As with the Simplecook cooktop, the specially designed Easycook stove cooks with just 700w 48v of DC, making it very easy to cook with small 1.5KVA generators that millions of Nigerians use. The uniqueness of Easycook is that it cooks with several advantages over existing cooking methods:
- 1). Easy cooking with small 1.5KVA electricity generators.
- 2). Cooking with an energy mix of mains, solar, wind and batteries.
- 3). When connected to wind or solar sources, cooking cost is zero.
- 4). No electric shocks because it is DC .
- 5). No health/environmental hazards associated with fossil fuels.
- 6). Cook at N38.64 per hour, against the N165.60 that AC electric stoves consume.
From our market research in Lagos, 100% of respondents randomly selected from the middle class and low income earners say they need a cooking technology that can save them the costs associated with their current methods, such as fuel wood, Kerosene stove, LPG stoves and AC electric cooktops. Like the Simplecook stove, therefore, Easycook is targeted, primarily, at the middle class and low income earners, as a direct cost-cutting replacement for their current cooking methods. As ecopreneurial technologies, Easycook and other cooking technologies innovated by Nicost have the potential to change the dynamics of cost-saving, eliminate hazards and have zero environmental impacts.
Owing to Nicost’s innovation in design, the Easycook stove won the first prize in the Science, Technology and Innovation Challenge organized by the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and its implementing partners, Enactus Nigeria. Out of 511 other projects selected from across Nigerian universities, the Easycook stove won the prestigious award of first prize. The award winning stove has moved from prototype to a production copy, and the first 100 stoves have been produced. Patent is being filed and relevant approvals sought from SON to protect the product.
