Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Globally, an estimated 3 billion people lack access to clean energy for cooking. Plus, most households still rely on rudimentary stoves, open fires fueled by charcoal or firewood. This puts pressure on local natural resources and leads to widespread deforestation. Additionally, the use of these fuels contributes to Household Air Pollution (HAP) which causes 4 million premature deaths annually (WHO, 2018).
To address this challenge, we at ACE provide clean energy to prevent deforestation and reduce carbon emissions, aligning with the Energy and Carbon Sink focus area of this award. Since 2011, we‚ ve supplied the ACE One, an efficient cookstove, to East Africa and South-East Asia. The stove provides biomass cooking energy through solar electricity that can also be used for lighting and phone charging. Additionally, we track the energy usage and carbon impact of each unit in real time, making it a unique player in the sector.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses), Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Our targets are low-income and bottom-of-the-pyramid households living in rural areas, many of whom earn as little as ‚Ç¨2 per day and are underrepresented in the climate movement. These households often cook using open fires or simple stoves and are exposed to the harmful effects of indoor air pollution. To address their limited purchasing power, we provide hybrid financing models that reduce costs for end users based on their level of engagement. We also do not overlook more vulnerable communities like refugees. For example, in the Kyangwali refugee settlement in Uganda, we implemented a user referral discount that rewarded users for referring new customers to the service.
Also, our project primarily benefits women and girls in developing countries who are often responsible for cooking and collecting fuel. The ACE One has a high thermal efficiency of 41.5%, which enables it to heat up quickly and eliminate household air pollution. Collecting firewood exposes women to gender-based violence, but we offer a fuel delivery service to our customers, reducing the time spent gathering fuel and minimizing exposure to such violence.
Additionally, we model our company around a virtuous cycle by selling our ACE One with clean fuel that in turn generates carbon revenue. We measure these carbon offsets by tracking the energy usage data as well as the users' switch to sustainable fuels. The generated carbon revenue is then invested into making clean fuels more accessible, incentivizing the users to use clean energy more and empowering all stakeholders in the cycle.

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Mission Statement:

At ACE, we are both a manufacturer of renewable energy products and a climate fintech pioneer in Energy as a Service (EaaS). Since 2015, ACE has managed almost its entire value chain, from manufacturing to end-user distribution, pre-financing and after-sales care. We are currently operating our business in Kenya, Lesotho, Uganda, and Cambodia. ACE has more than 400 employees across the countries and is primed for further roll-out, with particular growth in East Africa. The countries we are operating our business are as below.
- Netherlands (HQ): Global Support Team in Amsterdam
- Cambodia: 1 factory and 1 sales office (Siemreap)
- Uganda: 1 factory (Gulu), 9 sales offices (Gulu, Lira, Soroti, Hoima, Mbale, Kyangwali, Wakiso, Tororo, Fort Portal)
- Kenya: 1 sales office (Turkana & West Pokot regions)
- Lesotho: 1 factory (Thetsane) and 19 energy hubs/shops across the country
- Vietnam: 1 consolidation center for global procurement

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