Stoves Archive for November 2002

Improved Cookstoves

	Traditional cooking methods using an open fire or charcoal stove generate
high levels of fuel use and smoke, causing severe environmental,
public-health, and social problems for vast numbers of households (and women
in particular) in rural areas of poorer developing countries. Estimates of
the annual number of premature deaths due to acute respiratory infections
resulting substantially from indoor air pollution, in large part due to
smoke from traditional biomass stoves, range up to two million globally.38
The problem of traditional cookstoves and cooking fuels, and the serious
environmental, health, and social problems they cause, should not be
overlooked. The most important energy service in rural areas of developing
countries today is cooking food.

	Traditional stoves/fuels are only 10-20 percent efficient and produce high
levels of smoke, while improved stoves using traditional biofuels can
improve this efficiency to around 20-30 percent.39 Higher incomes and
reliable access to fuel supplies enable people to switch to modern stoves
and cleaner fuels such as kerosene, LPG, and electricity. Kerosene, LPG, and
electric stoves can improve cooking efficiency to 40-60 percent, greatly
reduce smoke, and improve standards of living and public health in
developing countries, although at higher monetary costs. But biomass is, due
to its low cost and availability, likely to remain the main cooking fuel in
rural areas of developing countries for many years to come. Improved biomass
stoves may be the most practical option for cutting smoke exposure, reducing
fuel waste, and cutting fuel collection burdens for large numbers of poor
households in the foreseeable future.

38 Smith et al. (1999). See also Kammen et al. (1999).
39 Baldwin (1986), OTA (1990), OTA (1992), Reddy et al. (1997).


Page 4-14 (154/256)

	Previous efforts to develop and disseminate improved biomass stoves have
met with mixed
success.40 China has implemented the most sweeping and successful improved
stove program in the
world. Around 130 million improved stoves, mostly biomass stoves, were
installed in rural areas during 1982-92, meaning over half of rural
households in China obtained an improved stove. Although there were problems
with quality control and durability in the beginning, these problems were
largely overcome and most stoves have saved fuel, improved indoor air
quality, and remained in use.41 Lessons from the Chinese national program
include targeting regions with adequate interest as well as technical,
financial, and managerial capability; limiting government subsidies (about
15 percent of total stove cost in the case of China); producing key stove
parts centrally; independently testing and monitoring to evaluate
performance; and working with rural enterprises for stove dissemination.42

	Kenya also has implemented relatively successful stove programs both for
urban areas and rural areas with improved charcoal and wood stoves,
respectively, disseminating over 700,000 stoves by the early 1990s. Lessons
from this experience include the importance of central production of key
components such as ceramic liners, use of small enterprises to produce and
market stoves in areas where users can afford to pay, use of women’s groups
for stove dissemination in rural areas, and tailoring designs to meet local
conditions while maintaining testing and quality control.43

 	In contrast to the China and Kenya experience, improved stove programs in
many other countries have met with much less success for a wide range of
technical, economic, social, and institutional reasons.44 This has resulted
in cuts in financial support for improved biomass stoves by many bilateral
aid organizations. Improving stove efficiency and cutting down indoor smoke
levels is, however, feasible and worth seeking. For households that purchase
fuel, the fuel savings can pay off the cost of the stove in as little as a
few months. For rural households that gather fuel, time spent on this task
can be significantly reduced, and other benefits provided.

	Technical difficulties abound in attempting to improve biomass stove
performance. For example:

·  Stoves which burn biomass directly under the pot produce smoke because
the pot is always at low (boiling) temperature, which quenches the
combustion of volatiles rising from the fire, creating smoke.

·  Household-scale biomass gasification units have difficulty turning down
the heat quickly and/or without extinguishing the gasification process.

·  Village scale gasifiers face difficulties in setting up the pipeline
distribution structure, avoiding gas leaks, and metering gas usage. There
are promising technical routes, but R&D is needed to develop them in a
low-cost, low polluting, efficient package. Alternatively, complementary
approaches such as the generation of liquid fuels from biomass may have
potential, as discussed in Chapter 5.  45

40 Barnes et al. (1994).
41 Smith et al. (1993), Smith (1993).
42 Ibid.
43 Karakezi and Turyareeba (1995)
44 Barnes (1994), Reddy et al. (1997)
45 Other approaches also face difficulties. Charcoal stoves are being widely
disseminated in east Africa, but conversion of wood to charcoal wastes
typically half or more of the original energy in the wood. Solar stoves may
offer some benefits, but only work during sunny daylight hours.


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Other Important Initiatives: Developing and Disseminating Improved
Cookstoves

Goal

	To support cooperative efforts in the development and dissemination of
low-cost, low-polluting, and efficient cookstoves fueled by renewable energy
resources. These stoves would improve public health and the quality of life
mainly in rural areas of Africa and Asia.

U.S. Actions

	The United States would support cooperative efforts with foreign
counterparts to:

(1) Research and develop low-cost, low-polluting, high-efficiency cookstoves
fueled by renewable
energy resources, particularly biomass and biomass-derived fuels (see
Chapter 5). This research
should be closely coupled to field demonstrations to ensure that stoves
fully meet user needs and
requirements. Emphasis should be on stoves that can be rapidly produced with
high levels of
intrinsic quality control.

(2) Build human and institutional capacity in stove RD3 in key developing
countries;

(3) Leverage large-scale deployment of these high-performance stoves through
the market.

Elaboration

	PCAST recommends that USAID, DOE, and EPA offer support and assistance to
improved stove
R&D and dissemination programs throughout Asia, Africa, and other regions
where cookstove-related
health and environment problems exist. This should include linking
universities with substantial
technical expertise and NGOs with field expertise with developing country
counterparts. Activities should be responsive to local needs and informed by
the lessons learned in previous efforts to design and disseminate improved
cookstoves. We suggest that USAID lead this initiative, but that both DOE
and EPA contribute funding and expertise, as appropriate. U.S. agencies
might consider funding South-South collaborations so that successful efforts
by countries like China and Kenya can be replicated elsewhere.

	This initiative would be closely coordinated with other nations and
development agencies supporting improved biomass stove efforts such as the
German assistance agency GTZ. At a minimum, funders need to coordinate and
avoid duplication and competition, jointly developing and implementing
strategies where possible. In addition, the U.S. government would encourage
the GEF, World Bank, and regional development banks to contribute to efforts
for improved stoves, where appropriate, including making available finance
through effective rural micro-credit schemes like the Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh.

	The primary U.S. interest here is humanitarian—helping to address the
severe health, environmental, and social impacts of traditional biomass
cooking in developing countries. Reducing indoor smoke and highly elevated
levels of particulates and other pollutants could reduce acute respiratory
illness found largely in women and children in developing countries, as well
as premature death linked to breathing elevated levels of smoke.


I am not going to give all the references - as it is too long.  But many
will recognize those from Smith, Kammen and others.  The following is still
one of my favorites - from a fellow who had something to do with this
section I guess:

Baldwin 1986: Samuel F. Baldwin, Biomass Stoves: Engineering Design,
Development, and
Dissemination (Rosslyn, VA and Princeton, NJ: Volunteers in Technical
Assistance and Center for
Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University, 1986).


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