Potential Energy

Half the world – over 3 billion people – cook their daily meals over an open fire. Smoke from cooking fires kills 4 million people each year…that’s more than AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined. Potential Energy, Inc. (www.potentialenergy.org) is a non-profit social enterprise based in Oakland, CA working to solve this problem. Our flagship product is a high-efficiency, wood-burning cookstove customized to the needs of women in Darfur (Sudan) and Ethiopia. Our stoves use ½ the firewood and cut down on ½ the smoke as compared to traditional cooking methods, and they allow women to cook at double speed. They have a powerful economic impact on women’s lives, and they also help women cope with the social and environmental challenges of life in Darfur. We’ve sold or distributed over 40,000 cookstoves in some of the most challenging and impoverished places on earth, and we’ll double that number in the next 2 years. We’re also expanding to new markets in Africa, and are working with the best stove and fuel technologies available to build a stove and fuel business that saves lives.