This paper is the outcome of an initial scoping study on the potential for bottled biogas as a clean cooking option for Ghana and Uganda. The study seeks to understand the opportunities for bottled biogas for cooking in Africa, and asks why it has not already taken off, and the key issues to be addressed to enable this.

The paper starts by outlining the nature of the multiple challenges being addressed in the pursuit of clean and modern solutions for cooking, including the health impacts from combustion of solid biomass fuels but also the emissions of GreenHouse Gases. In parallel, developing regions face issues in managing residues and wastes from agro-industry and small-scale farming. Using residues to produce biogas for cooking has a long history in Asia, including at micro scales, typically in household-scale bio-digestors. Biogas is also seen as a bioenergy opportunity for Africa, but many millions of families live in peri-urban areas or for other reasons have insufficient bio-resources to fuel their own digestor.