020, and most of those connected to the grid rarely use electricity for cooking because of the high costs involved, the statics bureau said.

This has exerted a lot of pressure on Uganda’s already shrinking forest in that Uganda has lost 63% of its forest cover due to due to tree-cutting for firewood, timber and charcoal, as well as the growth of farms and towns.

According to the National Forest Authority, other alternatives must be found to mitigate the environmental degradation that cutting down forest cover causes.

Studies show that volcanic rocks are the best alternative for charcoal. Sometimes called Lava rocks, these are environmentally friendly rocks which do not emit or produce any smoke like Charcoal, kerosene, and fire wood. Unlike Charcoal that burns completely, these rocks can be used several times and even be used for 2 years.

The volcanic rocks are used on a specially constructed stove. The stove has an internal air system that continuously blows air to the stones and thus increase in combustion and the continued burning of stones.

A bag of big volcanic rocks costs approximately Ugx35000 for domestic use and can last up to six months compared to a bag of charcoal which costs between Ugx70000 to Ugx100000 in urban areas.

Some companies like Eco Group Ltd. have gone ahead to improve the cooking stove which comes with a solar powered system and comes with fitted switch nobs of on and off that enables rocks to burn when turned on and cool off when switched off.

According to Rose Twine, the director of Eco Group Limited - the Kampala-based company that produces the stoves the main aim is to provide an efficient form of cooking energy that is user friendly and good for the environment.

"It pains me when I see people cut down trees, some of them indigenous and decades old, just for the sake of making charcoal or firewood," said Twine.

"It is now good that we can talk of an alternative," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Mr. Kendi, a Ministry of Energy worker stated that various areas in Uganda are enriched with volcanic rocks.

“The rocks are all over Uganda in Karamoja, Mbale, kisoro, Rukungiri and many other districts,” Mr. Kendi said.

Societies across Africa especially in Uganda should embrace Volcanic rocks for cooking as an alternative to charcoal, firewood and Kerosene as they are money saving and not harmful to the environment.