Materials and products used in building, such as steel and aluminum, are created by a production process of raw material extraction, raw material process, melting, manufacture to final products, and transportation to building sites. Each of the steps consumes energy, which is also expressed in terms of carbon emissions. Total carbon emissions of all building materials and products and the construction involved to put them together is known as building’s embodied carbon. Embodied carbon accounts for about 20% of the carbon emissions from the building sector (Lane, 2010).

A farmer from Loga standing close to one of the shrubs naturally assisted with millet cropping system.

Since about 1.5 billion people in the world use traditional stoves for cooking (and heating), efforts to improve the efficiency of cookstoves have been increasingly popular in the developing world. Improved stoves come in different forms and sizes.