Biomass Users To Increase By 2030

The number of people who use traditional biomass as wood and manure, is projected to rise from 2.7 billion today, to 2.8 billion in 2030, announced the International Energy Agency (IEA) bringing attention to the fact that the vast usage of biomass for cooking is a key component of energy poverty as  reported in InDepthNews. This statement was made as a part of IEA's call to secure adequate funds to turn universal energy access into a reality.

It is been projected by WHO and IEA that the number of IAP deaths owing to the use of traditional biomass in stoves with inadequate ventilation will lead to over 1.5 million premature deaths per year in 2030, while the number of premature deaths from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS will reduce.

IEA says that to combat IAP related deaths and to provide clean cooking facilities to 2.8 billion people, a sum of USD 2.6 billion is required every year. The total investment projected between now and 2030 is USD 756 billion to achieve universal access to electricity and clean energy.

Dr. Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist on approaching 2012, says, “As we build up to the 'International Year of Sustainable Energy for All', the global community must rally together to make sure that access to energy becomes a right that is not only enjoyed by the majority, but by each and every citizen of the world."

Meanwhile, the IEA is also catering to issues of energy security, economic development, fostering economic growth, environmental awareness and eliminating energy poverty. 

Read full story on: ‘Make Access to Energy a Right of All Citizens’

Burdwan Study Says Link Between IAP And Levels Of Education

A recent study in the state of West Bengal in India says that education levels are directly related to the kind of fuels in use in households. According to the research article, "A comparative assessment of Status of indoor air pollution of few selected families of rural and urban area of Burdwan town and its adjoining area", 43% of the people without formal education used wood, straw, and dung while only 3% with tertiary levels of education and 25% with primary and secondary levels of education used the same fuels.

The research article published in the International Journal of Environmental Sciences (Volume 1, No 5, 2011) says that a higher percentage of less polluting fuels were used by people with tertiary education in urban area. According to the authors of the research report, N K Mondal, S Konar, A Banerjee and J K Datta from the Department of Environmental Science, University of Burdwan, "a positive regression line was extrapolated between diseases and factors responsible for indoor pollution."

The research article points out that as per a recent estimate, 82% of sulphur dioxide (SO2), 38% of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), 88% of volatile organic compounds and 96% particulate matter emissions in the country came from the household sector (Parikh, 1999).

The study was conducted in 50 rural and 50 urban homes to check the indoor air quality. The houses were picked randomly and data was extracted by way of interview schedules and regular monitoring of air quality.

About 71% of those surveyed in rural areas used wood, straw and dung whereas only 2% of the urban observation set used the same bio-fuel. The research article notes that since the use of such fuels is closely linked to poverty, it also usually signifies that the population generally has poor access to health care.

The study arrives at the conclusion that there is a co-relation between the large number of families in rural areas suffering from diseases such as asthma or respiratory problems and use of solid biomass for cooking fuel and improper ventilation. According to the study, more alarming conditions were observed for rural girls/women, specially those involved in cooking. The authors found that unhealthy cooking methods and use of biomass fuels not only contributed to chronic bronchitis but also put children below the age of five at grave risk.

The study recommends a mass awareness program among poor people about indoor air pollution, including the deleterious effects of both smoke from biomass fuels and smoking indoors.

Read the complete study on: A comparative assessment of status of indoor air pollution of few selected families of rural and urban area of Burdwan town and its adjoining area

World Bank Encourages Clean Cookstoves in Africa

World Bank is set to endorse commercialization and judicious use of biomass based energy for cooking, lighting and powering machines through a multi-million shilling project aimed at nine African countries, as per a report in Business Daily. The $3.5 million initiative will focus on 10 projects chosen out of 100 proposals covering Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Benin, Gambia, South Africa and Mozambique.

“The bank will finance projects promoting the production and use of biomass fuel, such as energy saving charcoal stoves and clean biogas”, said Mr Waqar Haider, a senior energy specialist at the World Bank. “An objective of the programme is to identify projects that can be incorporated in future World Bank’s lending portfolio”, Mr Heider added.

“Charcoal and firewood constitute for the major energy source for Sub-Saharan Africa and the most charcoal cooking equipment are inefficient and emit high levels of pollution impacting negatively on health of the users and on the environment”, said, Mr Johannes Zutt, the World Bank Country Director for Kenya. “Despite its social, economic and environmental importance, investments in biomass energy makes up less than four per cent of energy access expansion projects,” Mr. Zutt added.

The rural biodiesel project in Kenya, started by Help Self Help Centre, a non-governmental organization in Nairobi will be up-scaled and will support use of biodiesel for vehicles and generators and bio-kerosene for lighting and cooking. The fuel will be locally extracted from available tree seeds. The Project will allow adoption of bio-fuels by 3.000 households whilst ensuring development of five seed collection centres.

“The money will be used to upscale production output from 300 to 800 litres per day. We will also be introducing cooking stoves and lamps while expanding the programme,” said Bernard Muchiri, director of Help Self Help Centre.

The Project will finance production of 10,000 stoves in Uganda by local tinsmiths and small business entrepreneurs through the Centre for Research in Energy and Conservation in the faculty of technology at Makerere University.

The Project money will be used to raise awareness among the inhabitants and encourage tree planting.

Read the full story on: Bank funds biomass projects in Africa

Indian MNRE Pilot Project To Evaluate Community-Sized Cookstoves

A pilot for field testing and evaluation of community sized biomass cookstoves for subsequent development and deployment of improved cookstoves is now being implemented by India's Delhi IIT on a mandate from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The project will be implemented through nine field agencies in eight states: Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. Each agency will be installing fifty stoves in the clusters that have been already identified.

Based on the requirements of each location, the stoves will have to be of three sizes. The smallest size of the stove will aim at catering to 50 people, the medium size for 100-150 people, while the large size stove is targeted at restaurants and commercial setups. The stoves are expected to have fuel burning rate/power output ranging from 5KW to 10KW (consuming about 4kg to 8kg of biomass per hour respectively) and the efficiency of the stove should not be less than 30% in a water boiling test in the laboratory.

The emission rate from the stoves are required to meet the BIS standards of CO, CO2 ratio, not more than 0.04 and particulate matter 2mg/m3. The stoves should carry a warranty of 3 years for the combustion chamber and 2 years for other accessories such as fan and motor. It should also be able to use locally available biomass or be supplied with fuel such as pellets, briquettes with fixed prices for 2 years.

The manufacturers who get the order are to deliver the stoves to the various implementing agencies directly and get the payments from them. However, in case of fixed type of stoves, the manufacturer/supplier is supposed to construct them on the specific sites identified by the implementing agencies.

The selected bidders will have to submit at least one sample to IIT Delhi for testing the parameters.

The Notice Inviting Quotation for technical and financial bid submission from cookstove manufacturers was open till 3rd January, 2011.

'Creation Of New Technologies Will Hold The Key To Clean Energy'

A series of innovative technologies hold the promise of providing the deprived access to clean energy. At the forefront are cook stove manufacturers such as Envirofit and Score Stoves, says Just Means News Writer Sarah Brown. "In CSR terms, the creation of new technologies will hold the key to clean energy for the developing world."

Envirofit, a manufacturer of clean energy cookstoves started as a result of CSR partnership between the Shell Foundation, Colorado State University's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, and the materials Science and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Labs.

Envirofit has taken up the cause of clean cookstoves as their responsibility towards the society as according to them, Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) currently claims the lives of 1.5 million people a year worldwide, or one person every 20 seconds. Women and children make up 85% of these deaths due to their increased exposure in the home.

Brown notes that compared to traditional cooking fires, these cookstoves reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%, use up to 60% less fuel and reduce cooking cycle time by 50% .

Another Project, the Score Stove, a joint CSR venture between experts from across the world to develop a biomass-powered generator aims to assist easy access to energy in rural communities. It has multiple uses ranging from cooking, refrigeration and electricity generation from thermal waves emitted during cooking.

Tests have been carried out in Nepal and Kenya to investigate how the Score Stove works in practice. This has helped to hone the design and performance of the generator to ensure it is low-cost and high efficiency.

In order to make it viable, the target cost of the generator is £20 per household, based on the production of a million units.

Photo Courtesy: Score Research;  Envirofit

Read the full story on: CSR and new technology for the developing world

The Making Of Estufa Finca

Efforts to build improved cook stoves are resulting in solutions that combine an appreciation of thermodynamics with the social and culinary needs of people and their environment. A Seattle area artist Art Donnelly, for example, invented a clean-burning biochar stove which he now propagates through a non-profit organization called Seachar in Costa Rica.

Donnelly's stove runs on garden waste and was inspired by his experience while travelling in South America, says a report in Kuow.org by Joshua McNichols. He explains that when a piece of wood is burnt, it actually burns twice. At the beginning the fire is bright, with lots of flames. Later, after all the resins and things have burned off, the flame dies down a bit and one is left with glowing embers,charcoal. This is when the wood releases most of its carbon to the atmosphere.

Donnelly says that his stove makes efficient use of the first stage when the fire is bright. The smoke is consumed in the flames and therefore there is almost no emission. He further says,"Because it is so efficient you don't need to go to the second stage of the fire. Instead, you remove the burning embers from the stove with a pair of tongs and drop them in a bucket full of water."

These stoves do not need to use wood for fuel. One can fuel these stoves with garden waste including corncobs and goat poop. And that is why Donnelly has taken his stoves down to Costa Rica. He has brought stoves to the same women and children he saw cooking at smoky fires years ago. Over the next cacao harvest season, Donnelly will carefully track what they put into their stoves — and what they take out.

According to SeaChar.org, it is working with partners around the globe to Reinvent Fire. "Our elegant and affordable Estufa Finca (Farm Stove) works by burning the smoke that would escape a traditional fire. Able to use a wide range of waste biomass as fuel, these stoves will save lives and trees. As an add benefit the stoves produce the soil building charcoal known as biochar, a form of fixed biocarbon which can store excess CO2 for thousands of years."

To read the full story: Clean-Burning Cookstoves
Also see SeaChar.org

Indian Annual IAP Deaths Between 4,00,000 To 6,00,000

Indian Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad has in a written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament) said that about 4,00,000 to 6,00,000 premature deaths can be attributed annually to use of biomass fuel in Indian population as per WHO Report (Kirk R. Smith : National burden of disease in India from indoor air pollution, 2000; WHO 2007).

According to the statement, "based on extrapolation of health effects in developed countries due to indoor air pollution, WHO has estimated that about 2.8 million premature deaths are due to indoor air pollution and highest number of deaths will occur in India."

"Ministry of Environment & Forests have introduced the new national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in 2009 for the extended list of 12 pollutants which are more closely related to health"

The reply further states that "the Government though the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has taken various steps to control and prevent indoor air pollution, through National Programme on Biogas Development to provide alternatives to burning firewood, agricultural residues, cattle dung and coal as fuel. National Programme on Improved Chulhas has been taken up to promote thermally efficient and low smoke stoves/smokeless chulhas. IEC activities through electronic and print media are undertaken to give publicity to the programmes. Women Education programmes are also organised in villages to generate awareness about the hazards of burning firewood, agricultural wastes, cattle dung in traditional chulhas and benefits of the biogas technology etc"

Kenya's Challenge Of Shifting To Modern Energy

There 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

Nailing the Biomass Connection to COPD

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.

Secretary Clinton to Announce Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will formally announce on September 21 the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a new public-private initiative to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions that will save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change, says a US Department of State Press Release.

Along with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and other Founding Partners, Secretary Clinton will outline partnership and financial commitments of the Alliance. Led by the United Nations Foundation, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will address one of the greatest threats facing developing countries and their populations— the extraordinarily high exposures to toxic smoke from indoor fires and inefficient cookstoves which lead to nearly 2 million deaths each year, with young children and adult women suffering the vast majority of this disease burden.

The announcement will occur at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting on September 21 at approximately 1:00 p.m.

Secretary Clinton's speech will be streamed live on www.state.gov and http://live.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

Photo Courtesy: US Department of State

Also Read a report in The New York Times: Developing Nations to Get Clean-Burning Stoves

Cornell Research on Biochar and Cook Stoves Gets Funded

Research projects of the Cornell University for making richer Biochar through a combination of development of micro-organisms and development of cookstoves that would produce biochar while eliminating indoor emissions has received funding from the Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development (BREAD), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to  Cornell University's Chronicle Online, two Cornell-based research projects -- one that boosts the soil-building effects of biochar for plants and another that harnesses genomics technology to accelerate maize and sorghum breeding in Africa by three-to-four times -- have each been given more than $1.6 million in grants.

The first project aims to develop microorganisms (inoculants) to add to biochars, produced when organic waste is burned at low temperatures without oxygen, to improve soil health in small farms in Kenya, where soil degradation is directly linked to food insecurity, hunger and poverty.

"Biochars act like a sponge or microbial reef where microorganisms like to live, proliferate and hide from predators," said Johannes Lehmann, associate professor of soil biogeochemistry, who leads the project. The inoculants would infect plant roots and support mycorrhizae fungi and other bacteria to provide plants with such essential nutrients as nitrogen and promote growth.

Lehmann's group also seeks to develop stoves that would be made locally in Africa. The stoves would produce biochar while they were used for cooking and would eliminate indoor smoke, a serious health consequence of wood stoves in Africa. Also, farmers would be able to use such on-farm waste as shrubs, grasses and crop residues -- rather than harder-to-find wood -- to fire up the stoves.

The $1.6 million project also includes outreach to spread information and protocols about biochar, inoculants and cook stoves through workshops, presentations, CDs and publications.

The group includes researchers from Cornell's Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Applied Economics and Management; the University of California--Irvine; World Agroforestry Center of Kenya; and the University of New South Wales, Australia.

To more than triple breeding cycle rates to develop new maize and sorghum varieties in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers received $1.7 million to apply new molecular breeding technology to sequence trillions of base pairs from 12,000 breeding lines of maize and then sorghum. They hope to winnow the lines down by 90 percent, retaining only those that hold the most promise for drought tolerance and nitrogen efficiency.

Read the full story $3.3M in grants to improve soil, plant breeding in Africa

'Renewable Energy Delivers On Inclusive Growth'

The Indian Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy argued at the 5th Asia Clean Energy Forum of the Asian Development Bank on June 23 that the big return from investing in renewable energy is that it drives inclusive growth. According to the minister, "Even today, millions of decentralised energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, improved cook stoves are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. By providing energy access to the most disadvantaged and remote communities, it becomes one of the biggest drivers of inclusive growth. We are convinced that the role of renewable energy in serving the aam aadmi (common man) is by itself a sufficient reason for us to pursue this course vigorously and passionately."

Here is an abridged and edited version of the speech delivered by Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, at the 5th Asia Clean Energy Forum of the Asian Development Bank on June 23, 2010

"India is perceived as a developing country but it is developing at a pace that is not matched by many others. There is significant appreciation of our economic growth. Yet the fact remains that our growth is constrained by energy supply and availability.

India today stands among the top five countries of the world in terms of renewable energy capacity.

We have an installed base of over 15 gw, which is around 9% of India’s total power generation capacity and contributes over 3% in the electricity mix. While the significance of renewable energy from the twin perspectives of energy security and environmental sustainability is usually well appreciated, what is often overlooked or less appreciated is its capacity to usher in energy access for all, including the most disadvantaged and the remotest of our habitations. In its decentralised or standalone avatar, renewable energy is the most appropriate, scalable and optimal solution for providing power to thousands of remote and hilly villages and hamlets. Even today, millions of decentralised energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, improved cook stoves are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. By providing energy access to the most disadvantaged and remote communities, it becomes one of the biggest drivers of inclusive growth.

In my travels across the vast expanse of India, I have seen for myself how small standalone off-grid or distributed systems can make a vast difference to millions of poor people. In the remote villages of Gurez in my own state of Jammu and Kashmir, right on the border, I have seen how a basic home-lighting system can change the life of people. At the very least, a home-lighting system extends the working life of a poor family by a few hours every day—children can study till late; women can cook late; the entire family is saved from the deleterious effects of kerosene that they would otherwise have had to burn—the benefits are endless. On a recent visit to Uttarakhand, I was told by the chief minister, how a solar lantern in the hilly and border villages provides basic lighting to the otherwise energy-deprived people. My ministry has estimated that merely by distributing solar lanterns in remote areas and to nomadic populations like Gujjars and Bakkerwaals, we can light up over a million energy-deprived homes. Similarly, one million street lights can illuminate streets in over one lakh villages. Further, all these efforts will throw up thousands of possibilities of job creation and self-employment right at the local and village levels.

What I have enumerated above are some of the more basic applications of renewable energy in remote and inaccessible areas. Therefore, we in the ministry have decided to move on to the next level. We are experimenting with numerous new applications of decentralised energy through renewable sources. We have recently sanctioned a project to Rajasthan to provide solar power to every single local self body in the state by installing 1.12 kW capacity solar systems at each of the 9,168 panchayat centres. These systems will help provide reliable power to run computers, televisions and provide connectivity to otherwise far-flung and poor areas. In many tribal and forest areas, we are not only using solar power to light up remote hamlets but also trying to bring about a convergence in forest conservation, education and rural development efforts. In rural Bihar, we are experimenting with a project for generation of electricity by use of locally available rice-husk.

Each of these endeavours is an effort at energy access for the poorest and the remotest. We are trying to make it easier for poor citizens to access these services through a combination of capital subsidy, soft loans and interest subvention. We are convinced that the role of renewable energy in serving the aam aadmi is by itself a sufficient reason for us to pursue this course vigorously and passionately.

The challenge before us in the renewable energy sector, generally and, in India, particularly is to reduce the per-unit cost of renewable energy. Hence, there is a continuous need to innovate to increase efficiencies and bring down costs. Innovations can be brought about in various ways—it is possible to harness lower wind speeds, the energy of tides and waves can be channelised to produce electricity, alternate transport fuels can make our journeys less carbon intensive, hydrogen can be an ideal energy storage and carrier. It is possible to have a large grid with lowest losses of electricity. Similarly another area of innovation could be technological—managing the complexity of variable power generation through computer-enabled power networks or smart grids. The efficiencies of smart grid management coupled with the sustainability of renewable energy could be a win-win combination. India, as the leading light of the IT world, would have a natural advantage in this.

On the policy front, my ministry is also working with the regulators to lay down the framework for tradable renewable energy certificates. While this will enable us to achieve a larger share of renewable energy in our electricity mix, the federal regulator’s recent announcement of normative guidelines for provincial regulators to fix tariffs for renewable energy will provide a mechanism for better tariff for renewable energy developers. We are confident that all these policy interventions will further boost investments in the sector. We are also working towards closer engagement with banks and lending agencies to help developers gain access to easy and cheaper sources of finance."

Biochar and the Quest for Sustainable Home Fuel

Haiti and Latin American countries are becoming a case study for successful transition of communities to biochar as a sustainable alternative to firewood and charcoal, says The Epoch Times in an article on "Biochar: A Panacea for Global Warming Issues".

Use of Biochar has the power to restore soil productivity, provide energy for domestic, agricultural and even industrial purposes, and mitigate climate change through carbon storage.

Nathaniel Mulcahy, the founder of non-profit organisation World Stove, says “Biochar-producing stoves save fuel, reduce both emissions of greenhouse gasses and indoor—and outdoor air pollution,” he said. “In this way, we improve soils, preserve forests and bring better health and economic independence to people.”

Biochar can be produced from urban, agricultural and forestry residues or biomass – from sugar cane waste and coffee hulls to palm fronds and paper mill pulp. It removes the need to harvest trees for firewood and charcoal by generating syngas and bio-oil for cooking, heating and drying, and even electricity generation. Biochar’s co-product is applied to soils with many carbon sequestration benefits including increased bio-available water and organic matter, enhanced nutrient cycling, and reduced leaching. It can also be used to filter water.

Mr. Mulcahy recently joined the Haitian “building back better” recovery effort by introducing his patented Lucia stove to help locals produce “biochar” pellets. Its unique design incorporates venturi holes for negative pressure plus a Fibonacci spiral-styled flame cap to keep oxygen out of the pyrolisis chamber.

According to The Epoch, "By respecting and maintaining cooking traditions, Mr. Mulcahy says the stove is more readily accepted in different cultures. He believes it is vital the developed world offers the world’s poor a clean efficient stove that fits their needs, rather than the other way around. Allowing users to cook on a gas flame as in “modern” kitchens, they can maintain cooking customs without environmental damage."

Illustration from the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
(See Rising from Haiti's Quake: Cookstoves Adapted to People's Needs)

The Stove of Hope in Darfur

For the last seven years, Darfur has come to stand for extreme humanitarian distress caused by war. Conflict in Darfur has claimed the lives of at least 300,000 people and created more than two million displaced persons within the region. Many of these displaced persons now live in large IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps throughout Darfur. While global and humanitarian organizations address the many woes of this conflict zone, there are pockets of change effected which is making a difference to the displaced persons, mostly women. One such intervention that is making a world of difference is the Darfur Stoves Project.

There are two notable aspects of the Darfur Stoves Project. First, the compulsion for the project arose from the outcome of conflict. While Darfuris in IDP camps receive food aid and cooking oil from a variety of humanitarian aid organizations, the families are still responsible for gathering firewood as fuel for cooking. Although Darfur is almost entirely desert, scattered trees exist in the periphery of the camps. These trees and their branches are used as a nearby source for cooking fuel. However, due to the size of the displaced persons camps and the duration of their existence, wood is a scarce resource. As the environment around the camps become increasingly deforested, the time needed to gather firewood increases. Today, Darfuri women must walk up to seven hours, three to five times per week, just to find a single tree. As continuing pressure is placed on the environment, women and young girls must walk further and further from the relative safety of the camps in search of wood. These searches are the primary reason women and girls venture outside the camps.

When women and girls spend extensive time outside of the camps, they become increasingly vulnerable to acts of violence. As these events become more common, some women have decided to purchase wood from a middleman rather than search for it. However, as payment for the firewood, families are often forced to sell their food rations or spend what little income they possess. The economic and social costs of firewood mean that as many as half of Darfur families in displaced persons camps miss at least one meal per week. The search for firewood decreases both the human security and food security of Darfuri displaced persons.

The second notable aspect has been the global partnerships at play. At the invitation of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at the United States Agency for International Development (OFDA/USAID), Dr. Ashok Gadgil and a team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory traveled to Darfur in 2005 to assess appropriate stove technology for the region. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is the result of that initial fact-finding mission (and the subsequent research) and is currently at use in over 5,000 homes in IDP camps in Darfur. Subsequently, the team also found that they could lower production costs, increase capacity and improve quality consistency by shifting manufacturing to India.

The majority of women in Darfur’s IDP camps cook with a traditional three-stone fire. This system requires four times the firewood needed to fuel a Berkeley-Darfur Stove®. Thus, the Berkeley-Darfur Stove® increases the efficiency of fuel use and lowers the amount of wood needed to cook any given meal.

The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® was designed in consultation with Darfuri women and built to the specifications of their needs. Design features of the Berkeley-Darfur Stove take into consideration types of meals cooked, the size and shape of local pots, frequency of use, and more.

In a recent interview to Triple Pundit, Andree Sosler, Executive Director of the Darfur Stoves Project says, "Giving something away for free is a disservice to the people who need it. This philosophy stems from the importance of establishing a feedback mechanism."

Excerpts from the Interview in Triple Pundit, The Darfur Stoves Project: A Market Solution to Poverty:

3p: The Darfur Stoves Project is just one enterprise led by TISS, independent of USAID but created in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley lab?
Sosler: OFDA/USAID introduced the Lawrence Berkeley team to CHF International, the initial partner for the project. The team advised CHF and trained their staff to test and adapt the stoves, etc. However, after sending a team to Darfur, and benefiting from analysis from business schools, we found that we could lower production costs, increase capacity and improve quality consistency by shifting our manufacturing to India. Fundamentally, it was a question of heightened comparative advantage. While some firms mass-produce stoves to turn a profit and others focus on generating local income and keep their production local, TISS works with the Lawrence Berkeley lab and our current field partner, Oxfam America to incorporate the strongest aspects of both models.

3p: The Darfur-Berkeley stove is for sale, not for aid donation. Can you expand on the value associated with an item bought versus donated?
Sosler: One of the things that drew me to the Darfur Stoves Project was the very strong belief that giving something away for free is a disservice to the people who need it. This philosophy stems from the importance of establishing a feedback mechanism. When you give something away you can do impact assessment and surveys, but you may not get good feedback on how valued your product is. That said, we just delivered 1,000 stoves for free. The ultimate goal is to negotiate with our partners to set a subsidized price above the price of scrap metal.

3p: In a 2008 interview with the Wharton Journal, you said, “My passion is to develop market-oriented solutions to poverty.” Is that still true? Any amendments or qualifications?
Sosler: Still true. I really believe that a feedback mechanism is crucial and lacking in many elements of international development. Yet, now that I’m working in an extreme humanitarian situation, I recognize that a fully functional market (as it would be defined at Wharton, or by most business schools) is not always optimal. When the goal is worldwide and less focused on those left behind, I would push for more sustainable businesses. I really do think that market solutions to poverty are the way forward.

For the full report and interview: The Darfur Stoves Project: A Market Solution to Poverty.

Photos: Darfur Stoves Project and The Triple Pundit.

Indian Government prepares Action Plan for Improved Cookstoves Deployment

The Government of India is preparing an action plan for development and deployment of cook stoves in the country, the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah has said in a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Indian Parliament, on Friday, April 16, according to a Government of India Press Information Bureau Release.

The statement says that in order to make smokeless stoves popular the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched a National Biomass Cook-stove Initiative during 2009. The primary aim of the initiative is to develop and enhance the availability of better and efficient family and community size Biomass Cook-stoves for household and industrial applications in the country.

It also emphasizes on enhancement of technical capacity in the country by setting up testing, certification and monitoring facilities and strengthening R&D programmes in technical institutions of the country.

In this regard, the Ministry has constituted a Core Group and sanctioned a project to assess present status of various types of improved Biomass Cook-stoves currently available, their suitability and delivery mechanisms and to prepare an action plan for development and deployment of cook-stoves.

Simultaneously, the Ministry has identified four test centers for carrying out performance testing.