Abstract Electric cooking has the potential to improve quality of life for people who cook using biomass, both by improving health by eradicating harmful emissions and by removing the need to collect fuelwood, thus freeing up time for other activities. This paper reports on a study that introduced electric cooking as an alternative to biomass-based cooking in 10 households in Simli, a rural Western Nepali community, to assess its feasibility in rural off-grid contexts. Quantitative and qualitative data from a cooking diary study and electrical mini-grid data were collected, assessing the compatibility with micro-hydropower grids and Nepali cooking practices. Datasets of Nepali cooking practices and meal energy requirements were generated, revealing that generally two meals are cooked per day and that, on average, electric cooking consumes 0.25 kWh/day and 0.14 kWh/meal. Participants simplified their cooking practices and found chapati hard to cook on the induction hobs due to inexperience with the cookers. Conversely, dal and rice were found to be easy and fast to cook in pressure cookers on the hobs, leading to a switch from cooking chapati-vegetables based meals to dal-rice based meals. Fuel stacking was common, with participants reverting to their biomass stoves to cook chapati, and due to a lack of reliable electricity supply. Participants found that the transition to electric cooking provided more time for households, due to the reduction in length of time to cook a meal and less time required to collect firewood, and enjoyed cooking on the stoves due to elimination of indoor air pollution. The electrical data analysis showed that control issues, voltage instability, and limited micro-hydropower plant capacity provide obstacles for electric cooking, especially as it becomes more widely practiced. Nepali people typically cook at the same time as peak demand for electricity, exacerbating the problem of limited capacity in villages like Simli. Only three households continued to use their electric stoves regularly due to a lack of reliable electricity supply, showing that widespread adoption of electric cooking is currently unfeasible. The running costs of electric cooking were lower than the effective labour time costs of fuelwood collection, but initial capital expenses for the electric cooking system and monthly electricity costs are a further barrier to adoption in rural Nepal.

中文翻译：

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在尼泊尔微型水电迷你电网上解锁电饭煲

摘要 电饭煲有可能改善使用生物质做饭的人们的生活质量，既可以通过消除有害排放来改善健康，又可以消除收集薪材的需要，从而腾出时间进行其他活动。本文报告了一项研究，该研究在尼泊尔西部农村社区 Simli 的 10 户家庭中引入了电烹饪作为基于生物质烹饪的替代方案，以评估其在农村离网环境中的可行性。收集了来自烹饪日记研究和微型电网数据的定量和定性数据，评估了与微型水电网和尼泊尔烹饪习惯的兼容性。生成了尼泊尔烹饪习惯和膳食能量需求的数据集，表明通常每天煮两顿饭，平均而言，电烹饪消耗 0。25 千瓦时/天和 0.14 千瓦时/餐。参与者简化了他们的烹饪做法，发现由于对炊具缺乏经验，用电磁炉烹饪薄煎饼很困难。相反，发现木豆和大米在滚刀上的压力锅中烹饪起来既简单又快捷，导致从以薄饼蔬菜为主的饭菜转变为以木豆饭为主的饭菜。由于缺乏可靠的电力供应，燃料堆放很常见，参与者回到他们的生物质炉灶来做薄饼。参与者发现，由于减少了做饭的时间和收集柴火所需的时间，过渡到电饭锅为家庭提供了更多的时间，并且由于消除了室内空气污染，他们喜欢在炉灶上做饭。电气数据分析表明，控制问题，电压不稳定，有限的微型水电站容量为电烹饪带来了障碍，尤其是在它得到更广泛应用的情况下。尼泊尔人通常在电力需求高峰的同时做饭，这加剧了 Simli 等村庄容量有限的问题。由于缺乏可靠的电力供应，只有三户家庭继续定期使用他们的电炉，这表明目前广泛采用电煮饭是不可行的。电饭煲的运行成本低于薪材收集的有效劳动时间成本，但电饭煲系统的初始资本支出和每月电费是尼泊尔农村采用电饭煲的进一步障碍。尼泊尔人通常在电力需求高峰的同时做饭，这加剧了 Simli 等村庄容量有限的问题。由于缺乏可靠的电力供应，只有三户家庭继续定期使用他们的电炉，这表明目前广泛采用电煮饭是不可行的。电饭煲的运行成本低于薪材收集的有效劳动时间成本，但电饭煲系统的初始资本支出和每月电费是尼泊尔农村采用的进一步障碍。尼泊尔人通常在电力需求高峰的同时做饭，这加剧了 Simli 等村庄容量有限的问题。由于缺乏可靠的电力供应，只有三户家庭继续定期使用他们的电炉，这表明目前广泛采用电煮饭是不可行的。电饭煲的运行成本低于薪材收集的有效劳动时间成本，但电饭煲系统的初始资本支出和每月电费是尼泊尔农村采用的进一步障碍。表明目前广泛采用电烹饪是不可行的。电饭煲的运行成本低于薪材收集的有效劳动时间成本，但电饭煲系统的初始资本支出和每月电费是尼泊尔农村采用的进一步障碍。表明目前广泛采用电烹饪是不可行的。电饭煲的运行成本低于薪材收集的有效劳动时间成本，但电饭煲系统的初始资本支出和每月电费是尼泊尔农村采用的进一步障碍。