In Ulaanbaatar, where winter temperatures regularly fall below –30°C, heating systems are literally a matter of life and death. For decades, coal-fired stoves have both facilitated and burdened daily life in the city’s ger districts. The ubiquity of the smoke-belching stoves reflects the lack of modern infrastructure or affordable alternatives. Making matters worse, coal stoves contribute 70 to 80 percent of particulates in one of the world’s most severely polluted urban areas in winter. 

Thus, finding safe, affordable alternatives that function in the harsh environment and fit within people’s homes and routines has been a top priority for The Asia Foundation (TAF) in Mongolia. Over the past several years, the Coal-to-Solar initiative implemented by TAF in partnership with URECA LLC and Ger Urguu NGO has been piloting alternatives with transformative impact. 

From Idea to the First pilot 
Coal-to-Solar launched in 2022 with pilot funding from TAF and a simple but ambitious idea: to make clean energy solutions not only technically viable, but accessible and scalable for everyone, including ger district households.  

As explored in In Mongolia, A Quest to Democratize Carbon Credits, the early phase focused on testing whether integrated systems combining solar power, electric heating, and battery storage could replace coal while also generating verifiable carbon reductions. But technology alone was never the solution. From the outset, the initiative recognized that lasting change depends on how well innovation fits into people’s daily lives, their routines, livelihoods, economic realities, and aspirations. 

In the years since, families have jumped at the opportunity to rid themselves of their coal stoves and the backbreaking labor of feeding the beasts. In 2024, with generous funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, TAF launched the Women’s Climate Resilience project to expand the initiative through TAF’s Women’s Business Center. 

The early results, captured in How Transitioning from Coal to Renewable Energy Transformed a Mongolian Family’s Life, revealed something critical: the success of renewable energy transitions is not just measured in emissions reduced, but in daily lives improved, especially for women entrepreneurs.  

First Kindergarten to transition to renewables under The Asia Foundation’s “Women’s Climate Resilience” project Arvaikheer, Uvurkhangai province, 2025 
A New Milestone: First Pilot of Coal-to-Solar in a Detached House 
While the initiative expands to transition more gers, there is a bigger challenge: decarbonizing the estimated 134,000 detached houses in the district. Due to their larger size and higher heating demand, these houses typically consume 30 to 50 percent more coal and emit higher emissions and air pollution than gers. Plus, the houses vary widely in construction, insulation, and layout, making it difficult to apply a standardized solution.  

Transitioning detached houses to solar heating requires not just technology but also close collaboration between innovators and households to adapt solutions to fit real conditions in Ulaanbaatar ger-districts.  

On a cold March 2026 morning, that innovation became a reality inside the home of Ms. Davaakhuu and Mr. Namsraidorj. Just days earlier, the family had removed their masonry coal stove that had stood at the center of their home for nearly 30 years. While it had been essential, it came with a tremendous cost of endlessly hauling coal, tending fires, cleaning ash, and living with toxic invisible indoor smoke. 

Now, for the first time since 1998, it was gone. When we visited the household on March 18, the moment marked more than a household upgrade but reflected how innovation, when applied thoughtfully, can reshape daily lives of a family.  

Where Technology Meets Daily Life 
Ms. Davaakhuu, a client of TAF’s Women’s Business Center, and her spouse Mr. Namsraidorj had long accepted coal heating as a necessity. Like many families, they had even considered moving into an apartment to escape the burden and outdoor air pollution during winter peaks. 

That changed when they were selected as the first pilot household to test Coal-to-Solar in a detached house, supported by the British Embassy Ulaanbaatar through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Under this pilot, in February 2026, their home was equipped with an integrated system, including a cold-climate heat pump for primary heating, solar photovoltaic panels generating renewable electricity, battery storage for energy reliability, and a smart monitoring system verifying coal reduction in real time.  

Mr.Namsraidorj and Ms.Davaakhuu in front of their detached house and 10kW solar panels 
Developed and implemented by URECA, the system reflects an important shift of innovation being no longer tested in isolation, but it is embedded into everyday life of this family.  

What Change Looks Like in Practice 
The impact was immediate and deeply practical. “We sleep longer now,” the family shared. 

Without the need to wake early to light the stove or tend fire throughout the day, their routine has fundamentally changed. The transition has created space not only for comfort, but for opportunity. Ms. Davaakhuu now dedicates more time to expanding her handmade soap business. Mr. Namsraidorj, a retired welder, is finally able to rest and plan time with family after years of labor-intensive work, including maintaining their greenhouse business in their plot. 

“We were especially fortunate to work with Ms. Davaakhuu and Mr. Namsraidorj’s family,” the URECA team said. “They were an exemplary household, and Mr. Namsraidorj brought rare practical knowledge through his welding work and his experience at CHP-4 [Thermal Power Plant No.4] in Ulaanbaatar. He even helped build some components of the solar system himself. In many ways, he felt like part of our engineering team.”  

The household shared how their home now feels healthier; the air is clearer and the effort once required to maintain warmth has disappeared. This is how change happens. Not only through systems installed, but through lives made easier. 

Building a Path to a Smoke-Free Future 
This pilot is more than a technical milestone. It demonstrates how collaboration between innovators, communities, and development partners can turn possibility into practice. Early results show that renewable energy can supply a substantial share of household electricity demand in winter while reducing heating costs. At the same time, real-time monitoring systems make emissions reductions measurable, opening pathways for carbon financing. 

A small survey conducted in collaboration with Breathe Mongolia NGO in 2025 highlights that average 2.5 micrometer particulate matter level was 3.5 times lower in solar heated households. Findings were similar for 1 and 10 micrometer particulate matter. Converted households met Mongolian air quality standards 98.3 percent of the time compared to 25.4 percent for coal-heated households.  

But perhaps most importantly, the project shows that a smoke-free future in Ulaanbaatar is not a distant vision as it is already being built, one household at a time. 

A view from the household’s bedroom with the heat pump installed, Ulaanbaatar Mongolia 2026 
Coal-to-Solar’s expansion into detached housing is not the end of the journey. The next step is understanding how clean energy transitions can scale across diverse conditions. It is crucial to understand that technology alone does not create change. Change happens when technology is designed, adapted, and deployed with the input and involvement of families. 

Through continued collaboration with partners like URECA, and with the support of initiatives such as the FCDO-funded pilot, the expansion of the DFAT funded Coal-to-Solar project is demonstrating how innovation can move beyond pilots and change more people’s lives. 

Published Date:2026-04-01