Saturday, October 30, 2010

Bangladesh's Kitchen Revolution With Bondhu Chula

Roomtobreathe
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed in Dhaka between Bangladesh's Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) under which GTZ will provide 10,000 'Bondhu Chula' (Friend Stove)-pollution-free and hygienic cook stoves for rural households in the ENRICH implementation areas by 2011.

PKSF Managing Director Dr Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed was quoted by the Bangladesh Financial Express as saying that the new stoves had the potential to reduce fuel consumption by 50 per cent and reduce emissions significantly.

The stoves were originally developed by the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and were subsequently upgraded by GTZ. According to a GTZ presentation, "Empowerment of Women for use of Improved Cook Stove to save energy and improve health" (2008), the Improved Cookstove, Bondhu Chula, was an adaptation of technology from IFRD and BCSIR and chosen on counts of being affordable and acceptable by people, could use all types of biomass available and could be made using locally available raw material.

According to GTZ, the advantages of the Bondhu Chula were, apart from no smoke in the kitchen, increased energy efficiency of 27% -29% and fuel saving of 50% -60% compared to traditional stoves. There was significant reduction of indoor air pollution in kitchens and reduction of cooking fuel by about 50 per cent, leading to saving of money, less time (50%) for collection of fuel as well as less time (30%-40%) for cooking. Apart from these, the stove resulted in clean kitchen and pots, reduced burden on forest resources, improvement of soil by increased use of bio-fertilizer and income generation for builders and trainers

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) works worldwide in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, providing viable, forward-looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world.

According to GTZ, its renewable energy and energy efficiency programme is directed at poorer families which, too, are in a position to replace appliances such as traditional stoves and kerosene lamps. The programme supports the use of energy-saving appliances and production processes and promotes the dissemination of technologies based on renewables.

A recent study by Prokaushali Sangsad Limited on "Gender Analysis of Measures Supported by Sustainable Energy Development (SED) Project of GTZ, Bangladesh", drew some interesting insights on building awareness about improved coosktoves through GTZ's partner organizations.

According to the study, "Success at the field level is strongy dependent on the available logistics of the POs and their effective participation in information dissemination. For the improved cookstove poject (bondhu chula), women are closely attached as users. The families who are using them are very pleased with the outcome of their investment. Since the NGOs typically work directly with the women in the rural area, information is more readily available for them. On the other hand, the women from the suburban towns do not get information as easily. Much of the information on the benefits and satisfaction from the use of ICS is spread through word of mouth and neighboring women who visit the users. Public advertisements and announcements also play significant role in information dissemination."

Photographs: GTZ Presentation
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Kenya's Challenge Of Shifting To Modern Energy

Indoor Air PollutionThere is need to encourage users to shift to modern energy sources by encouraging marketers  as well as providing incentives to increase production and use and creating an enabling environment to achieve low and affordable prices for fuels, appliances and equipment, gadgets and apparatus among the majority of the citizens, says a recent study in Kenya. The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research And Analysis in its recent study "A Comprehensive Study and Analysis on Energy Consumption Patterns in Kenya" says that since fuel wood has been the main fuel in the rural areas, there is need to encourage and enforce adoption of wood saving cookers, outside the traditional three stones.

According to the study, energy consumption pattern in Kenya portrays more of fuel stacking than fuel switching, where households are observed to be using multiple fuels (the use of more than one or various fuels to meet different energy demands). Fuel switching occurs when a household opts or chooses to completely shift and use a new fuel. (fuel mixes). This is classically the case when there isnt a significant increase in incomes and the tendency is for multiple fuel use.

The analysis also revealed that affordability was the main reason why majority were not willing/ able to pay for improved energy services for example kerosene, electricity and charcoal were viewed to have high cost. Lack of information deterred households from willing to pay for improved LPG products and services, while petrol and lubricants, were viewed to be dangerous, unsafe and of poor quality.

The findings of the study carried out by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) on A Comprehensive Study and Analysis on Energy Consumption Patterns in Kenya”, commissioned by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) point out that fuel usage is as much a result of household size as the geography of presence but not necessarily linked to an inherent movement towards cleaner fuels.

According to the study, as the household size increases, the budget share on kerosene declines. This could be explained by the fact that as the household size increases, the household switches to other fuel types such as charcoal, fuel wood and even LPG to meet increased demand for energy for example in food preparation.

From the results, households in urban areas are likely to demand more kerosene than those in rural areas. This is expected since rural households have at their disposal other types of fuels such as fuel wood and charcoal.

The study says about 70% of the consumers use biomass while 30% use other fuels. This supports well known studies that biomass provides 70% of the energy requirements. The study showed kerosene to be mostly used for lighting (52%) while biomass was widely used for cooking (60%).  Fuel wood had the highest energy budget share on average for both rural (11.6 %) and urban (9.34 %) compared to the other fuels.

The energy choice model results showed that demand for cooking fuels such as fuel wood, charcoal, kerosene, electricity and liquefied petroleum gas(LPG) are driven by certain key factors and vary depending on whether the household is located in rural or urban areas. The key determinants for kerosene choice at the household were occupation, total energy expenditure, household size, fuel wood price, education level and price of LPG. With regard to fuel wood choice, important factors included the price of fuel wood which has a negative coefficient, household size and total expenditure. The key determinants of choice for use of charcoal included household size, price of charcoal, price of fuel wood, education level, and both formal and informal employment.

Photo courtesy: United Nations Environment Program
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Shell Foundation Catalysing Disruptive Change Through Angel Philanthropy

Improved cook Stoves

Shell Foundation's milestone report 'Enterprise Solutions to Scale' propounds the cause of 'catalysing disruptive change through angel philanthrophy'. The approach propounded by Shell Foundation, and demonstrated through its programs, makes the point that angel philanthropy directed at new entities who are entrepreneurial and have aligned vision of scale are likely to be more successful in creating social impact.

According to the Report, "We find it striking that in every instance where partnerships achieved scale and measurable social impact it has been with newly created entities that we helped co-found using new business
models we co-developed. In all cases we were also the sole partner and subsidy provider during the development and testing of these business models. By contrast, despite our various efforts, we have never succeeded in helping an existing organisation go to scale. We believe that angel philanthropy has significant potential to catalyse scaleable solutions to global development challenges."

The Report echoes the belief that often underlines much of angel investing, saying "we look for entrepreneurial partners who focus entirely on the venture and share the start-up risk by investing their own resources in it."

According to the report, "It is hugely important to have an aligned vision with partners, from the outset, with respect to achieving scale and sustainability. This means having a plan to achieve both social impact and financial viability from inception and which is subject to regular measurement and reporting. It is also based on recruiting the best staff and developing the most efficient operating systems essential for managing the complex multiple location operations that scale entails. Where we have partnered with individuals or organisations who did not share this early ambition to achieve scale, we found it virtually impossible to “retrofit” the subsequent capacity needed to achieve it."

Exploring the issue of which are the best partners to invest in from a social point of view, the report points out that the Foundation made a strategic shift and had "far greater success... when we focused our resources – time and money – on developing new approaches with a few carefully selected partners or by supporting organisations with a clear market demand for the products or services they offered."

Further, the report makes the point that the approach has to go beyond simply providing funds: "We believe there is a need to deploy resources to build a sustainable enterprise rather than simply provide grants to subsidise the short-term provision of products or services. Building sustainable enterprises means investing in core capacity and systems as a pre-requisite for scale. It also requires additional input over and above grant finance in the form of business advice, market access and appropriate governance support."

Accordingly, "SF has invested considerable time in providing a range of expertise, business advice and skills-based support to our partners. We believe that this “more than money” approach forms a critical part of our differentiated business model and serves to significantly reduce the risk of working in a start-up environment."

The report takes a look at Shell Foundation's IAP Strategy and the way in which the strategies were changed in order to create greater social imact. Says the report, "By 2007, SF had invested over US$4 million in nine pilots with a range of IAP-specialist  NGO partners across the globe. While this resulted in significant sales of improved cookstoves, no pilot showed the potential for scale-up or sustainability. As a result, we changed strategy and sought a global strategic partner with a proven track record in product design coupled with commercial experience in the marketing, distribution and sale of consumer durables."

Outlining its partnership with Envirofit, the report says, "From the outset, SF and Envirofit worked together to develop a viable business model, conduct in-depth consumer market research, undertake ground-breaking R&D in product  development and establish distribution and sales networks with an initial focus on southern India. Envirofit has subsequently produced a line of durable clean cookstoves that currently retail for between US$15-US$30 in India.

Excerpts from the section on the partnership with Envirofit to deal with the challenge of IAP:
Compared to traditional cooking fires, these reduce emissions, improve fuel efficiency, and are perceived to reduce cooking time significantly. A recent independent study in India has rated the stove as the preferred one as it is modern looking, has high fuel efficiency, uses traditional fuel and is portable and smokeless.

Envirofit has recently produced a clean charcoal burning stove which is now being sold in Africa and other developing countries. As part of wider efforts to enhance sales of clean cookstoves, SF developed and implemented local and national IAP awareness-raising campaigns (“Room to Breathe”), and established a range of effective distribution channels through partnerships with microfinance institutions and NGOs. It has also supported Berkeley Air Monitoring Group (www.berkeleyair.com) to conduct independent monitoring of the performance of the stoves.

Recent field work in India concluded that the Envirofit stoves showed statistically significant reductions of PM2.5, CO2 and fuel use. Additionally, 78% of users reported that cooking time was reduced compared to their traditional stove, 89% reported that the improved stove saved fuel and 97% found the improved stove easier to use.

Over the period 2007 to date, Shell Foundation has committed US$12.3 million as grant funding towards the development of a range of clean cookstoves as well as building up the capacity and operational systems of both Envirofit International and Envirofit India. In 2010 Envirofit started expanding into Africa and is expected to scale up further in 2011.

Since early 2008, Envirofit has evolved into the market leader in sales of clean cookstoves across India. Aggregate sales to date of more than 150,000 stoves benefit an estimated 600,000 IAP affected people. With a durability of 3 to 5 years depending on the model, stoves sold to date are predicted to save over US$30 million for India’s lowest-income consumers through fuel-saving of over 600,000 tonnes of wood and preventing one million tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere. The business has also created over 500 local jobs through the growth of its 400-strong network of manufacturing, sales and distribution channel partners.

Envirofit has succeeded in creating a sustained and growing market for its clean cookstove products in India. As market growth continues, Envirofit will shift further towards localised assembly and manufacture so as to continue efforts to lower end user costs. As with many other types of consumer durable products aimed at the Bottom of the Pyramid, it takes a long time for this high volume, low margin business to reach the tipping point whereby sales growth is generated largely through brand awareness. Despite increasing earned income and improving gross margins, Envirofit will rely upon grant funding in its continuing efforts to both develop and market better performing and cheaper stoves until it achieves financial break-even expected in 2014.

In line with meeting agreed Key Performance Indicators, SF will continue to support Envirofit with regards to its own global scale-up plans for clean cookstoves. SF is also a founding partner in the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, hosted by the UN Foundation to establish international standards and testing protocols for clean cookstoves, fund related health and climate research, and develop innovative financing mechanisms that aim to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient cooking solutions such as clean cookstoves and fuels. Their “100 by 20” goal is: 100 million households to have adopted clean and efficient cooking solutions by 2020.

Read the full report: Enterprise Solutions to Scale
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Grant For PHI For Clean Cookstove Technology

Roomtobreathe
The Public Health Institute (PHI) has been awarded a major grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) focused on implementing clean cookstove technology, according to a PHI Press Release.

The $980,000 award will support planning and field work for the next year on cookstoves in Kenya, Guatemala and India, as well as joining the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the National Institutes of Health and CDC in planning a global clean cookstoves workshop.

This grant is one of the first provided by a U.S. Government agency under a new initiative for clean cookstoves announced at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 21 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Secretary Clinton said that the U.S. government would provide at least $50 million over the next five years toward a global goal to put 100 million fuel-efficient stoves into use worldwide by 2020.

The Public Health Institute, a California-based nonprofit, has been generating and promoting research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices for 40 years.

“We are delighted to implement one of the U.S. government’s first large-scale efforts on clean cookstoves,” said PHI President and CEO Mary Pittman. “This project will allow PHI to help advance public health knowledge and practices around the use of cleaner cookstove technologies around the world and their impact on air quality.”

“There is no silver bullet when it comes to clean cookstove technology,” said Pittman. “We understand that there remain significant challenges in the design, manufacture, distribution, and measurement of clean burning stoves. But putting fuel efficiency and safe technology in the hands of millions of people is an attainable goal, and PHI is the right organization to work with CDC and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves on this critical initiative.”

Read Press Release Public Health Institute Award to Advance Clean Cookstove Technology
Photo Courtesy: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Shell Foundation's 'Enterprise Solutions to Scale' Report Outlines New, Successful Approach to Global Development Challenges

Indoor Air Pollution
Shell Foundation has launched its ‘Enterprise Solutions to Scale’ report which documents how the organisation has ‘catalysed’ the creation of new scaleable and sustainable solutions to key global development challenges. The report shares both the success and the failure encountered during a decade of deploying enterprise-based solutions  to achieve scale of impact. The lessons are relevant given the poor progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Since 2000 Shell Foundation has pioneered an enterprise based approach that differs from traditional corporate philanthropy, which is based upon establishing new partners with new ways of working that from the outset target scale of impact and financial viability. By applying business thinking, models and disciplines Shell Foundation has created four strategic partners that are achieving scale. These partners work on markedly different issues –  sustainable transport, growing small enterprises in Africa, reducing indoor air pollution and promoting ethical trade – but share commonalities around the difficulty of the challenge.

Shell Foundation has invested “more than money” over the past ten years in its efforts to achieve scale. In its inception phase, when Shell Foundation provided short-term project-based support to multiple not-for-profit organizations, 80% of its initiatives failed to achieve scale or sustainability either due to poor execution or to lack of market demand for the proffered products and services. Quickly learning from this experience, Shell Foundation changed its strategy to focus on co-developing new business models with new strategic partners, with the result that 80% of its funds have achieved scale and in so doing, leveraged an additional $1.2 billion in finance.

Chris West, Director of the Shell Foundation, said: “Achieving truly scaleable and sustainable outcomes is not easy. It takes a huge amount of time, investment and patience. In this report, we are not claiming that we have all the answers. But we have identified some common features underpinning the success of some of our partnerships. We have learned a great deal from both our success and our failure and hope that by sharing our experience, we can help others avoid making the same mistakes.”

The key findings of the report include:

•The need to catalyse disruptive change through ‘Angel Philanthropy’ – In every instance where Shell Foundation succeeded in building partnerships that have achieved scale it has been with newly created entities that it has helped co-found, using new business models that it has co-developed.

•The importance of building sectoral partners – catalysing large-scale change is hard and, whether with for-profit or not-for profit partners, requires providing “more than money” and takes time, patience and considerable investment.

•Moving from subsidy to earned income – targeting financial viability means less reliance on aid, growth benefits more people and the accompanying innovation means the enterprises are able to provide customers with more affordable goods and services

Enterprise Solutions to Scale discusses the need to look beyond scale for wider system change. No matter how successful partners are at pioneering and scaling new enterprise-based solutions to development challenges, they alone will never fully address the un-served needs of the millions of poor people around the world.

Foundations and donors manage significant amounts of money.  Yet finding data around comparative performance is difficult. By reporting failure as well as success Shell Foundation recognises the need for greater transparency in the sector, so that the value of wider lessons may be shared more effectively in the future.

Read the full Report: Enterprise Solutions to Scale
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Nailing the Biomass Connection to COPD

Improved Cook Stoves
The linkage of biomass burning with COPD has got a closer look in a research by a group of Indian researchers. N K Mondal, A Roy, B Mukherjee, D Das and M R Ray have collaborated on a research on "Indoor Air Pollution from Biomass Burning Activates Akt in Airway Cells and Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes: A Study among Premenopausal Women in Rural India."

Buring of wood, dung, and crop wastes have been linked with IAP related mortality. This study underscores the linkage by tracking data on the activation of the serine/threonine kinase Akt in airway cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) due to cumulative exposures to biomass smoke. Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase closely associated with key membrane-bound receptors and represents a convergent integration point for multiple stimuli implicated in COPD pathogenesis, according to to an early study on "Akt in the pathogenesis of COPD" by S Bozinovski, R Vlahos, M Hansen, K Liu, and GP Anderson.

The study covered 87 premenopausal non-smoking women of an average of 34 years who used to cook with wood, dung and crop wastes. The study also did a comparison with 85 women in the same age-group who cooked with cleaner fuel liquefied petroleum gas.

The study found significantly higher levels of Akt protein in PBL, airway epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages, and neutrophils in sputum of biomass-using women as opposed to those cooking on LPG stoves.

The study also found 2 to 4 times more particulate pollution in biomass-using households. The study says that its finding suggests that that chronic exposure to biomass smoke activates Akt, possibly via generation of oxidative stress.
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

$2 Million Joint Donation For Proyecto Mirador's Improved Stoves In Honduras

Roomtobreathe
The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and Overlook International Foundation have announced a joint US$ 2.0 million donation to Proyecto Mirador, a Gold Standard fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras, according to a Press Release. The donations will support the construction of over 100,000 La Justa Dos por Tres stoves over the coming ten years. It will help reduce carbon emissions in excess of 150,000 tons, reduce toxic smoke inside 100,000 homes and provide the Honduran families with tangible economic benefits from a reduction in the consumption of increasingly scarce fuel wood resources.

Proyecto Mirador (PM) hopes its stove project can serve as a model for other groups around Central America where the damage from deforestation and indoor air pollution is accelerating each year. Jeremy Grantham, Chairman and Founder of ’The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment‘(GFPE) said, “We have been supporting Proyecto Mirador for the past five years and have been impressed by its integrity, its determination in securing Gold Standard registration and its vision to utilize the carbon markets for funding this social benefit."

Proyecto Mirador plans to initiate sales of carbon credits in 2011. Richard and Dee Lawrence, Directors of the Overlook International Foundation and cofounders of PM, say, “Gold Standard certification can provide an exceptional opportunity for stove projects around the world to become self-funding and self sustaining. We believe such a market based solution must be a core requirement if the world is to provide improved stoves to the more than 500 million households that cook over open fires and live with indoor air pollution and under the threat of deforestation”.

Photo Courtesy: Proyecto Mirador
Full Press Release: The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and Overlook International Foundation announce a joint US$ 2.0 million donation to Proyecto Mirador, a Gold Standard fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras
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Sunday, October 3, 2010

India's Annual Rural Clean Energy Market Estimated at USD 2 billion

Improved Cook Stoves
The market for clean energy products and services is increasing among India’s rural poor, and according to a new analysis, could potentially grow to more than USD 2 billion per year, says a news release from the World Resources Institute.

Roomtobreathe
Demand for clean energy products is rising among India’s rural communities, according to the Power to the People analysis released by the Centre for Development Finance at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (CDF-IFMR) and the World Resources Institute(WRI). The study focuses on the energy needs of India’s rural poor, or those living at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) in rural areas, which make up more than 114 million households and nearly 60 percent of India’s total population.

The analysis finds that companies supplying clean energy products–including solar lanterns and energy efficient cooking stoves–to the rural BoP market, have seen annual gross revenue grow by an average of 36 percent per year since 2004.

According to the analysis, "Energy-efficient cookstoves can replace traditional polluting stoves that cause indoor air pollution and severe respiratory problems in women and children. Based on the most recent available data (2004/2005), we estimated the energy-efficient cookstove market is worth INR 1.11 billion (US$24.13 million) per year."

The report concludes that the "investors and clean energy firms serving this market should work together to advocate policies that achieve the dual objectives of increasing access to clean energy and stimulating the industry’s growth. The improved implementation of existing regulations by the states, combined with new
favorable policies such as considering clean energy products and service providers a priority lending sector for Indian banks would help achieve both objectives."

Indoor Air Pollution
“Clean energy firms in India can capture the market that serves the BoP by providing environmentally and user-friendly energy solutions that will reduce health problems through lower air pollution, and lower fuel costs, while generating additional public benefits, such as lower greenhouse gas emissions,” said Kirsty Jenkinson, director of the Markets and Enterprise Program at WRI. “This report will help investors recognize the tremendous market opportunities in this nascent, but fast-growing sector.”


To estimate the current state of India’s clean energy market and potential for growth, CDF-IFMR and WRI conducted field research among rural BoP consumers in 26 small towns and villages in India and across four other countries. The teams also collected financial data from 15 Indian companies across four sectors–small decentralized renewable electricity producers, home-scale solar electricity providers, solar-powered lantern manufacturers, and energy-efficient cooking stove producers.


According to David Fuente, program head for the Infrastructure and Governance Group at CDF-IFMR, “The report builds on global work in the sector and presents a granular, grounded picture of the very real challenges and opportunities of investing and doing business in the clean energy sector that serves India’s BoP.”


While rural electrification in India has been growing in recent years, this growth has come at a very slow rate. Moreover, most rural areas only receive a few hours of electricity a day, which is of a very low voltage. Households connected to the grid often find that the electricity is of poor quality and, according to those interviewed, the rural BoP want a dependable source of electricity. “Most people we talked to in rural communities consider energy to be essential,” said Saurabh Lall, a research officer at WRI. “If there are high quality renewable products and services that meet consumer demand available, there is a market for them, even in the very poorest communities.”

Currently, the Indian BoP is spending USD 4.8 billion per year on energy, mainly for fuels that are harmful to the environment and hazardous to personal health as well as for services that are unreliable. Installed at the community level, small hydro and biomass gasification can supply energy to a local area without depending on the grid. At the individual level, solar lanterns and energy-efficient cook stoves can replace dirty fuel sources such as kerosene lamps and cooking stoves fired by wood or dung. The transition to clean energy sources among India’s rural poor offers significant growth potential for investors while also promising to provide tangible environmental, health and lifestyle benefits to the rural BoP in India.

“Eliminating energy poverty in a sustainable way is one of the most significant development challenges of our time,” said Jessica Seddon Wallack, Director, Centre for Development Finance. “We require innovation at all levels, from lowering the costs of renewable technologies to creating business and policy models for generating and disseminating energy and ensuring its efficient use to understanding the intricacies of consumer demand.”

Photo Courtesy: World Resources Institute

Read the World Resources Institute Report: Power to the People: Investing in Clean Energy for the Base of the Pyramid in India
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