energies Review eCooking: Challenges and Opportunities from a Consumer Behaviour Perspective Jon Leary 1,2, *, Bridget Menyeh 2 , Vimbai Chapungu 1 and Karin Troncoso 2   Citation: Leary, J.; Menyeh, B.; Chapungu, V.; Troncoso, K. eCooking: Challenges and Opportunities from a Consumer Behaviour Perspective. Energies 2021, 14, 4345. https:// doi.org/10.3390/en14144345 Academic Editor: David Borge-Diez Received: 26 May 2021 Accepted: 6 July 2021 Published: 19 July 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Gamos Ltd., 231 King’s Rd, Reading RG1 4LS, UK; vimbai@gamos.org 2 Geography and Environment, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK; B.O.Menyeh@lboro.ac.uk (B.M.); k.s.troncoso@lboro.ac.uk (K.T.) * Correspondence: j.leary@lboro.ac.uk Abstract: New opportunities are opening for electric cooking (eCooking) as a cost-effective, practical and desirable solution to the twin global challenges of clean cooking and electrification. Globally, momentum is building behind the transformative potential of eCooking to achieve a range of environmental and social impacts. However, cooking is a complex, culturally embedded practice, that results in an array of behavioural change challenges that must be understood and overcome for these new opportunities to translate into impact at scale. The Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme was designed to explore this space and pilot innovative new eCooking services with the potential to rapidly scale. This paper reflects upon the programme’s key learnings to date on the behavioural change dimension of eCooking. It consolidates what we now know on the subject and highlights the gaps that remain, where further investigation is needed. The evidence shows that the uptake of eCooking can be hindered by (often false) perceptions around cost, taste and safety, the high cost and steep learning curve for new appliances, the lack of awareness/availability/after- sales service for energy-efficient appliances and the reluctance of male decision-makers to authorise appliance purchases. However, it also shows that the convenience and potential cost savings offered by energy-efficient appliances can offer an aspirational cooking experience and that uptake could be driven forward rapidly by urbanisation and changing lifestyles. Keywords: electric cooking; clean cooking; perceptions; appliances; consumer behaviour 1. Introduction Two-point-eight billion people still rely on polluting fuels and technologies to cook most of their meals, however less than 800 million are now without access to electricity [1]. These statistics are usually quoted separately, however examining them together reveals a potentially transformative opportunity for the two billion people who now have access to some form of electricity, yet still cook with polluting fuels and technologies: cooking with electricity. In 2014, the WHO (World Health Organisation) published their Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) guidelines [2], highlighting the importance of transitioning away from the use of polluting fuels (biomass and kerosene) towards clean fuels, such as gas and electricity, to significantly reduce exposure to indoor air pollution. The use of polluting fuels, in particular, solid biomass, for cooking is also deeply intertwined with other development challenges, such as poverty, gender, forest degradation and climate change. The Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme was designed to bring together the clean cooking and electrification sectors to explore the emerging opportunities around cooking with electricity [3]. For decades, these two areas have been treated as two separate problems, with the clean cooking sector rarely considering electricity as a viable option and the electrification sector percieving cooking loads as outside of their scope. However, electricity grids are expanding rapidly and growing stronger in many areas of the Global South, meanwhile mini-grids and solar home systems are extending access beyond their reach. What is more, new energy storage technologies can buffer fluctuations Energies 2021, 14, 4345. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144345 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies