Providing energy for home use, especially for cooking food and heating living spaces, without contributing to climate change demands creativity and perseverance.

In many parts of the world, women are primarily responsible for cooking meals as part of a basket of demanding domestic chores. Accessing energy for cooking needs must fit women's time constraints and cultural preferences.

The link between gender and innovative energy use for food preparation is explored in a new book, "Recovering Bioenergy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gender Dimensions, Lessons and Challenges," co-edited by Ruth Mendum, assistant research professor for gender initiatives in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, and Mary Njenga, research scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre.

The work is an outgrowth of the Gender Research and Integrated Training initiative, also known as GRIT, which is a collaboration between the college's Office of International Programs and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, or CGIAR, a global consortium that unites organizations engaged in international research for a food-secure future.

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