Many people in rural communities are cooking with firewood as it is cheap and relatively available in some areas.  Others, particularly in towns and peri-urban communities, cook with charcoal, which is more expensive and few cook with LP gas.  The firewood and charcoal are not environmentally friendly and expose those cooking to hazardous fumes.  Searching for firewood also exposes girls and women to potential sexual harassment.  Gas is only available in bigger settlements.

Solar lights are becoming increasingly common for use in homes and small businesses, particularly where grid power is not physically accessible or is unaffordable.  One challenge in the solar lighting market is low-quality lights sold very cheaply, some as poor or counterfeit immitations of brand lights. 

Many omena fishermen use small bulbs attached to a motorcycle, lead-acid battery for their fishing lights.  A few still use kerosene pressure lamps, but these are no longer common. Ugandan authorities seem to have a particular problem with WeTu fishing lights, which affects Kenya fishermen who fish close to the border or even within Ugandan waters.

There are just a few companies working with e-mobility solutions in the region. Power Hive has an e-mobility project in Kisii County with electric motorbikes and a few electric three-wheelers as well. Kisumu County and Kenya Power and Lighting Co. have introduced electric motorbikes for some county officers and meter readers in Kisumu. 

Other than these two initiatives, there is essentially no company promoting the use of electric vehicles in the region.  Nearly all vehicles are driven by petrol or diesel engines and even the level of awareness of the development of electric vehicles is very low.    

A number of companies have developed solar powered pumps for small scale irrigation. These are continuing to gain in popularity and usage. However, the general level of uptake is still relatively low in the Nyanza Region of western Kenya. There is a lot of potential for expansion and development in the sector. 

There is currently no project or company promoting the safe processing of electronic waste in the region.  Electronic wastes are generally dumped and some component parts removed in informal and hazardous conditions.  Waste management is largely informal and dominated by informal sector players.

The region’s dominant economic activities are fishing and subsistence farming. Despite favorable climatic conditions, agricultural productivity remains low due to the use of traditional farming methods as well as cultural practices of generational land subdivision, which has resulted in the dominance of small land holdings with limited agricultural activities.

In terms of fishing, hazardous fishing methods such as the use of non-compliant fishing nets, kerosene lamps, and lead acid battery powered lamps have resulted in declining fish stocks and lake pollution. 

Climate change information and energy monitoring services can be delivered more efficiently, flexibly, and reliably if they are built on an appropriate ICT platform.

There is advanced mobile phone technology available, such as 4G and 5G, which are established global standards for mobile connectivity and allows remote control, operation, and monitoring of systems and appliances. Blockchain and IoT are rapidly evolving, presenting new opportunities for optimized energy performance and innovation for remote monitoring system performance of the mini grid, real-time customer payments, climate change and health messaging dissemination.

The main issue is that current off-the-shelf solutions are not designed or are unsuitable for rural and peri urban environments, and they are prohibitively expensive.