Professor Francis Kwasi Ampanyin Allotey, President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, has noted that with the rapid increase of urbanization energy access will become a key issue in the near future.

He said there was an accelerated demand for wood fuel, especially charcoal, in view of inadequate and uneven supply of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) in most parts of the country.

Prof Allotey was speaking at the 53rd Founders Week Celebration organized by the Academy under the theme, “Ghana’s Urbanization Challenge” in Accra.

He said unsustainable production and incomplete combustion of biomass was a significant contributor of local pollution in homes, particularly, the health of women and children was continually at risk since they did most of the home cooking.

Prof Allotey said initiatives on the promotion of improved charcoal stoves had been implemented by non-governmental organizations where the Ministry of Energy left off, adding: “I am told that about 200,000 units of improved cook stoves under the brand name “Gyapa” improved cookstoves have been distributed throughout the country since 2007 by NGOs.”

He said in 2006, the Energy Commission hosted a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assisted Households Energy Project (HEP) which was aimed at enhancing access to sustainable energy service for cooking in Ghana.

Prof Allotey noted the project's objective was key in encouraging the use of efficient charcoal and firewood stoves and that heavy dependence on wood for cooking and heating increased the pressure on local natural resources and accelerated degradation.

He said the Energy Commission jointly with Energy Foundation had initiated a number of energy efficiency and conservation measures to help improve the efficiency of energy use in the country, adding that the latest was the Refrigerator Exchange and Rebate promotion programme launched last September.

Under the programme, one sends an old but functioning refrigerator to a designated retail outlet and gets a discount coupon for a purchase of a new energy efficient one.

Prof Allotey said energy efficiency was not only on the demand-side, but also covered supply-side technologies as well and that it included the improvement in the conservation efficiencies of the hydropower plants, thermal plants and also fuel consumption efficiencies of vehicles on the roads.