“Soaking Beans - a cost-effectiveness analysis” by NickLaing

TLDR: On early-stage analysis, persuading people to soak their beans before cooking could  cost-effectively save Sub-saharan Africans a significant amount of money, and modestly reduce carbon emissions. (great uncertainty)  IntroductionAcross East Africa, hundreds of millions of people cook and eat beans multiple times every week. In Uganda where I live, beans make up an estimated 25% of the average Ugandan’s calorie intake and 40% of their daily protein intake.[1] Unfortunately cooking beans takes an absurd amount of time - usually two to three hours using charcoal or wood. The great news is that just soaking beans in water for 6-12 hours reduces cooking time by between 20% and 50% and   has no negative effect on bean taste or nutrients [2] [3]. When we tested soaking vs. not soaking, cooking time reduced by half. Despite the obvious benefits of massively reduced cooking time using less fuel., very few people in Uganda soak their beans - [...] ---Outline:(00:18) Introduction(02:08) Potential impact calculations(02:12) Assumptions(03:23) CO2 emissions prevented through soaking(03:49) Charcoal: CO2 equivalent saved by bean soaking(06:18) Wood CO2 equivalent saved by bean soaking(08:01) Money Saved by soaking beans(10:19) Tractability(12:02) Why Bean Soaking might not be tractable(12:37) Overall Cost-effectiveness Estimate(14:05) How to help 1% (or more) of Ugandans soak their beans?The original text contained 8 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: August 6th, 2023 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EAA5YeR6s6Ye2cZjD/soaking-beans-a-cost-effectiveness-analysis --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.