Theme

Household Dynamics

Women’s diversity in households – p2 Why perfect stoves are not always chosen – p6 Gender audits of energy policy – p9 Engaging communities in alleviating smoke – p12plus news from GTZ, Practical Action and ENERGIA

issue 57 — 2009 £5

A prActitioner’s journAl on household energy, stoves And poverty reduction

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Boiling Point is a practitioner’s journal for those working with household energy and stoves. It deals with technical, social, financial and environmental issues and aims to improve the quality of life for poor communities living in the developing world.

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ContentsThemeEditorial: Household Dynamics 1 Anja Panjwani, ENERGIA

Women’s diversity in households and its importance for (household) energy interventions 2 Anke M. Mueller

Why perfect stoves are not always chosen: A new approach for understanding stove and fuel choice at the household level 6 Stanzin Tsephel, Takeshi Takama, Fiona Lambe and Francis X. Johnson

Gender Audits of Energy Policy in Botswana and Senegal: What has been achieved? 9 Nozipho Wright and Yacine Diagne Gueye

Engaging communities in alleviating smoke – what the real experts tell you 12 Vincent Okello

Women, energy and rural energy provision 14 Gladys Rojas Portillo

ViewpointsAn interview with Sheila Oparaocha, ENERGIA Network Coordinator/ENERGIA Programme Manager 16

GTZNews from GTZ Editors: Lisa Feldmann and Agnes Klingshirn 18

Practical ActionNews from Practical Action Editor: Lucy Stevens and Liz Bates 20

ENERGIANews from ENERGIA Editor: Anja Panjwani 22

ToolkitGender Mainstreaming Tools in the Lao Biogas Pilot Program 24 Phanmaly Siliphong and Soma Dutta

GeneralPressure cooker training 28Sjoerd Nienhuys

Scope of Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy in Villages in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India: An Energy Security AnalysisMs. Shweta Singh and Dr. Usha Bajpai 32

Natural Draft Gasifier Water Heater for Rural HouseholdsSanjay K. Babar and Dr. Priyadarshini Karve 37

Rocket science gets to the rural tortillerias in Yucatan, MexicoEmilio de los Rios Ibarra 40

Energy without the dirt? Making a case for the integration of biomass into energy policy in Nigeria 42Temilade Sesan

Call for papersBoiling Point 58 45

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Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

EDITORIAL

1

The articles in this edition especially recognise gender issues as an important household dynamics

factor to determine the successful outcomes of energy interventions. A good example of how women can be involved in energy interventions is given in Vincent Okello’s article. The project started from the needs felt by women and closely involved women in energy technology development. Women have thus been able to take up smoke alleviation technologies under their own terms and conditions. While it is recognised that socio-economic factors are a determinant of cooking stove choice in the article by Fiona Lambe et al, their research in Ethiopia found that product-specific factors are as important for this choice.

A small news item about tortillerias in Mexico by Emilio de los Rios Ibarra shows how the introduction of a small rocket burner improves the energy efficiency in these small businesses and improve the livelihoods of the men and women who run these businesses, while these mechanised tortillas greatly simplify women’s domestic tasks.

In the view of ENERGIA, the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, not only energy projects, but energy policies too should explicitly address gender issues. A tool that has been used and which is described by Nozipho Wright and Yacine Diagne Gueye are gender audits of national energy policies. The results of audits done in Botswana and Senegal are shared as well. Though these are important steps that are made at national policy level, the article

by Temilade Sesan about the energy policy in Nigeria shows that there still is a way to go before the household and renewable energy sectors receive their due attention at the national policymaking level.

Anke Mueller’s article takes the concept of gender one step further in recognising that women do not constitute a homogeneous social group. Within a group of women there are differences in energy needs, in power relations and in capabilities and she argues that these variations too need to be taken into account for energy interventions to become successful. On the other hand, the case of remote rural Bolivia, where out-migration of men to larger towns is causing hardships for the women who stay behind, shows how access to modern energy may influence household dynamics. Gladys Rojas Portillo argues that there is reason to believe that access to modern energy services is a contributing factor to put a stop to migration and the disintegration of rural families.

The tools described in this edition of Boiling Point by Phanmaly Siliphong and Soma Dutta, centre around a gender assessment instrument package jointly developed by SNV Lao PDR and ENERGIA for mainstreaming gender in the Lao Biogas Pilot Program. The tools have been kept as simple and practical as possible and have been designed for energy practitioners who want to mainstream gender into their biogas or other energy programmes.

The interview with Sheila Oparaocha, manager of the ENERGIA programme and coordinator of the network, strongly focuses on the main gender issues in

household energy and provides some recommendations to energy practitioners how to make their energy interventions gender sensitive.

This edition of the journal also features the latest news from GTZ and Practical Action, as well as an overview of the main strategies and achievements of ENERGIA, the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy.

We are really keen to hear your views on these articles as we would like to create a lively discussion on the letters page. Perhaps, having read the article from Nigeria, someone from Friends of the Environment in Nigeria could tell us how this would link to their recently completed gender audits of the National Energy Policy? We would also be interested to hear about the impacts achieved using the technologies and approaches described in India on water heaters and Tajikistan on pressure and heat-retention cookers. What are the socio-economic conditions that are needed for them to be successful in practice? Do we know the environmental and social impacts of these technologies? We would love to hear from you.

We hope you enjoy reading this edition of Boiling Point and please remember to send in your comments and feedback to us by post or email, or through the website at: www.hedon.info

EditorialHousehold Dynamics Author

Anja Panjwani

eNeRGiA international Network on Gender and sustainable energy

In designing and implementing household energy projects, it is easy to assume that because an intervention is affordable and has been technically proven to yield benefits, it will be accepted by beneficiaries. Experience has shown however that there are also other factors that affect household energy and the responses of households to interventions. These factors include gender, migration, income and livelihood security, cultural perceptions, and livelihood strategies, which together can be described as Household Dynamics. In this edition of Boiling Point we look at how some of these factors can shape household energy interventions and responses.

THEME

2

When it comes to the subject of household dynamics, one will most likely first think

about differences concerning women and men. Questions about gender roles, responsibilities and relations that affect access to monetary and non-monetary resources, decision-making power and social resources come to mind. The needs of

women and men in relation to (household) energy are different, including the different household dynamics. This needs to be acknowledged and moreover, analysed when planning for and implementing energy interventions.

Yet, diverse household dynamics do not stop at differences between women and men. Women, be it in rural Afghanistan

or elsewhere, cannot be subsumed as one homogenous group (Moser 1993). The extended family system in Afghanistan implies more generations under one roof, hence pooling different women together: married, unmarried, with or without children, different ages etc. Differences among these women would be covered while assuming that capabilities as well as needs of, for instance, a young, unmarried woman are the same compared to a mother with five children or a mother-in-law with adult children who stays at the son’s home. In consequence, talking about household dynamics also needs to relate to the different women in a household and their capabilities – their spheres of influences – and needs. Talking about household energy, such diversity also implies different energy needs of the women.

Experiences from a village in the North of Afghanistan In the case of a rural village in Badakhshan, in the North of Afghanistan, household dynamics also point to differences between the women of a household. The village will soon be supplied with electricity from a micro-hydro-power system. The construction is supported

ThemeAuthor Anke M. Mueller

iNTeGRATiON environment & energy GmbH, Bahnhofstr. 9, 91322 Graefenberg, Germany. Tel. +49(0)9192-9959-0 Fax +49(0)9192-9959-10

email: amueller@integration.org or anke.m.mueller@uni-oldenburg.de

Figure 1: A home in the village - view of the kitchen

Looking at household dynamics in relation to gender is crucial for successful household energy interventions. Women’s needs for electrical equipment will have to compete with men’s for sure, and promotion of improved living conditions of both sexes is not least a process of negotiation. Therefore it is necessary to know about these gender dynamics. This article will recommend not to stop at sex-disaggregated data but to amplify gender for other intersecting factors such as age, marital status or children.

Based on experiences in a village in Badakhshan, in the North of Afghanistan, this article will show exemplarily that young, unmarried women possess different capabilities, needs and daily schedules compared to a married mother or an elderly mother-in-law, for instance. This article intends to share experience that the above mentioned factors can shape household energy interventions and responses considerably.

Women’s diversity in households and its importance for (household) energy interventions

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Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

by GTZ, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is among others aimed at improving women’s (and men’s) living conditions. This includes the facilitation of household activities, e.g. by improved lighting, utilisation of some electrical equipment and replacing human energy for small-scale processing of food to a certain extent.

A field study was undertaken in April 2009 in order to find out about the current socio-economic living conditions. Gender was a minor topic for this visit. In the framework of this, the category of gender was made a subject for analysis. The disaggregation of information by sex was amplified for further layers such as age, marital status, class, and education. The study benefited from others that have been implemented in rural Afghanistan which found out further factors influencing women’s diverse roles in rural households (Grace 2005, Duchet, Duchier 2006). Factors that determine differences among women can be for instance: household composition, wealth, marital status, children, skills, age (group) and women’s involvement in organisations. Accordingly, this was taken into account.

Categories of women

It is a widely accepted argument that a household cannot be taken as an entity in research but diversity within the household needs to be recognised (e.g. Kabeer 1994). In the case of the village in Badakhshan, diversity implies not only between sexes but was extended for the diversity among women: three different categories of women emerged from the data: – the young woman, average age 18,

single (no children) – the married woman, average age 30,

(younger children, on average 9 years old, on average 2.4 children)

– the widowed elder woman/mother-in-law, average age 55, (adult children, average age 27, on average 3.5 children, living at their sons’)

(The latter actually included two categories of being elder widow and mother-in-law but was not further subdivided as the sample for categorisation would be too small for this purpose. The sample had been chosen at random. The aim of the side topic of gender was to provide a snapshot).

The categorisation paid attention to the circumstance that the status of these women is different among each other and in comparison to men: the household

settings in rural Afghanistan imply that young women will stay at their parents’ home until getting married. They are under the surveillance and care of their father and brothers but also, of other women in the household. As Afghani households can comprise more families in terms of grouping nuclear families together (Blood 2001) -as it is the case in the village in Badakhshan- the young women will frequently obey older married women. The married women bear most of the responsibility for their children and comply equally, not only with their husbands but likely also with their mother-in-laws. When married, women will usually move to their husband’s house. This is mostly in one household, together with the husband’s parents. The mother-in-law typically possesses the power to select one daughter-in-law as the major household manager; at the same time, she will step back to a certain degree from household duties.

In their relation to men, the diversity continues: the mother-in-law as well as elderly women are respected more than the married woman (not to mention the young woman), the strong obligation to take care of the young woman (as potential future brides), makes them more likely subject to men’s close watch, etc.

Time Young, unmarried woman Married woman Widowed woman / mother-in-law

Before dawn Praying, returning the blankets and mattresses to their places

Praying, preparing the breakfast Praying

Dawn Preparing breakfast, caring for animals

Making the dough for Nan (bread), washing dishes, preparing children (washing)

Taking out the ash from the Tandoor (stove) and cleaning it, washing dishes

Morning Cleaning and organizing the house, washing dishes, free time

Making the Nan (bread), cleaning and organizing the house, sometimes washing clothes, getting water

Weaving of local rugs / knitting / tailoring

Noon Preparing lunch, eating, praying Preparing lunch, eating, taking care of the children

Lunch

Afternoon Free time, (weaving, knitting/ tailoring)

Washing dishes after lunch, taking care of the children most likely time of the day where women find some free time

Keeping animals, free time

Before sunset Assist in cooking Cooking and preparation dinner (roughly 1.5 hours)

Assist in cooking

After sunset Having dinner, chatting with family, reading

Dinner, washing dishes, chatting with family, praying, preparing the mattresses

Nothing (having dinner)

Table 1: Daily calendar of three categories of women

THEME

4

Findings: Daily schedules

One form of illustrating diversity in households is a daily calendar for activities. Looking at the daily calendars of the three categories of women, it is no surprise that married women with children seem the busiest throughout the day due to having the additional task of caring for younger children and being mainly responsible for food provision.

While the young women take part in household activities to a certain degree, widowed women and, in particular, mother-in-laws seem not to be tied up by household duties to the extent that

married women are. Getting in touch and being concerned with household energy supply and use takes up more importance in a married woman’s daily existence. She will cook, boil water, bake bread, wash clothes, clean the house, iron, make tea, take care of children; i.e. she is the one that is mostly burdened by inefficient household energy supply. Therefore, she will be the one who benefits comparably more provided that household energy supply will meet her energy needs for domestic purposes.

Expected development because of electricity As the electricity supply in the village in Badakhshan is yet to be provided, diverse impacts are based on the baseline data and from hypotheses. Nevertheless, it is assumed that improved electricity supply will have diverse impacts on the different categories of women seeing as they possess different daily schedules, social capital and opportunities. Furthermore, the women themselves expressed different expectations. The capacity of the micro-hydro-power system will provide opportunities for lighting, to use some information and entertainment equipment and basic electronic equipment e.g. small income-generating activities (for cash or for the purpose of social cohesion).

Purpose Young, unmarried woman Married woman Widowed woman / mother-in-law

Lighting For reading at night (are educated), knitting and tailoring

More comfort when taking care of animals in Winter time because of light early morning and evening.

Chatting and time with family

Improves food preparation, provides more comfort for domestic activities at early morning and late evening.

Illiterate (no reading)

Facilitates social activities with the family at night.

Illiterate (no reading)

Info & Entertainment TV is preferred over radio

Want more information by listening/watching news

Understand Dari due to attending schools (mother language: Uzbek, Dari = instruction language at school) and thus better understand the contents of radio and TV programs (mainly Dari, some English, one channel Uzbek)

TV, radio. Entertainment is of high value

Cannot specify what kind of information they would like to get, lack knowledge about TV

Rarely understand Dari (speak Uzbek), have difficulties understanding programs if no one translates for them

Lack time for active listening/watching

TV is the first electrical equipment they are likely to get

Cannot specify what kind of information they would like to get, lack knowledge about TV

Rarely understand Dari (speak Uzbek), have difficulties understanding programs if no one translates for them

Basic electric equipment / income / social cohesion

Would like tailoring machine, embroidery equipment. Are eager for income generating activities but lack ideas (limited to embroideries)

More likely to have time to extend small-scale income generating activities. Have educational background to better understand technologies and business issues.

Men are proud of business women (“From five fingers, she provides five benefits”); but activities take place only within the boundaries of the village where everyone knows each other

Would like electric iron foremost (before mentioning TV) and washing machine; may save time

No intentions for production tools (would neither have time nor ideas, lack information). Understand themselves as housewives

Desire more information, education (e.g. embroidery training)

Electric tools for dairy production would alleviate human efforts (e.g. for butter production)

No specific expectations for electric equipment besides the TV

Possess more time resources for income and/or social activities but are of old age (physically)

Weave, knit and spin for own purposes; no intention to extend this in the future for income generation

Table 2: expected developments because of electricity supply

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Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

Major variables that determine potential different developments are the educational background and skills of the women and the diverse daily schedules. Knowing that young women in the village nowadays appear to be more likely to get access to education, their educational background favours their ability to absorb and understand energy technologies easier. The young women also actually expect to get electrical equipment (e.g. a sewing machine) to perform some income generating activities. The widows/mother-in-laws and married women do not expect such equipment, and the married women are unlikely to get further involved due to their dense daily schedule.

The availability of time at the moment leaves more space for the young women and the elderly whereby the latter presumably may not take advantage of this for further activities, for example, because of physical reasons linked to old(er) age. With regard to this, elder women did not express interests to get further active.

The daily schedule of married women is packed with household duties and childcare. Time for social activities, prayers, or embroidery is very limited, including time for active listening to radio programmes or even watching TV. Yet, if electricity supply will provide means to enhance the manual production of dairy products, making Nan (bread), washing clothes, boiling water and ironing, time saving (as well as reduced physical efforts) for married women might be possible for these activities.

Women will have to compete with men’s interests for e.g. in the purchase of electrical appliances, and they are more vulnerable to lose their voice in this competition as men predominantly control and finally decide the purchase. In the village in Badakhshan, women and men expressed different wishes, for instance, for electrical appliances. On top of men’s needs agenda are entertainment and information equipment (TV, DVD), followed by heating and cooling items (electric heater, fan). Fewer men seem to think about domestic appliances at all (12.6% from the male sample) whereby the latter was first priority for the women.

Conclusions

Initially, analysing gender is necessary to understand the dynamics between the sexes. Energy interventions that aim at improving women’s (and men’s) living conditions should however (still) take into account that neither women nor men are homogenous groups. As welcome as it is that gender has been made a category for analysis at the beginning of such interventions, none-the-less it is recommended to recognise that there are different women living in a household with different capabilities and (energy) needs. This knowledge is vital if for instance the energy intervention wants to promote income generation, wants to provide further information for efficient energy use or wants to support time savings (in terms of providing relief and/or gaining time for empowerment). In the case of the village in Badakhshan, the intervention finds different addressees for its intentions and activities. Accordingly project design needs to respond to this; for instance designing training activities (considering time, content, training material, language etc) or providing spaces for income generation (considering also time, space, mobility of the women, skills etc). Therefore the design will be adapted to for instance the educational capabilities, skills of the different women, their time, their ability to be mobile and their status in the family.

Women who have diverse living conditions will be affected differently by (household) energy interventions. It is therefore assumed that one needs to pay attention to this in order to achieve positive impacts and mitigate negative. This assumption needs further inquiry and it is therefore highly appreciated to share experiences, reports or any other information to this issue.

References

Blood, P.R. 2001 Afghanistan: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress. Washington.

Duchet, C., Duchier, J.-C. 2006: Rethinking women’s and farmer’s programmes to improve household economy in rural Afghanistan. Group uRD, Afghanaid, Kabul.

Grace, J. 2005: Who owns the farm? Rural Women’s Access to Land and Livestock. AReu, Kabul.

Kabeer, N. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. Verso, London.

Moser, C. 1993. Gender Planning and Development. Theory, Practice and Training. Routledge. New York.

Profile of the AuthorAnke M. Mueller is Consultant a.o. for the Afghanistan energy Programme Renewable energy supply for Rural Areas (esRA), commissioned by the Federal Ministry of economic Development and Cooperation, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. Her focus is on M&e for (renewable) energy, with a special interest in gender analysis.

www.hedon.info/WHTARead and comment on article* Author profile and latest *

contact detailsGTZ website* Programme description: *

GTZ Energy Programme Afghanistan

Meet us @HEDON

Figure 2: View of the village roof tops

Figure 3: Lunch time - smoking stoves

THEME

6

This article presents research conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in

July 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to investigate the role of socio-economic factors and product-specific factors as determinants of cooking stove choice in cooperation with Gaia Association, a local Ethiopian NGO involved in the promotion of ethanol and ethanol fuelled cooking stoves. The research team applied an alternative methodology, Discrete Choice Analysis (DCA), which is commonly used

in transportation studies, in order to assess the trade-off between factors affecting household cooking choice. The study argues that product-specific factors are as important as socio-economic factors to create a market for clean cooking stoves and that future research should strike a balance between both types of factors. In a short-term perspective, product-specific factors are more important since socio-economic factors tend to change slowly, in line with longer-term patterns of economic growth and human development.

Background

The switch from traditional biomass use to modern energy sources and efficient stoves for cooking is one of the major sustainability challenges currently facing developing countries. Switching from traditional biomass fuels to modern, energy efficient sources and associated technologies is expected to alleviate numerous health, socio-economic and environmental problems; however, despite the numerous apparent benefits of fuel

Authors Stanzin Tsephel1, Takeshi Takama2, Fiona Lambe3 and Francis X. Johnson4

1 email: ladakhleh@gmail.com 2 email: takeshi.takama@sei.se 3 email: fiona.lambe@sei.se 4 email: francis.johnson@sei.se

Figure 1: Woman cooking doro wat or chickpeas on the CleanCook stove

Why perfect stoves are not always chosen: A new approach for understanding stove and fuel choice at the household level

2

Despite the numerous benefits associated with cleaner alternatives, the transition to improved fuels and stoves has not progressed hugely in Sub-Saharan Africa. Why is it that so often, well designed, efficient and clean stoves fail to penetrate the market in developing countries? In order to design effective policies and programmes to scale up the use of cleaner cooking alternatives, the barriers to improved cooking technologies must be understood at the household level. To date, research on the determinants of stove choice at the household level has focused mainly on socio-economic factors, such as income, age, gender and education, while the role of product-specific factors such as safety, indoor smoke, usage cost and stove price have been largely disregarded.

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Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

switching, the transition to modern fuels has been slower than expected. Indeed, the number of households relying on traditional biomass is expected to rise to 2.6 billion by 2015 (IEA 2006). It is within this context that this study seeks to understand cooking stove choice and fuel-switching patterns at the household level.

Gaps in the literature

Since the 1970s, much scholarship has been devoted to understand the switch from traditional biomass stoves to modern energy efficient cooking stoves, and a large number of factors affecting stove choice have been identified. However, recent literature argues that a proper understanding of the determinants of fuel choice at household level is still elusive (Heltberg, 2005; Kohlin & Gupta, 2005; Horst and Hovorka, 2008). A literature review indicates that the research on determinants of cooking stove choice has focused on socio-economic factors such as income, age, gender and education, while the product-specific factors such as safety, indoor smoke, usage cost and stove price have largely been ignored.

Types of choice determinant factors: Socio-economic and Product-specific

In theory, all determinant factors of cooking stove choice such as income, education, stove price, smoke level, etc. fall into either the socio-economic or the product-specific category. Some factors reported in the literature such as level of deforestation, government policy and level of urbanization do not immediately seem specific to a product or individual However, when the impact of such factors on stove choice is deconstructed, they essentially fall into either of the above two categories. For example, deforestation’s effect on fuel choice is influenced by changing price or cost of fuelwood collection, which is a product-specific factor. It is important to cluster all determinants into the two categories, as the usefulness of the factors is different in each.

The socio-economic determinants of fuel or stove choice could be any factor defining and describing ‘people’ that has some correlation with variation in stove choice. A socio-economic focused analysis seeks to identify individual or household characteristics and assess if stove choices differ across the specified socio-economic variables. The most commonly reported socio-economic factors are age, income, education, household size, and gender (Heltberg, 2004, 2005; Ouedraogo, 2005; Kohlin & Gupta, 2005). These factors do not vary within individuals in a limited time period; rather the variation occurs ‘between’ individuals. Socio-economic factors are useful for identifying the target market for a stove and for understanding the characteristics of that market and its consumers.

In contrast, product-specific factors are the associated characteristics of the available cooking stove options and the fuels that are used. Since an individual can test and use different products within a short period of time, these factors change ‘within’ the individual’s experience. The product-specific factors include stove price, usage cost, convenience and level of smoke. Previous research on the determinants of fuel choice lacks a focus on product-specific factors, which significantly limits the scope for promoting clean cooking stoves: only product-specific factors can be easily modified to a more appropriate stove design with a high probability of acceptance in a given target market. Thus, an innovative approach and method is required to categorise and study both types of factors and these factors must be quantified in order to provide guidance for project implementation.

An alternative approach

In an effort to address this knowledge gap, SEI applied DCA in order to evaluate the tradeoffs inherent in household choice of cooking stoves and fuels. The model is based on the work of McFadden (1974) and has been used extensively for cooking fuel choice studies (Ouedraogo 2005; Heltberg 2004; Pundo and Fraser 2006).

The socio-economic factors included in this study were age, gender, education and income. A sample of 200 households compared three stoves such as a wood stove, a kerosene stove, an ethanol stove and a different level of product-specific attributes namely price, usage cost per month, smoke and safety were used in each experiment. DCA was used as it allows for the quantitative assessment of both types of factors and also because the research team was interested in how important each attribute is in relation to other attributes.

Results and discussion

The study found that when compared to a low-income group, a high-income group was willing to pay ten times more for a unit reduction in indoor smoke, two times more for increased efficiency and ten times more for increased safety. Moreover, results demonstrated that for all respondents, the first preference was for ethanol, followed by wood and lowest for kerosene. This indicates that, other things being equal, people prefer ethanol over wood and kerosene; furthermore it also shows that everyone except the lower income respondents prefer wood over kerosene.

The results show that the effect of product-specific factors on household choices remains reasonably consistent across all other tested socio-economic factors. Crucially, the difference is in the magnitude and trade-offs across factors. By examining the trade offs between product-specific factors, one can select a stove design to fit the specified market segments. This is not possible by considering socio-economic factors alone.

The study indicated that the usage cost is more significant than stove price for the middle and high-income groups. It was shown that a lower usage cost will reduce the overall cost of a cooking stove in the long term. Thus, poorer households consider an initial investment such as stove price to be more significant in the short term but less so in the long term. This trade off phenomenon between attributes amongst different socio-economic classes is even more important when non-monetary factors such as smoke and safety are compared. Results showed

Table 1 Categories of Fuel/Stove choice determinants

Product-specific factors Socio-economic factors

Specific to: Product Person

Characteristics General in nature Specific to context

Variation in choice: Within individuals Between individuals or groups

Change in short-term: Relatively easy Difficult

Useful for: Product design, demand forecast, policy formulation

Market segmentation/profiling and policy formulation

THEME

8

that for the low-income group, indoor smoke is not an important factor in their choice of fuel or stove. Hence, it can be inferred that the low-income group does not want to pay for a unit of reduction in smoke. As a whole, similar to the usage cost, with an increase in the level of income, willingness to pay for a unit of reduced smoke level increases significantly.

When the various trade-offs are understood, it becomes possible to make predictions about the market for specific products given certain conditions, for example, under different fuel price scenarios. This type of information is of particular interest to countries such as Ethiopia where policy makers are in the process of allocating biofuels resources (ethanol, in the case of Ethiopia) to different sectors (e.g. export, transport, household) and require firm guarantees about the existence and size of a household market for the fuel at a given price in order to allocate sufficient quantities to support the development of this sector.

Conclusions: Advantages of this type of approachThis research distinguished the socio-economic and product-specific factors as separate categories of factors determining stove and fuel choice, with the former responsible for variation in choice between individuals and the latter for variation within an individual. The results of the study illustrated the importance of making this distinction. The study clearly demonstrated that compared to middle and higher income households, lower income households are more concerned about the initial cost of the stove than about the usage cost (fuel). Here, socio-economic factors, in this case, income level, were useful for market segmentation – for identifying a target market for a designed stove or designing a stove for a particular segmented market.

By including product-specific factors in the model, it is also possible to characterise how much more important the initial stove cost is for lower income families (compared to higher income households) when it comes to selecting a stove. This information can be used to guide policy makers and stove programme designers on the best

approach for market penetration. For example, in the case of Ethiopia, it would seem that a policy of subsidies on ethanol stoves for the lower income households would be an appropriate strategy if this market is to be penetrated. It is often the case that improved stoves are designed to fit a perceived market as defined by socio-economic profiling. Although the improved technology may be technically superior to the traditional stoves in terms of efficiency, cleanliness and aesthetic appearance, there is still no guarantee that the stoves will be adopted by the target market.

The above discussion about the role of socio-economic and product-specific factors is summarised in Table 1. Previous research has only focused on Quadrant 1 and 3 (Q-1 and Q-3) helping to identify a target group or market segmentation. This study has focused on Q-2 and Q-4 by estimating the trade-off among such factors, which helps when designing cooking stove projects with a high probability of acceptance.

The study has generated great interest, particularly among stove practitioners that need to more accurately predict the market share for their stoves in relation to other variables, such as the price fluctuation of fuels. The project is expanded in other LDCs including Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Maputo, Mozambique. The research will be used to strengthen local information related to the household market for improved cooking fuels and stoves and to inform policy makers engaged in biofuel strategy development in both countries. It can thereby contribute to better programme and product design, supporting more efficient, modern and clean cooking stove projects.

The full study report is available at the Household Energy Economic Analysis page on the SEI website.

References

AFRePReN/FWD, 2002. African Energy Data Hand book. Occasional Paper no. 13. AFRePReN/FWD, Nairobi.

Heltberg, R., (2005) Factors determining household fuel choice in Guatemala. Environment and development economics, 10:337.

Heltberg, R., (2004) Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries. Energy Economics, 26:5:869-887.

Horst, H., Hovorkader, G., (2008) Reassessing the ‘‘energy ladder’’: Household energy use in Maun, Botswana. Energy Policy, doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2008.05.006.

Odihi, J., 2003 Deforestation in afforestation priority zone in sudano-sahelian Nigeria. Applied Geography, 23: 227–259.

Pundo, M.O, Fraser, G.C.G, 2006, Multinomial logit analysis of household cooking fuel choice in rural Kenya: The case of Kisumu district, Agrekon, 45: 1: 24-37.

ieA, 2006. World Energy Outlook. International Energy Agency, Paris[9] Kohlin, G and Gupta, G., (2006) Preferences for domestic fuel: Analysis with socio-economic factors and rankings in Kolkata, india, Ecological Economics. 57:1: 107-121.

MCFADDeN, D., (1974) Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior, in “Frontiers in Econometrics” (P. Zarembka, ed.)

OueDRAOGO, B., (2006) Household energy preferences for cooking in urban Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Energy Policy. 34:18:3787-3795.

Zhang, J., smith, K.R., MA, Y., Ye, s., Jiang, F., Qi, W., Liu, P., Khalil, M.A.K., Rasmussen, R.A. and Thorneloe, s.A., (2000) Greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants from household stoves in China: a database for emission factors. Atmospheric Environment. 34:26:4537-4549.

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Figure 2: Cook in low income home in Addis Ababa, showing the CleanCook stove

Figure 3: Coffee ceremony using the ethanol stove

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The approach used in the gender audits was primarily participatory, led by a national team of experts.

The gender audits all provided in-depth analysis of energy planning, budgets, the institutional capacity of ministries to implement gender-mainstreaming strategies, the links between gender, energy and the national objectives for poverty reduction strategies and for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The audits identified the specific ways in which gender issues were, or were not, addressed and critical gender gaps in existing national energy policy formulation and implementation. Validation workshops in the three countries helped to reach consensus and ownership of the audit findings within the energy ministries, discussed future recommendations and agreed on actions with specific targets and timeframes that were needed to engender the policies.

The final reports produced from the gender audits are considered semi-official documents.

Two years after finalising the gender audits, this article seeks to show the effect the audits have had on the national energy policies, programmes and planning in Botswana and Senegal.

Case of Botswana

Botswana audit: Key findings

Botswana was the very first country where a gender audit of national energy policies and programmes was held. The exercise was led by the Botswana Technology Centre (BOTEC) and was done in close consultation with the Energy Affairs Division (EAD) – responsible for the national energy policy – in the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources and other key stakeholders.

The audit showed that although there is a general understanding of the different roles that men and women have in Botswana, the knowledge on the relationship between gender, energy and poverty is limited. This has resulted in gender blind energy policies and programmes, and a development process for the Draft Energy Policy of Botswana that lacked consultation with household residents and women in particular, who are the major users and managers of domestic energy sources. The audit also showed a lack of gender disaggregated data on financial resources and a general lack of association between energy services and reaching the MDGs.

Outcomes of the gender audits in Botswana

One of the first immediate outcomes of the audit was that its results were presented at side events at the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development sessions 14 and 15 in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Ms Nozipho Wright, project manager for the gender audit from BOTEC, participated as a member of the Botswana delegation at these events and made inputs into the speech of the Botswana Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Hon.

Gender Audits of Energy Policy in Botswana and Senegal: What has been achieved?

From 2005 to 2007, ENERGIA –together with a number of partnering organisations- implemented the EU-funded programme ‘Turning Information into Empowerment: Strengthening Gender and Energy Networking in Africa’. This was the first programme to develop and undertake gender audits of energy policies in three African countries: Botswana, Kenya and Senegal.

Authors Nozipho Wright1 and Yacine Diagne Gueye2

1senior Communications Officer, BOTeC. email: mabebezm@yahoo.co.uk

2energy and Gender Programme Officer and Gender and Climate Change Officer, eNDA Third World. email: gueyediagne@gmail.com

Figure 1: Women in the FAseN programme in senegal preparing the clay to make the stoves (Photo credit: eNeRGiA)

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Kitso Mokaila, which was given at CSD 14. This resulted in the mention of gender equality in the speech.

Further, short training workshops on gender and energy concepts have been conducted for staff of EAD, while similar training is planned for the Women’s Affairs Department and the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) rural electrification staff. As a result of the audit, the gender awareness of the BPC rural electrification officers has been increased and has ultimately led to BPC recently starting a gender mainstreaming programme for their rural electrification programme.

The audit also led to a pilot study for collecting gender disaggregated data. The purpose of the study was to identify energy fuels and technology consumption between men and women. Recommendations have been made into how this type of study can be undertaken at the national level. Technical support and funding will be requested to conduct the study.

Other outcomes have been more indirect, but can still be attributed to the gender audit and the awareness it has created. One of these is that EAD’s main contact person for the gender audits, Ms Masego Kealotswe, was sponsored by the Botswana Government to undertake a master’s degree in The Netherlands, which had a specific focus on gender mainstreaming in energy policies and programmes. Ms Kealotswe is currently working for the BPC as the national rural electrification coordinator, where she is also the contact and project manager for the gender mainstreaming project.

In 2008, Ms Nozipho Wright, was requested to participate in the task force to finalise the Botswana National Energy Policy. This process is still ongoing. At the time of writing this article, Ms Wright was seconded from BOTEC to the Department of Research Science and Technology, to participate in the review of the 1998 Science and Technology Policy. Needless to say, a major contribution was made in terms of mainstreaming gender in the reviewed policy document. This way the audit exercise is having a direct impact on high level science and technology policy review.

Conclusions

A strong case was built through the audits to convince major players that gender is indeed an issue and cannot be ignored. By its nature, the gender audit raised awareness on issues of gender and the gaps that existed in energy policies and programmes that policy makers were not aware of. Discussions that ensued during the implementation of the audit and onwards enabled energy project officers to appreciate gender issues. It was found that audits play a major role in creating awareness or information exchange. Gender audits of energy policies and programmes could be a good starting point to raise the gender issues in developing countries.

The audits can also lead to gender mainstreaming projects and activities as part of the recommendations to improve the policies and programmes. In the Botswana case, the audit has resulted in mainstreaming gender in the national rural electrification programme. The gender mainstreaming project at BPC is seen as groundbreaking work that is likely to yield that much-needed proof that considering the different roles and energy needs of men and women leads to better targeted programmes.

It would be interesting to conduct another gender audit in five years time. Such a follow-up gender audit could be a benchmark to see where progress has been made. It would undoubtedly point to many improvements, as indicated by this brief overview of the gender mainstreaming activities that are currently being undertaken.

Case of Senegal

Senegal Audit: Key Findings

The gender audit exercise in Senegal also started in 2005. ENDA Tiers Monde took the lead, while the exercise was conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy, with the effective participation of the Directorate of Energy.

Mostly, the gender audit revealed that the Senegalese energy policies and programmes were gender blind, despite the fact that many of them concern women directly. The energy programmes and policies completely lacked

the recognition that men and women have different energy needs and interests, and thus also benefit differently from access to energy.

Outcomes of the gender audit in Senegal

The first positive outcome of the audit has been that gender and energy has become a familiar notion for all actors, with a clear recognition of the necessity to take the gender-differentiated energy needs into account.

The development of the new energy policy brief, adopted in early 2008, took place at the same time as the audit. However, the broad lines of the document still follow the same logic as the preceding policy briefs, without a real gender mainstreaming. This does not affect the growing interest of policymakers to take gender into account in the energy sector these days. The policymakers continue to work with the gender audit team in all the commitments made on gender and energy and that fact positively impacts the reorientation of the policy approaches.

The mainstreaming of gender in energy policies and programmes takes place at different levels and the initial step taken is that of implementing gender mainstreaming at the local, most decentralised policy levels possible. In fact, the emphasis that is put on the central level, needs to be strengthened at the base level, where projects are implemented and where the need for improved energy access is most acutely felt. The rural population is confronted with energy poverty which exacerbates their insecurity and gives them no opportunity at all of using energy services, or developing income-generating activities. The gender mainstreaming at decentralised policymaking levels is about to start and is expected to initially target a few rural communities.

A very concrete outcome of the gender audit in Senegal is the gender mainstreaming of the Foyers Améliorés Sénégal (FASEN) project which aims to disseminate 80,000 improved cookstoves, and the Electrification Rurale au Sénégal (ERSEN) project, which aims to electrify 50 villages in areas of less than 700 inhabitants in the central and southern part of Senegal. Both projects are funded by GTZ PERACOD, and will be finalised by 2011.

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Gender sensitisation manifests itself through the discourse at energy meetings, which is underlined in rural electrification programmes. In fact, the rural electrification policy puts the emphasis on the needs of people in terms of their well-being and especially of their income-generating abilities. To that effect, the needs of women to reduce their workload (installation of grain mills) is an integrated part of the rural electrification in the targeted areas. The rural electrification policy, with the active involvement of Agence Sénégalaise d’Electrification Rurale (ASER) members of the national gender and energy network, has favoured the impetus of a new energy vision. In fact, the gender and energy views so far remained obscure, but have become apparent and have allowed for a better understanding of women’s position in multi-sectoral projects. A good example would be that at the national training of trainers on gender and energy, one multi-sectoral project served as an example for an exercise on gender mainstreaming. Resulting from the exercise, the person responsible for the project recognised that the project did not address women’s energy needs, after which he redesigned the project to specifically target women. The session allowed him to better understand the gender and energy linkages and to quickly assess the weaknesses on gender in the project.

The established collaboration between the national gender and energy focal point and the Ministry of Energy will grow with the future activities on mainstreaming gender into energy policies on the one hand, and into energy projects on the other hand. Looking at the action plan resulting from the gender audit, it can be seen that the rural electrification policy is partly on track:– The facilitation of women’s access to

productive uses of energy.– The development of Public Private

Partnerships and the adoption of a framework that is favourable for women’s entrepreneurship.

– The promotion, availability and use of less polluting energy sources and accessible financing for women.

– The promotion of an energy services approach, based on gender-differentiated needs.

– The production of appropriate equipment and technologies for women’s tasks.

– Implementation of a programme to build capacities of policymakers.

– Synergy between groups of actors.– A study of indicators and the collection of

gender-disaggregated data in statistics.– The development and implementation

of information and sensitising programmes for policymakers.

Conclusions

Following the audit, it was noted that the exercise constituted an important and significant step in the energy sector in Senegal. In fact, it allowed for a better understanding of the advantages of mainstreaming gender in the various sectors at each and every step of policy making and project implementation. The energy policy in Senegal puts emphasis on access, availability and costs; and in the recognition of these three dimensions, gender considerations cannot be left aside. Women still live in more difficult circumstances, because of the absence of energy services and the inavailability of energy sources, which is why all action is directed at poverty alleviation and reaching the MDGs. The ensuing approach of installing a gender focal point in each ministry is a good initiative (this role is played for the energy sector by a member of the national network), if real content is given to this person.

Overall conclusions

Though these were the first gender audits of national energy policies and programmes, both cases show that they have clearly made positive results. In both cases the gender analysis showed that at best, energy policies at the time of the gender audit were gender blind, and thus not considering men’s and women’s specific energy needs. It is seen that gender audits are effective tools in raising the awareness of and building capacities in gender mainstreaming for both policy makers and project practitioners.

The level of analysis that was done in writing this article cannot, however, give good indications of the exact progress that has been made in the implementation by

the energy ministries in the two countries of the action plan that resulted from the audit exercise. Future audits may need to take follow-up actions into account to be able to better monitor this progress.

References

eco Ltd. uK, Centre for Knowledge on sustainable Governance and Natural Resources Management (KusiNi), east Africa energy Technology Development Network (eAeTDN) and Practical Action - east Africa. Also involved were 12 of the eNeRGiA-Africa National Focal Points.

All three final gender audit reports are available for download through the Tie-eNeRGiA website at: http://energia-africa.org//GenderAudits

Profiles of the authors

Nozipho Wright has worked for BOTeC since 2000. in addition to being a senior Communications Officer at BOTeC she is also the Regional Network Coordinator for eNeRGiA Africa. Nozipho is a member of the African energy Policy Research Network (AFRePReN), which undertakes policy orientated research on energy issues in east and southern Africa.

Yacine Diagne Gueye has been a member of the energy team at eNDA Third World since 1994. she currently works as energy and Gender Programme Officer and Gender and Climate Change Officer. she has contributed in many surveys on households energy needs assessments and consumption, with a particular emphasis on gender issues.

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Figure 2: Women producing improved cookstoves in the FAseN programme of GTZ (Photo credit: eNeRGiA)

Figure 3: Bakery training at Rural industries innovation Centre, Botswana (Photo credit: Nozipho Wright)

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The fireless cooker (Figure 1) is a little-used but valuable technology, comprising an insulated basket into

which pre-heated food is left to cook in its own heat. It is a hugely under-applied technology in most communities, and yet it really works where it is appropriate. It was one of a series of interventions introduced by Practical Action in Kenya to alleviate smoke. When the project team started to promote the principles of insulation, rather than the technical items - the stoves and smoke hoods, community engagement suddenly became a reality.

When we showed women the baskets (Figure 2) in the area of Keyo (where they have the prolific stoves production centre), we used glitzy, sharply done fireless cookers and portable LPG stoves. We used nicely shredded waste office paper as insulation to make the low-cost fireless cookers. We also used the more expensive foodstuffs such as rice, potatoes and meat (rather than the local staple food) to demonstrate the technology. Little did we know how literally they had absorbed the information as they went away; they had seen in their minds - that they needed to use waste shredded paper, stuffed in nice new basins and buckets, and only with rice, potatoes and meat. They determined whether or not to take it up, based on

various factors. An imaginary monologue in the mind of the woman might have been something like – ‘It is so nicely done, it must be costly. The trimming is neat, but the cloth must have been bought from the shop. I wonder how much that cost’.

We changed direction when we realised this, and instead requested groups to bring their own foods, containers and insulation. Some brought dried grass, sawdust, dried banana fibre and rice husks. They brought sweet potatoes, dried fish and corn on the cob for testing. Our approach to promote the principle of insulation, rather than the item of technology worked to drive thoughts down a different track - down the road of possibility for the woman. This road placed the woman in a new role, that of a woman technologist who could select various insulating materials from her household and manipulate them, using the principles of physics and insulation we described to her, to take control of her kitchen’s indoor air pollution and health issues. This consideration was hugely empowering as it showed women exactly what they could do to play a role in developing some of the solutions that they required, instead of getting loaded with a litany of things that they needed to do correctly.

This approach immediately engages those women who are excluded from the standard kitchen contexts. Most approaches assume that the woman has a kitchen and is ready to take up new technologies once she is shown what works. Unfortunately it also means that her most reliable tool of trade - the open fire - is always being strongly criticized, and the options presented to her corner her into a decision-making process that she is not socially, economically and culturally ready to take up.

Author Vincent Okello

Area Coordinator, Practical Action, PO Box 2260, Kisumu 40100 Kenya. email: vincent.okello@practicalaction.or.ke

Engaging communities in alleviating smoke – what the real experts tell you

The fireless cooker is a little-used but valuable technology, comprising an insulated basket into which pre-heated food is left to cook in its own heat. During the recent Practical Action smoke alleviation project, the first fireless cooker demonstration used very smart baskets and expensive foodstuffs. The women felt it was ‘too expensive’ for them. In later demonstrations the project team discussed why the ‘fireless’ cooked the food, and women made their own baskets with local materials, thus empowering them to become the technologists. It provided a way of using the trusty open fire whilst still alleviating smoke and saving fuel. These fireless cookers provided an entry point for other, more expensive, smoke alleviation technologies. Laboratories cannot answer the questions that are closest to hearts and hearths of the cooks as they do not address the user’s lifestyle. The success of the fireless cooker is based on the concept of the ‘need for insulation’ as a technology, not on affordability of a technology. Their success in low-income communities is evidence that women have been able to take up the technologies, but under their own terms and conditions. Figure 1: Woman demonstrating fireless cooker

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From the three smoke projects that Practical Action has implemented, several women owners of participating kitchens gave explanations for not taking up interventions:– I have no kitchen (meaning that she has

nowhere to put anything).– I share a kitchen with my mother-in-

law (meaning that she has no rights in the kitchen she is using).

– I lost my husband recently and I am not allowed to do that (meaning that her culture forbids her).

– I do not have the money (meaning that her hierarchy of needs does not necessarily include purchases for her kitchen).

– I do not have a job (meaning that she associates any technology with salaried employment, such as teachers and nurses, and not with improved kitchens).

– I do not want to rise above my mother-in-law (meaning that her culture forbids her to appear better than the mother of her husband).

We witnessed responses that had no apparent link, in our ‘modern’ thinking, with the act of cooking, but which were matters closest to the hearts of these cooks - to have a kitchen, and to be comfortable in the knowledge that her closest community members - mum-in-law, were similarly endowed.

In the light of such contextual matters, the apparently technically-sound technologies found little audience and subscription, and more often than not we found that the old faithful - the open fire - soon found its way into the cooking routine when the project-funded monitoring stopped. Sporadic surprise visits to the kitchens revealed that the open fires are never completely expelled from the home, and were kept within proximity to assuage any lingering doubts that the newcomer could meet all the needs of the woman.

During a recent stove manufacturers outing early in 2009, we visited some kitchens using stoves built on the rocket principles. I was excited to see that the ubiquitous open fire had finally met its match. The kitchen was clean and spotless, no doubt reflecting good mobilisation on the part of the organisers. There was hardly

any smoke in the kitchen, and the monitor on the wall recording carbon monoxide had barely recorded any pollution. The woman was smartly dressed and expertly fielded our questions. Our enthusiasm mounted several notches to realise that here was a case of recorded successes where most of us stove practitioners were still struggling.

Later on, I noted that my colleague was chatting animatedly with the woman in the local dialect before we departed. On the journey back to the main meeting, she revealed to me that she had engaged three stove users (two women in a rural area, one male cook in an institution) in a rather revealing conversation. They all admitted to her that they had hidden the three stones for retrieval after our departure. This has left me wondering how much people use the stoves that we regard as ‘improved’. Had this group specifically come to speak to her because they were dissatisfied? Do most people keep the three stones as a ‘security’? Do the rocket stoves and three stones share the cooking load..? or do the rocket stoves come out for visitors? Do we need to wait and see if women buy rocket stoves when their current stoves wear out before we can declare a real success? How do we measure real success if courtesy forbids rural women from making their concerns widely known?

On an unscheduled monitoring and evaluation visit to our project area, a transect walk through fifteen homes held some good surprises. The intent of the walk was to gain some overall impression of household responses to an awareness meeting conducted a few days earlier, on how to make and use a zero-cost fireless cooker. All the women were able to pull out fireless cookers of varying shapes, sizes and quality, from diverse corners of the household; most of them from under the beds, some from under the living room seats and the rest from the kitchen. They had all gathered insulative material from their homes, fashioned them into the open plastic water containers they already owned, and proved to themselves that it worked. It was my pleasant task to sample a variety of cooked foods from each household and to give my approval with the requisite sounds of satisfaction and exclamations of delight.

All these ideas direct my thoughts to one consideration – in the same way that we can describe using the fireless cooker through describing how insulation works, is it possible to develop parameters and tests for similar transferable concepts to measure need in the social and economic contexts of a woman’s existence?

Laboratory tests for stoves do not answer the questions that are closest to hearts and hearths of the cooks. They do not use parameters drawn from the users’ social contexts, and try as they may, they cannot define affordability without attaching dollar signs to the item of purchase. These are terms that will drive away a worryingly large number of women in their kitchens. The success therefore recorded by the uptake of the fireless cooker, cutting across several social groups, is a pointer to the efficacy of the transferable concept of the ‘need for insulation’ as a technology. Concepts such as these literally find home in most hearts and hearths; they can be quickly tested and proved by the most important stove users and stove technologists of all – the cooks; and their successful uptake within visibly low-income communities is evidence that women have been able to take up the technologies, but under their own terms and conditions.

Profile of the author

Vincent Okello works as an Area Coordinator for Practical Action, co-implementing the usePA-funded ‘sustaining Cleaner Kitchens’ project in Western Kenya. Vincent has considerable experience in household energy matters, gained through his work on alleviating indoor pollution. Vincent’s passion is to empower cooks to take charge of their own energy issues.

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Figure 1: Woman demonstrating fireless cooker

Figure 2: Fireless cooker showing insulated basket

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Thinking about migration and electricity

The impact of migration on the social and family structure of the community is manifested through changes in

responsibilities and generic roles. The family as a productive unit (with the absence of the husband or male children) puts women in the position of having to take care of the cycle of production and reproduction of the whole family and also, in some cases, assume political responsibilities in the community. This is the case of widowed women or the Mamat’allas of Turco.

In the municipality of Turco, the Mamat’allas (wives of jilacatas) in their condition as original leaders, have the power to influence decision making for electrification of their ayllus. They constitute themselves as the intermediary between the State and potential energy users and are responsible to give faith of the need for the economic possibilities of each family. They (based on their experiences) said:

“We don’t want our children to live what we have lived, we don’t want them to stay like this…”; “we want progress, the youth is leaving, if there was progress, they could stay and those who left could return from the city…”; “we want them to live better, to have water, light, radio and TV”.

In Puerto Acosta, voices like these speak for themselves: “We now have a project to establish an artisanal textile workshop in the union hall which has electricity; we’ll weave and export; a Peruvian expert will train us…”; “now that we have light, people want to come back and some are already returning; also our children studying elsewhere come home more often, because they can listen to music and read with light in the house; before they were not coming, they would stay in the city”.

These voices indicate that in the communities who have electrical energy, the quality of life has improved substantially and that the tendency to migrate has diminished.

In fact, 69% of the Puerto Acosta community indicate that since installing energy permanent migration could diminish. People feel better which is very important for the women and Bolivian society. The situation has not been totally reversed however with 31% of the population still wanting to emigrate. The lack of work, economic and secondary education opportunities are the main reasons cited.

A nearby community, without an energy project, displays feelings of marginalisation, impotence and hopelessness. They were near seventy families, now there are around twenty, of which only five resist to

emigrate. The information they have about the nearby community and their access to energy through the school feeds them hope for a change of situation.

In the municipalities of Turco and Morochala the women, through access to energy, have implemented handmade textile workshops, making use of photovoltaic illumination and electric weaving and sewing machines. This activity allows them to improve their earnings and, at the same time, have a better valuation of their livestock resources which according to them could be improved even more through the productive use of other technologies like shearing and meat processing machines.

“We have everything here, we can make different things with electricity; with our llama and alpaca cattle, we could produce fine fibres and even llama processed meat. We would always earn more”.

Some of the interviewed women are confident that in that context, their daughters or sisters would not have to move to the cities to work because work opportunities and chances of increasing their income would widen. From that perspective, electrification is seen as not only light but as energization, built on the basis of improvements to quality of life, technological progress and economic development.

Author Gladys Rojas Portillo

email: Gladys@energetica.org.bo

Women, energy and rural energy provision

The situation of extreme rural poverty in Bolivia, caused by the absence of productive incentives and the lack of educational opportunities and basic services (up to 53%) has caused indigenous population migration to cities and intermediate urban areas. Social mobility data indicates that out of 314 municipal areas, 217 are experiencing population loss (Pereira, 2003) and thus provoking an accelerated and disorganised urban growth.

The consequences of this reconfiguration has many sides; there is disengagement, the loss of human dignity – situations of exclusion, racial and social discrimination – and even worse, the break up of the family and rural society. Among the various alternatives proposed to alleviate this situation is rural development through access to electricity as one more step towards an improved quality of life. This article will attempt a close look at the experiences, perceptions, aspirations and demands of the Bolivian rural woman.

Figure 1: Mamat’allas gathered in Turco’s square

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Access to energy is not the magic wand that will put an end to the rural-urban migration issue. However, the impact generated through access to energy is expressed in qualitative indicators that contribute to overcome this problem: diminishing the threat of migration, improving productivity and employment levels, improving productive capacity through artisanal textile workshops and the use of alternative and traditional technologies.

Thus, the notion of modernity has overspilled to the frontiers of the urban areas and extends to the ayllu to think about its reconstruction without affecting its essence. From that point of view, the women and men that have temporarily migrated to urban centres having connected themselves to a world full of opportunities in which energy is a source of development, can return to their hometowns with the hope of translating their dreams to their community. Electricity is (to these women) an employment creation and wellbeing driver, and even more so, a driver that contributes to diminishing migration as a social phenomenon that affects family structures and the functioning of the ayllu.

Work, productivity and learning the lettersThe following case studies highlight how the situation of women has improved through access to energy and how it has contributed to improving their expectations as working and productive women.

Working, producing and knowing how to read and write is a sort of dichotomy for Mrs Cirila due to gender discrimination, domestic and productive duties. This is why the phrase “learning the letters to understand better”, acquires a special meaning, given that this is an adult artisanal woman that wants to satisfy her need of understanding beyond literacy towards effective management and administration of her feminine communal enterprise. In this case, access to light allows her to study at night and thus save time. She optimises the use of the jipi japa plant to work, thus increasing her productivity. The jipi japa is a tropical plant whose leaves can be turned into

fine fibre and are the prime resource for the production of artisanal textiles (hats, jewellery boxes, fans etc). The quality of it depends on weaving them in a special room temperature, which is only possible at night. Then, electric illumination fulfils a specific productive function.

There are many experiences like these, amongst these, the commercial entrepreneurship of Mrs Margarita and the sewing workshop of two sisters in the tropical Chapare region. In both cases they demand technology whose function is only possible with electricity. In the first case, a woman who owns a small shop that provides basic items presently fulfils her need for electricity through a diesel generator. In the second case, it is a sewing micro business that can’t operate from its hometown because the town lacks energy, and thus the business is located in a rented room in a denser part of town which has energy. The opportunity to increase their income in both cases is linked to access to energy for lighting and the use of electrical appliances i.e. a fridge for the sale of water, ice cream and cold drinks and an electric steam iron for clothes sewn in the workshop.

Conclusions

The testimonies in which this article is based allow us to draw the following conclusions:– The existence of quantitative information

regarding the relationship between energy and migration could be a good background to what this article describes; and at the same time, form the basis for planning and defining sustainable development policies for rural areas, whose starting point is facilitating access to electric energy and other basic services.

– Access to electric energy is perceived as one more step towards revindication of basic human rights and as a tool for women’s fulfilment from the context of opportunities for education and quality of life improvements for their families and the community.

– Migration as a social phenomenon that affects the functioning of the family and community structures decreases with access to energy and the introduction of technologies that enable progress

towards sustainable development and the population stability of Bolivian rural society.

– The challenge for a productive application of alternative energies is still open. It costs more, yes, but the social costs are lower.

References

eNeRGeTiCA (2006). Evaluation of social impact of access to photovoltaic systems in schools, health centres and wawahuasis in Bolivia’s rural environment: Cochabamba.

eNeRGeTiCA (2007-8). Socioeconomic analysis for rural electrification. Cochabamba.

eNeRGeTiCA (2008-9). User’s profiles. Cochabamba.

Fes, iLDis (2002). BOLIVIA: Visions for the future. La Paz.

iNTeRViDA (2005). Technical and social evaluation of the Photovoltaic Electrification Project in Puerto Acosta’s communities. La Paz.

Vacaflores, Victor (1990). Globalization, migration and human rights.

About the author Gladys Rojas, of Bolivian nationality is a sociologist. she works in eNeRGeTiCA; her field of action is the research and evaluation of impacts from energy. she also develops and implements innovation projects in the context of education for work and production.

Figure 2: Woman in Morochata knitting a sweater

Figure 3: Mrs Cirila working with the jipi japa

www.hedon.info/BJTAFull article online* Author profile and *

latest contact detailsENERGETICA website *

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16

VIEWPOINTS

Sheila, can you talk a little bit about yourself, your background and how you got involved in the household energy sector.

I come from Zambia where I attained a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine at the University. I completed my masters on gender and rural development planning at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand in 1997. After which I joined ETC Foundation, a non-profit making organisation in the Netherlands, as the Coordinator of the ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, and started to work on gender and HE issues.

Major issues

What would you say are the major issues in the Household Energy Sector today?

There are a number of major issues, the first being the fact that the household sector still remains the major consumer of energy in most developing countries and is characterized by a high dependence on traditional biomass, with cooking as the primary energy consuming end use. The World Energy Outlook 2006 estimates that in these countries, traditional biomass accounts for 90% of household energy consumption and that this will increase by 2030 because of population growth. Use of biomass is not in itself a cause for concern. However, when resources are harvested unsustainably and energy conversion technologies are inefficient, there are serious adverse consequences for health, the environment and economic/social development. In spite of this fact, the household energy/development nexus does not receive the attention it deserves on the international policy agenda.

As the responsibility for household energy rests squarely on the shoulders of the rural women, the depletion of traditional biomass-based energy sources

affects women the most. Rough estimates of the proportion of rural women affected by fuel scarcity (based on estimates by the FAO of the percentage of household energy provided by fuelwood) are 60% in Africa, nearly 80% in Asia and nearly 40% in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDP, 1995). An increase in time spent on fuelwood collect implies that women have less time for productive activities. Perhaps, a more serious and long term implication of fuel shortage is its inter-generational consequences on girl-child’s education. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India, a major reason for keeping girls of ages 10 to 12 is to help the mothers in collecting cow dung (Mencher, 1989).

It is pleasing to note that health has become an increasingly important focus of household energy efforts, with the main emphasis on respiratory and eye illnesses due to smoke during cooking. Women exposed to indoor smoke are three times more likely to suffer from the fatal condition, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), than women who cook with electricity or gas (WHO, 2006).

However, a variety of other health issues also confront women in producing and using household energy, including the effects of work overload (use of human energy) and load carrying. Burns and kerosene poisoning, especially of children, are concerns too. Human rights issues with health consequences include rapes and beatings when gathering fuel in risky areas, and the persecution of women as witches when fires break out. These public health issues surrounding household energy have received much less attention (Jyoti Parikh & Vijay Laxmi, 2000).

In most countries, the majority of informal sector enterprises are owned and operated by women. Women-headed enterprises are frequently located in the home, and these “cottage industries” are

energy intensive and rely on biomass fuels. For example, beer brewing in Zambia is estimated to use around 410,000m3 of fuelwood, which is 25% of the total annual wood consumption (McCall 2001). Despite the low financial returns, women’s enterprises provide important sources of household income, even in male-headed households. This contribution tends to be overlooked by agencies because they are in the informal sector, and diffuse and difficult to reach. Thus women-headed enterprises have less access to financial resources, credit and equipment than do men, and less of a voice in household or community-level decision making. In African countries, women still receive less than 10% of all credit reaching small farmers (Blackden and Bhanu, 1999).

Interestingly, gender and energy experts such as Dr Joy Clancy, in her briefing paper for the SPARKNET, still assert that gender analysis has never been explicitly included in household energy. It seems to be taken for granted that because the majority of household energy is used for cooking, that women are automatically included, and indeed, household energy projects have often made use of female enumerators and participatory techniques to elicit women’s opinions, included women staff, and involved women’s organisations. The different roles of women and men, and the implications for benefits and decision-making, have seldom been addressed though. Women have frequently been involved only in improved stoves components of household energy projects, for example, and not in the supply side components of biogas programmes. And men’s roles in household decision making about appliance purchases and food preferences have sometimes been overlooked (Cecelski, 2000).

Interview with Sheila Oparaocha ENERGIA Network Coordinator/ENERGIA Programme Manager

In this Viewpoints feature we publish extracts from an interview with Sheila Oparaocha, ENERGIA Network Coordinator/ENERGIA Programme Manager. You can read the full article online – just follow the link in the @HEDON box at the end of the article.

Viewpoints

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THEME

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

Household dynamics

Looking at the theme of this issue, what could energy practitioners do to make gender sensitive interventions?

The seven recommendations given below are those of the Collaborative Research Group on Gender and Energy, which in my opinion are the most comprehensive to date. This is probably because they were agreed on by a multidisciplinary team of economists, policy experts, and project practitioners working on gender and energy issues. These include the following: 1. Invest in energy infrastructure

technologies and end-uses that directly meet poor women’s energy demands and make their labour more productive, in order to have a significant positive impact on women’s practical needs, family welfare and development. High potential technologies include:– improved cooking stoves and

fuels and other household energy interventions;

– food processing technologies such as grinding mills;

– drinking water pumping and transport; and

– electric lighting and media.2. For highest impact, promote sustainable

livelihoods through modern energy services that permit poor women to increase their productivity and income and hence the value of their labour, and therefore encourage adoption of modern energy services in the home. Two strategies shown here as high impact, justifying the investment of public funds, are:– women’s involvement on the supply

side, in producing and marketing new energy resources and services; and

– support to women’s micro-enterprises in accessing and using modern energy services and complementary business inputs

3. Do not restrict poor women in their choice of cooking fuel because of the profligacy of Northern industrialised countries. Current cooking energy use in developing countries has severely negative impacts on the health of women and children, via low birth weights and infant mortality, and substituting these fuels with more efficient biomass or fossil fuels would add little to global emissions. MDG 5 on reducing child mortality cannot be met without improvements in the household energy system.

4. Prioritise complementary inputs for gender equality. The issue of “complementary inputs” is familiar in energy and development – it is the lack of these inputs that often determine whether access to modern energy services does or does not have an impact. Modern energy services are most likely to produce benefits for women if they are implemented in the context of one or more of the following:– a deliberate gender strategy in

project planning, implementation and institutions that ensures women’s access;

– a supportive policy and/or institutional environment for women’s needs;

– a community-based organisation with women’s effective participation;

– existing or changing gender relations that value women’s labour compared to men’s; and/or, industry objectives coincide with women’s interests.

At least the first two can be influenced by project practitioners and policymakers respectively. Energy projects that effectively involve women have been a source of their increased voice and participation in development. Seeking synergies with one or more of the above conditions can be an efficient way to enhance benefits for women from modern energy services.

5. Seriously think about how to integrate operationally (in energy but also other development sectors) some key areas where evidence is incomplete but highly suggestive:– Increased girls’ education and

electrification and labour-saving energy services;

– HIV/AIDS – both quality of care and transmission – and the availability of modern energy services;

– Sexual violence and fuelwood collection.

6. Include and document gender analysis at each step of policy, programme and project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This research project was greatly hindered by the lack of disaggregation of data and information by gender in the energy and development literature. Engendering the logframe can only improve our understanding and effectiveness of how modern energy services can contribute to development.

7. Build capacity of women to work in the energy sector and of both women and men to engage with gender issues in energy systems. Our research showed a need for capacity building at all levels, ranging from training for poor rural women who need skills to operate energy technologies and businesses, to female and male energy practitioners, researchers and policymakers who need tools to engage effectively with gender. Improving linkages and networks among researchers, the grassroots, and policymakers is a powerful means for generating self-confidence and increasing visibility at every level.

www.hedon.info/CJTARead the full interview online* Author profile & latest contact* ENERGIA website*

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Profile of the author sheila Oparaocha comes from Zambia where she attained a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine at the university. she completed a masters on gender and rural development planning at the Asian institute of Technology in Thailand in 1997. After which she joined eTC Foundation, a non-profit making organisation in the Netherlands, as the Coordinator of the eNeRGiA international Network on Gender and sustainable energy.

GTZ NEWS

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Impacts of stove project in Kenya

The Kenyan stove project (carried out in Transmara, Western and Central Clusters) started in 2006. It is integrated into the GTZ programme for Private Sector Development in Agriculture (PSDA) and part of the ongoing German/Dutch collaboration within the Programme “Energising Development” (EnDev). The stove types promoted included the Jiko Kisasa with a firewood saving potential of 40% and the Rocket Mud Stove (RMS), which has a saving potential of 60%. Prices for households vary from 100 and 250 Ksh for Jiko Kisasa and from 200 and 250 Ksh for the one pot-RMS and from 250 to 500 Ksh for the two pot-RMS.

An impact assessment study was conducted in 2007 to assess what impacts have been realized from the two years of stove work in the current project. For this, 500 households were interviewed with standardised questionnaires, as well as 22 stove dealers and 16 restaurant owners. Six focus group discussions were conducted with women.

Higher stove adoption rate in households

Households using improved cooking stoves have increased from about 5% (2006) to 38% (2007). The main objective of the stove project was to provide 738,450 people with improved household stoves by June 2009. This objective has been largely met: 378,707 households possess an efficient stove, providing 1,893,538 people with improved cooking energy by June 2009 (household multiplied by 5, which is the average family size). A large variety of stoves were found in the interviewed households. Only 21% of ICS households use the three-stone-fire daily. This indicates that ICS households seem to abandon the traditional fireplace in favour of the improved stove in everyday cooking.

Income generation

Stove production has become a real business with an average monthly production of 337 Jiko Kisasa liners per producer and an average monthly income of 10,000 to 20,000 Ksh (about 100€ to 200€). Capacity building has been a key factor in embedding entrepreneurship skills to various players to undertake stove activities with a business orientation. Income generation remains the major motivation for most players. One third of them make their living out of stove business as a primary source of income. In any case, most of the stove dealers consider stove activity as an important contribution to their income, often making up more than half of the total household budget. The income enables them to pay for hospital bills and their children’s education. Others invest in milk cows, chicken, stocking of JK liners etc.

Impacts on women users of ICS

According to the interviewed women improved cooking stoves influence daily life in a positive way. Time gained due to fast cooking and money saved for firewood impact most of the poverty criteria. The surplus in time was used for farming, income generating activities, girls’ education and women’s participation in community life. The money gained was used for items of daily need. Health improvements due to reduced smoke emissions and reduction of accidental burns of children were also considered as an improvement of the living conditions.

Benefits for restaurants

Fuelwood savings, fast cooking and money savings are the most important advantages cited by almost all restaurant owners. For big restaurants, the smoke reduction is also considered very important. Small restaurants save an average of 100 Ksh per day for fuelwood while big restaurants save about 600 Ksh per day. Accordingly, the pay-off period for a Rocket stove with two pots and a market price of 10,000 Ksh is about six to nine weeks. A firewood Jiko Kisasa with one pot hole (300 Ksh) or two pot holes (600 Ksh) will be paid off after a couple of days.

The study can be accessed at: www.gtz.de/hera

Figure 1: Woman cooking on a Jiko Kisasa

HERA – new mandate

Since December 2008 GTZ’s former household energy programme HERA has a new mandate: poverty oriented basic energy services. The aim of the new programme is to promote innovative concepts for improving basic energy access for households, social institutions and small enterprises. Besides cooking energy, the focus of HERA will now also be on energy services for lighting, heating, electric appliances, etc for low income groups. HERA is carried out on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

NewsEditor Lisa Feldmann and Agnes Klingshirn

HeRA, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmBH, Postfach 5180, 65726 eschborn.

email: lisa.feldmann@gtz.de

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GTZ NEWS

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

Launch – GTZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium now available on HEDONThe Cooking Energy Compendium has been compiled and written by GTZ HERA and with the support and input of various projects. It draws on experiences and examples of various cooking energy projects in order to support the need for large-scale dissemination. The compendium focuses on stove dissemination, alternative fuels and stoves as well as on the supply side. Policy recommendations and the role cooking energy is playing on the international agenda complete the compendium. Various links to websites, publications and supportive material from cooking energy projects is given as well.

While a CD containing the compendium was launched by GTZ HERA in December 2008, we are happy to announce its online availability on the @HEDON link below.

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the CD please contact: lisa.feldmann@gtz.de

Peru: Campaign for improved stove disseminationIn June 2009, the Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon launched the “half a million stoves for a Peru without smoke” campaign in Lima. The alliance of national social programmes, regional and municipal governments as well as GTZ and WHO/PAHO and interested NGOs, intends to disseminate 500,000 stoves within the next two years. All stove models to be part of the campaign are being tested for Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), time and fuel consumption and safety issues by a laboratory, which is ascribed to the Ministry for Construction. The Peruvian Energising Development project will support the campaign with training, capacity development, quality assessment, technological development, cooperation management and monitoring. Energising Development Peru is part of the Dutch-German Energy Partnership and implemented by GTZ.

Solar lanterns test: Shades of light

Around two billion people worldwide lack access to modern energy and have to resort to candles or kerosene for basic lighting services. This results either in substantial costs for poor households or they have to rely on cheap kerosene lanterns, which are a source of harmful emissions and fire hazards. The introduction of solar lanterns, using CFL or LED as a lighting source, could provide a solution.

GTZ in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) has initiated a new series of laboratory tests with the aim to increase transparency into this upcoming, dynamic market. A new, cost efficient testing procedure has been developed and 12 lantern types were comparatively tested in 2008.

The main test results are that (i) few solar lanterns achieve an acceptable quality level, and (ii) even the better ones could be improved easily by addressing 1-2 relatively simple design recommendations. The initial costs for the few suitable systems are still too expensive for poor customers. However, it is expected that prices will drop to below 50% of 2008 values over the next few years. This will make solar lanterns clearly more economical than kerosene lamps. As they offer higher quality lighting, better handling, environmental advantages and sometimes radio or mobile phone charging, massive market growth can be expected in the near future.

www.hedon.info/DJTAFull GTZ news online* Editor profiles and latest contact details* GTZ Hera website * EnDev website* GTZ Hera Cooking Compendium* Solar Lanterns Test: Shades of Light*

Meet us @HEDONFigure 2: Women presenting improved stove at the launch

Figure 3: Tested solar lanterns (Photo: Jürgen Gocke, Fraunhofer ise)

PRACTICAL ACTION NEWS

20

Figure 1: Photograph supplied by Practical Action/Nigel Bruce

News from Nepal Development of National Indoor Air Quality Standards and Guidelines for Nepal

Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), once a neglected environmental health problem, is now an issue of national concern and policy debate in Nepal. The formulation of National Indoor Air Quality Standards and Guidelines (NIAQSG), technically backstopped by Practical Action and the National Forum of Indoor Air Pollution and Health, is a demonstration of the evidence-based policy thrust from local to government level.

Evidence base

Practical Action in Nepal started working on reducing IAP in Rasuwa district in 2001 by helping local people to adopt improved cooking stoves, house insulation, and chimney hoods. Later, Practical Action in Nepal, from 2005 to 2007, conducted a research study entitled ‘Burden of Indoor Air Pollution and Viability of its Mitigation Efforts: A Case Study of Rural Nepal’.

The research revealed many dark sides of IAP in relation to human health, which often compromised the rights of women and children to a healthy life. The research findings show that the indoor air pollution level is very high (15-fold higher than the WHO recommended safe level) (WHO, 2005) in the households in rural Nepal where biomass fuel is used extensively for cooking and heating in traditional inefficient fireplaces (three-stone fires or iron tripods).

Importantly, the research proved once again that the levels of IAP recorded are such that smoke is a factor that contributes greatly to health problems and can not only lead to death, but to high expenditure on treatment and loss of productivity.

The research provided an overview of the very significant differences between the levels of IAP experienced by those using improved cookstoves (ICS) and smoke hoods, and those who did not.

Policy action

Along with many endeavours to tackle the problem, Practical Action undertook a Policy Gap Study on Household Energy, Health and IAP of the South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) The recommendations from these studies led to further advocacy for a state constitution and laws to protect the rights of people to live in a healthy environment.

A national workshop on ‘Clean Indoor Air: The Right to a Healthy Life ‘ in February 2008 refined and validated many policy and rights-based issues that are closely linked with IAP. These issues were taken up by the National Forum for IAP and Health as the ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ after the workshop. From this initiative, State standards on IAP were created as a tool for awareness campaigns among policy-makers at local level.

Setting national standards

Practical Action supported the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST) in developing and formulating National Indoor Air Quality Standards and Guidelines (NIAQSG). The process of formulation of NIAQSG since the outset followed a participatory mechanism to include key ministries and stakeholders in the National Coordination Committee (NCC). The NCC drafted the standards and guidelines with the assistance of a local consultant. For wider public consultation, the draft NIAQSG was uploaded on the MoEST website (www.most.gov.np) and solicited views and comments from the public at large. A published notice in the national newspapers provided further information for the general public.

To incorporate views and feedback at local level, three regional workshops were organized, involving key regional stakeholders and user households. Meanwhile, the NCC members travelled to project sites in Rasuwa to consult with the representatives of local government, and learn the views of beneficiaries first hand. Feedback was incorporated in the final draft NIAQSG which was presented to the national level stakeholders’ consultative workshop organized in Kathmandu. Addressing the comments obtained from the national stakeholders’ workshop, the NCC members finally presented the final NIAQSG to MoEST. The NIAQSG was endorsed by the Ministry while the set of standards were forwarded to the Ministry of Law and Justice and Constitution Assembly for approval. The NIAQSG have been published in the National Gazette, May 4, 2009 after being approved by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Reference

WHO, 2006: WHO Air quality guidelines for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide Global update 2005.

NewsEditor Lucy Stevens and Liz Bates

Practical Action, schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, uK email: lucy.stevens@practicalaction.org.uk

PisCes is led by the African Centre for Technology studies, Kenya (ACTs) with lead partners Practical Action, M.s.swaminathan Research Foundation (MssRF), the university of Dar es salaam and the university of edinburgh together with a network of national and international partners and collaborators.

For more information please read the interview with the PisCes project manager Benard Muok on p39, visit the PisCes website (via the @HEDON link over the page) or contact info@pisces.or.ke

To find out about Practical Action’s work on the project please contact steven.hunt@practicalaction.org.uk

21

PRACTICAL ACTION NEWS

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

News from Practical Action Consulting

The PISCES Bioenergy Research Programme

Policy Innovation Systems for Clean Energy Security (PISCES) is DFID’s flagship energy research programme, which runs until 2012. The programme is developing new knowledge for the sustainable use of bioenergy to improve energy access and livelihoods in poor communities. The programme works through a networked centre of expertise focusing in East Africa and South Asia.

Sixth European Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) Forum on Eco-Innovation and Technology Transfer, Berlin, Germany, 2-3 April 2009

This forum brought together high level EU stakeholders on innovation and environmental technologies, to identify more effective ways to encourage clean technology transfer both within Europe and globally.

Steven Hunt (PAC) representing PISCES, injected a new perspective in his presentation into this EU-oriented grouping, and is quoted in the upcoming ETAP newsletter as saying:

‘Cutting carbon is our responsibility in the north, and we cannot just pass it on to developing countries. However, mitigation and adaptation technologies are required, and ETAP should consider both. Development needs must be recognised first, and technology responses tailored accordingly. It is important to recognise diversity between and within countries, as well as recognising development needs and environmental equity. Technology transfer should involve horizontal exchange of knowhow, experience and equipment. We need green shoots, not silver bullets’.

Widespread coverage and reaction to the PISCES-FAO Case Studies report on Small-Scale Bioenergy initiatives

With the assistance of HEDON, dissemination of the PISCES-FAO Case Studies report, completed in January 2009, has produced widespread attention and comment on the cases, the sector, the methods used and the preliminary conclusions.

Several articles have been published on the report since its launch. The report itself, and links to the story on the FAO website are given below:

www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/11355/icode/ www.pisces.or.ke/pubs

Bioenergy Participatory Market Maps completed in Sri Lanka in January 2009, with modelling now ongoing

Market maps have been successfully produced by market participants for household/institutional and small-industrial bioenergy value chains in Sri Lanka. This exercise (Figure 2) is a follow up to the sector training conducted in July 2008. ‘Systems Dynamics’ tools for conversion of market maps into market models have been developed in order to test the applicability of this tool for better market understanding. Better modelling of market chain dynamics regarding livelihoods impacts as well as sensitivities to policy levers and the wider environment could greatly assist policymaking on Bioenergy.

Figure 2: Participatory Market Mapping workshop, sri Lanka

Kenya-Ethiopia learning and exchange on ethanol

A successful visit from Kenyan PISCES team members to the GAIA Association investigating the Ethiopian Household Ethanol model, has resulted in interest at bioethanol policy levels from the Kenyan Ministry of Energy and sector stakeholders including ethanol firms and UNHCR. Recent baseline work focussing on specific bioenergy initiatives in Kenya will contribute to research and development of pro-poor household ethanol delivery models in the country, adapting the Ethiopia experience.

News from Practical Action Publishing

A new book, Designing and Building Mini and Micro Hydro Power Schemes – A Practical Guide by Luis Rodriguez and Teodoro Sanchez, published in September 2009, is available for engineers and development practitioners. The book is based on the authors’ experience of installing hydroelectric schemes that produce up to 500 kW for providing power to small communities.

ISBN: 978-1-85339-646-5 Pages: 320 Binding: Paperback Price: £ 29.95 | d44.95 | US$ 59.95 Sales: orders@nbninternational.com Tel: +44(0)1752 202300 Fax: +44 (0)1752 202333

www.hedon.info/EJTAFull Practical Action news online* Editor profile and latest contact details* PISCES website* UNHCR website * FAO website*

Meet us @HEDON

22

ENERGIA’s Achievements over the years

Capacity Building

This has been an important strategy for ENERGIA for many years. At first, capacity building was intended to bring about changes at the policy and perceptional levels, but since 2005, we have been trying to also target energy practitioners with practical tools and training. Currently, we want to strengthen capabilities of project managers and policymakers to design and implement gender-sensitive rural energy access projects and national energy policies. To be able to achieve this, a generic training programme – including six training modules on gender and energy in English and French – was developed1.

1under the eu-funded programme ‘Turning information into empowerment: strengthening Gender and energy Networking in Africa’

Gender mainstreaming energy projects/markets

This is a new strategy for ENERGIA, which started in 2007. The strategy aims to produce a body of first-hand experiences that show the positive impacts energy access projects/markets have on the livelihoods of poor men and women.

Another approach that ENERGIA has followed under this strategy is that of publishing a call for the submission of project proposals in May 2008 to mainstream gender approaches into (parts of) existing energy projects.

Introducing ENERGIA

Founded in 1995 by a group of energy practitioners who provided inputs to the Earth Summit in 1992 and Beijing Conference on Women in 1995, ENERGIA sought to address the inadequate recognition of gender issues as a legitimate area of concern in energy policy and practice at that time. ENERGIA works from the standpoint that projects, programmes and policies that explicitly address gender and energy issues will result in better outcomes, in terms of the sustainability of energy services as well as the human development opportunities available to women and men.

The network has grown into a strong, dynamic, and active body, and has become the institutional base from which actions were taken to integrate gender issues into energy access policies, programmes and projects. There now are 22 national gender and energy networks, coordinated by National Focal Point organisations, of which 13 are in Africa and nine in Asia. These two regional networks are led by Regional Network Coordinators, with support and backstopping from the International Secretariat, which is hosted by ETC Foundation in the Netherlands and which is responsible for overall management and coordination of activities of the network.

During the initial years, ENERGIA News, a magazine on gender and energy issues, was the main product and ‘backbone’ of the network. Later, the network has earned a clear visibility and standing at the international level, through participation and active contributions to international policy events, advice on gender and energy issues to international institutions, and substantive research on the subject. ENERGIA was successful in

putting gender and energy issues on the agendas of multilateral and bilateral development agencies in the energy sector such as ESMAP, GTZ and UNDP. ENERGIA has grown in influence through its international policy influencing and advocacy activities at events such as Village Power, and its resource centre on gender and energy.

Since 2007, a change occurred in the direction of ENERGIA’s activities. Where until then the majority of activities were directed at the international level, now the majority of activities take place within member countries. This change was led by a strong voice of ENERGIA’s membership, who successfully called for more impact within their countries.

The four main strategies along which ENERGIA is currently working are:1. Capacity building in gender mainstreaming energy projects2. Gender mainstreaming in energy projects/markets3. Policy influencing 4. Networking With these strategies, ENERGIA made another shift: that from mainly showing why gender mainstreaming is crucial, to mainly demonstrating and building capacities of how to mainstream gender into energy projects and policies. The article in this issue of Boiling Point demonstrating the gender tools used in the Lao Biogas Pilot Program is a good example, showing the practical level at which this demonstration and capacity building is taking place.

The remainder of this article will focus on achievements made by the network and its activities.

ENERGIA NEWS

NewsEditor Anja Panjwani

eNeRGiA international secretariat, eTC Foundation, PO Box 64, 3830 AB, Leusden, The Netherlands

email: a.panjwani@etcnl.nl

www.hedon.info/FJTARead & comment on article online* Editor profile & latest contact details* ENERGIA website*

Meet us @HEDON

23Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

Policy Influencing

Like capacity building, policy influencing has been one of ENERGIA’s main strategies for many years. In the early years, the main focus was on advocacy at major international fora and meetings, or targeting key international stakeholder organisations. ENERGIA’s advocacy work at this level has undoubtedly contributed in putting gender on the energy agenda, as was recognised by ENERGIA’s 2006 external evaluation.

Input was also provided on gender into nine programmes of key organisations working on energy access for the poor, including GVEP Partnership Board, IUCN energy program, Sida consultative group, Technical Advisory Group of the WB Energy Trust Funded Programmes, Global Gender and Climate Alliance. This has resulted in the inclusion of gender and energy issues in policy documents of Sida, GVEP, UNDP and ESMAP, after advisory services were provided to these organisations.

Under TIE-ENERGIA, a new approach to policy influencing was taken. One that focused on national energy policies and ministries and that were undertaken by our national network members. The aim is to obtain impacts at the institutional and policy levels, and by working directly with ministries of energy to influence the content as well as the direction of the national energy policies, so as to make them gender-sensitive. The main activities carried out under the policy influencing strategy currently is that of gender audits of national energy policies and/or institutions. So far, seven gender audits of national energy policies have been implemented in Botswana, Kenya, Senegal, The Philippines, India, Nigeria and Ghana. These gender audits result in gender action plans with specific targets and a timeframe that are validated by Ministries of Energy in these countries. As can be seen in the article by Nozipho Wright and Yacine Diagne Gueye, the gender audits in Botswana and Senegal have resulted in the incorporation of gender and energy aspects in national energy policies.

Networking

This strategy wants to strengthen the energy and gender networking and resources at the regional, national and international level. It builds on the ENERGIA network structure that brings together individuals and institutions with diverse backgrounds across a large number of countries into a collective endeavour to work on gender and energy issues.

Networking activities at national level are centred around seed funding contracts with National Focal Points for the implementation of network strengthening activities in the 22 countries of the ENERGIA network. These activities have leveraged other actions on energy access and provided confidence for extra funding from national level donors for some of the networks. At the regional level, six network meetings have been held, two in Africa and four in Asia at which all 22 National Focal Point organisations were present. At these events, network members update priority actions

and reaffirm their shared commitment to the objectives and principles of the ENERGIA network.

In addition, the ENERGIA International Secretariat recently hosted the ENERGIA International Network Meeting from 13 to 19 September 2009 in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. It was the first time in ENERGIA’s history that the entire network met. During the meeting, the network took a critical look at itself, its activities and the way it is organised and looked forward to the coming five years to give direction to the activities and organisational structure of the network.

The meeting clearly showed that ENERGIA has a very committed, vibrant and dynamic membership. The level of linking and learning between members from different countries, continents and stakeholder groups was continuously ongoing. Poster presentations of the national, regional and international activities helped initiate this, but also the open learning environment that a network can offer to its members and the dedication of the members to jointly work towards the same goal.

Another important element under the networking strategy is that of developing and collecting resources on gender and energy in the only existing gender and energy resource centre.

Resources that have been developed by ENERGIA over the years include:– ENERGIA News, the printed magazine with case studies on

gender and energy, which has recently undergone a change in appearance to make the magazine more visually appealing and easier to read.

– ENERGIANet, an electronic newsletter presenting updates from the network.

– One book, jointly developed with UNDP: Gender and Energy for Sustainable Development: a toolkit and resource guide.

– Three annotated bibliographies on gender and energy from Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

– An online database including 359 online publications on gender and energy.

– Six empirical studies on gender, energy and the MDGs, eight case studies by partners in Africa, Asia and France, one conceptual framework paper and one synthesis report to deepen the understanding of the linkages between gender, energy and poverty.

– Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation in Energy Projects that contains gender sensitive tools and indicators.

Following the change in appearance for ENERGIA News, ENERGIA is also restyling the website with the objective of making the information more easily accessible, interactive and up-to-speed with technological website developments. The website will keep on offering these and more resources on gender and energy for free and easy download.

For more information about ENERGIA, please visit the website: www.energia.org

ENERGIA NEWS

ENERGIA – International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy

TOOLKIT

24

Gender assessment instrument packagePart of ENERGIA’s coaching efforts to BPP involved the joint development of a gender assessment instrument package by SNV Lao PDR and ENERGIA on mainstreaming gender in the Lao Biogas Pilot Program. This package is adapted from existing tools, approaches and experiences from SNV, ENERGIA and other development agencies.

One of the primary objectives of the package is to outline a strategy for conducting a gender-based baseline assessment for new biogas interventions. The tools have been kept as simple and practical as possible for user friendliness and have been designed for energy practitioners who want to mainstream gender into their biogas or other energy programmes.

The tools in the package deal with different levels that are relevant to the programme:– Institutional level;– Programme level;– Community level; and– Household level. The tools used at the institutional and programme levels, centre around SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and BRET (Build on strengths – Reduce weaknesses –Extend opportunities –Tackle threat) analyses, gender capacity needs assessments, programme document review and stakeholder analysis. This article will focus on the tools that were developed for use at the community and household levels. It will then continue to show the findings and recommendations of the baseline survey.

As part of its capacity building efforts, ENERGIA held a regional training of trainers and practitioners on gender mainstreaming in energy projects. The training was held in October 2007 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Programme staff of the Lao Biogas Pilot Program (BPP) participated at the training and also participated in the e-coaching trajectory that ENERGIA provided to a number of selected projects, following the regional training. The team put together a gender action plan based on identified gender gaps in the project, and information collected through a baseline survey. Tools for collecting and analysing gender disaggregated data from communities were developed specifically for this project, which will be presented to you in this article, including the outcomes of using them.

Authors Phanmaly Siliphong1 and Soma Dutta2

1email: phanmalysiliphong@yahoo.com 2email: abhisoma@gmail.com

Gender Mainstreaming Tools in the Lao Biogas Pilot Program

Toolkit

About the Lao Biogas Pilot ProgramThe Lao Biogas Pilot Program (BPP) aims to reduce poverty and improve the lives of rural households in the Lao PDR. It does this by creating a commercial and sustainable market sector for domestic biogas technology. This technology provides a wide range of benefits for rural households and communities. The program is implemented by the Department of Livestock and Fisheries within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, with support from SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, and with funding from the Government of The Netherlands.

Source: http://www.biogaslao.org

25

TOOLKIT

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

Community and household level toolsThe BPP field survey was conducted in seven communities, four in the capital of Vientiane and three in Savannakhet province in October to November 2008. The objectives of this field survey at community level were to:– Assess the gender equality and women’s

empowerment status in the biogas communities. The survey also tried to look at the related governance and social issues. The survey explores and tries to answer who in the community does what, when and where, in the context of biogas;

– Identify the good practices and constraints of the biogas services;

– Provide ground information for project management to consider and take action.

The survey used a participatory approach to ensure that each community group was represented and that each member had a chance to express his/her own opinion. The baseline survey used community focus group discussions and individual household interviews. The survey tried to find out the gender differences between users and non-users of biogas technology by using the following tools:– socio-economic profile;– gender profile and seasonal calendar;– access and control profile; – gender issues identification;– household survey form.These tools will be familiar to practitioners working with participatory approaches, but they do not necessarily bring out gender issues when applying them. This has been addressed by the BPP by specifically building gender related questions into these tools and by making sure that staff who use the tools have sufficient understanding of gender concepts to be able to use the adapted tools. An example of gender inclusion in such a tool is Table 1, which shows the questions in the household survey form that are related to the section on information on household biogas technologies. The tools are available upon request from BPP.

Village socio-economic profileObjectives

To investigate and understand the current socio-economic status of the village in 1. relation to biogas supply; To identify an idea of differential perceptions regarding biogas plants among men and 2. women and understanding what factors influence the adoption of biogas plants.

SamplingA village could be selected for the survey, if it at least matches with two of the following four main criteria: (1) biogas plants installed and programme is active in the village, (2) different economic classes -poor vs. non poor, (3) ethnic diversity, (4) geographical setting -rural vs. urban, off-grid vs. grid, etc. At least three villages would be selected for the baseline survey in each province.

Participants10-15 people (men and women) from village committee and a Lao Women’s union’s representative.

Time required 1 hour

Process Organise a meeting with men and women representatives in the village committee. 1. explain the objective of the exercise and ask the questions from the survey form, 2. trying to keep a friendly atmosphere.

Activity profile and seasonal calendar

ObjectiveTo identify the reproductive, productive and community activities done by women and men, girls and boys in the homes, communities and offices, in the provinces/districts, and villages, especially in the energy sector.

ParticipantsBiogas user and non-user villagers, 10-15 people in each group, ensuring that both men and women from different social-economic and ethnic backgrounds actively participate in the groups.

Time required 1 hour

Process separate biogas user and non-user groups, if possible, men and women separately. 1. The facilitator introduces the exercise, defines what reproductive, productive and 2. community activities/roles are, and asks the participants to list them and follow by questioning when they are doing it, by who and where. One chart would be filled for each group, through a process of discussion and consensus. if necessary the data can be supplemented by interviews with key informants.

Access and control profileObjectiveTo identify who has access to, and control over energy resources, services and benefits from BPP in the households and in the community.

ParticipantsThe same biogas user and non-user villagers as in the previous exercise.

Time required 1 hour

Process Continue with the same biogas user and non-user groups, if possible, men and 1. women separately. The facilitator introduces the exercise, defines the concepts (access, control, 2. acquisition, benefits and maintenance), and asks the participants to list the existing energy resources and benefits. Then the facilitator asks the participants to indicate who (men or women) have access to (or uses) the resources and for what purpose, who (men or women) has control over (or has the power to make decisions about) the resources and who (men or women) benefits from the use of the resources. if necessary the data can be supplemented by interviews with key informants.

TOOLKIT

26

Some field findings and recommendationsWith regard to gender, the first finding relating to the use of biogas shows a significant improvement of the livelihoods of women and children by reducing their workload. Women save about 1.3 hours per day in fetching firewood and cooking, which has enabled them to undertake more productive activities from farm and off-farm activities. This has led to more gender equality within households using biogas, than in non-using households. Related to this is increased enrollment and a reduced drop-out rate by girl students, as reported by a primary school in Vientiane. Within biogas-using households, girls are no longer needed at home to assist with household chores, and particularly with fetching firewood. This enables them to attend school and finalize their primary education.

To reach more women in the promotion of the biogas initiative, it was also found that it would be essential to have a gender balance in the promotion team. Male members of the team generally speak to the men in a community or household. Women therefore get information about the biogas initiative indirectly, incompletely, or not at all. Though some members of

the promotion team recognise that men and women will experience different benefits from biogas (bio-slurry of more importance to men, while cooking and fuel saving more to women), clear promotion guidelines are needed. Having well-targeted promotion material that reach both men and women, in terms of content and in ensuring that the information is available in places frequented by both men and women, is also essential. BPP should consider whether its promotion is convenient to women, especially in the period following the cooking time.

Traditionally, men take care of the construction, operation and management of technologies, where women usually get support from men when something goes wrong or breaks down. In the interviews during the baseline survey, many women expressed that in practice they share half the operation and maintenance tasks, especially those related to the stove. Women face difficulties with these tasks, when men are away from home. Women should therefore also be targeted by the training that BPP offers.

To make this training available to women, it is strongly recommended that it is done in local languages, not using text-based training materials, and by choosing a location and time that is convenient to all trainees, particularly at village level.

The use of female trainers may also help the likelihood of women participating, and help increase their comfort level. All basic information from the training could be also put on a laminated sheet or poster pictorially. These can be put up in the kitchen, so that the information is always close at hand and does not get lost to women.

Facilitating access to credit, especially in areas where credit facilities are not well developed necessarily improves access to biogas facilities to people who may not otherwise be able to afford it. The development of group credits, making use of credit providers who already specialise in credit facilities for women and the poor, and facilitating access to the cattle bank are options open to the programme.

Lastly, increasing the number of female masons and construction workers, as well as increasing women’s participation in biogas committees and management are actions that BPP could take up.

It is clear that the baseline survey has shown a number of gender gaps that existed within the Lao BPP. The practical recommendations make it easy to redress this situation and make the programme more effective in reaching women and marginalised communities. This will have a positive effect on the livelihoods of these groups and their families.

Gender issues identification

Objective To identify the issues faced by women and men in biogas management at community level. The exercise will also try to find out the perceptions and understanding of biogas non-users and those of the poor in their ability to gain access to biogas.

ParticipantsVillage authority, biogas user and non-user villagers, 5-7 people in each group.

Time required 1.5 hours

Processseparate biogas user and non-user groups, if possible, men and women 1. separately. it is likely to have four groups: men from biogas households, women from biogas households, men from non-biogas households, women from non-user households. Have a separate group of women headed households, if they are significant in number.Have a discussion with each group separately. Ask the participants of each 2. group to list the main issues and problems faced by men/boys and women/girls in the biogas management and their causes and possible solutions. some of the issues to discuss are:

– Are men and women equally participating in project decision-making?– What are the features of biogas plants that users value? Ask men and women to separately list three most important benefits to them.– What are the features of biogas plants that users do not like? Ask men and women to separately list three problems with biogas plants that they would like rectified.– How did you find out about the biogas programme? From the men of the household/ from the BPP field worker who came to our house? include possible alternatives.

27

TOOLKIT

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

References

P. siliphong, P. siripoldej and T. santhasith. Gender Assessment Instrument Package.

BPP and sNV. Gender and Social Inclusion Biogas Baseline Survey at Community Level: “A Voice from Local Women”. Final draft report. Oct-Nov 2008, Vientiane and savannakhet, Lao PDR.

www.hedon.info/GJTARead & comment on article* Author profiles and latest *

contact detailsENERGIA website* Biogas Lao Pilot Program *

websiteSNV website*

Meet us @HEDON

Household survey form

ObjectiveTo identify the perceptions, understandings and roles of women and men in biogas management at household level.

Samplingin principle, at least 10% of total households in the village would be selected as the sample. With that however, the biogas user households, in fact, are less than 10% of total households so all biogas users would be selected as the sample plus 2-3 non-users for triangulation purposes.

ParticipantsAll biogas users, 2-3 biogas non-users. ensure that both men and women from different social-economic and ethnic backgrounds are selected as respondents.

Time required Not more than 1 hour

Process select the sample of households with the village authority.1. introduce yourself to the men and women in the households and explain the 2. objective of the exercise. show them that you want to understand their status for project development and promise to keep their household information secret. start interviewing question by question following the survey form. importantly, 3. the surveyor should maintain a friendly conversation as much as possible.

Table 1: Section G of the Household Survey Form: Information on Household Biogas Technologies

G. Information on Household Biogas Technologies Men’s response Women’s response

Acquisition

Who decided to purchase the Biogas technology appliances?

Who paid/is paying for the Biogas technology/appliances (or were they a gift from relatives)?

Is subsidy, credit available? And for whom?

Who was registered (by name) as the owner of the biogas technology?

What energy technologies were available, and why was this one chosen?

Access and benefits

Who decides who uses it and for what purpose?

What benefits does it bring and for whom?

Who keeps the profit?

Who gets more employment and income?

Are there any negative aspects?

Who decides on where it is located?

Supply

Who purchases/collects the energy source used?

What energy sources are available and why is this one used?

Who decides how much, when and where to collect/purchase the fuel (kerosene etc)?

Who pays?

Operation and Maintenance

Who is responsible for operation and maintenance?

Who takes care of the following:

Cleaning of nozzles

Water removal from the pipes

Cleaning of slurry pool, preventing mosquito breeding

Other fixing or repairing (e.g. fixing gas leakage, broken vessel/lamp etc)

Can you follow the instructions presented in the posters?

Who has access to the resources necessary for maintenance?

Who has access to training, workshops, study tours and other knowledge? Please name the training.

Who found out about the biogas plant technology, and from where?

28

GENERAL

General

The Zeravshan Valley runs along the borders with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and climbs from

1,500m altitude in the West, to about 2,500m in the East, with some villages located over 3,000m altitude where winter temperatures fall to as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. In many of the houses in the Himalayan regions, the cooking stove is the only heating source. During the summer however, cooking takes place outdoors because the inside cooking stove emits too much heat. In this valley, bread is invariably made in outside ovens using about 30% of the annual household firewood and cow dung consumption.

Due to centuries long collection of biomass for cooking and space heating by a growing population, in combination with the grazing by goats and growing herds, the mountainous landscape has turned into a stone desert. Only for small patches of privately owned land with irrigation some branch and tree harvesting is realised.

Traditional cooking and bread baking methods in the Zeravshan Valley are, with only 20% firewood efficiency, very poor in terms of biomass consumption. This is the case in other areas of the country as well and several development projects are focussing on improving the stoves and cooking methods, and eventually manage vegetation, watershed and control erosion.

Because houses are poorly insulated (in particular the ceilings/roofs and windows), the cooking stove is stoked for many hours to provide some warmth in the winter, consuming massive amounts of firewood, dried cow dung (tapack) and coal. Only the richer people are able to afford purchasing about one ton of coal per bedroom per winter, while the poorer people (the majority) are dependent on firewood and cow dung cakes for cooking and space heating. Low-income families spend at least 10% of their day time scavenging biomass, and sleep together in one 3m x 4m room, sometimes with six persons. Sleeping is on carpets and

thin mattresses, but floors in poor people’s houses are seldom thermally insulated.

About three quarters of the heat from the cast iron (Soviet relic) cooking stoves goes out of the chimney; the remainder is used for space heating, cooking and water heating. Several improvements are being introduced to reduce the massive heat waste of the cooking stoves such as improved stove design (air intake, insulation), heat exchanger cum bread oven on the chimney pipe and modified chimney pipes. Other methods to reduce biomass consumption are now being proposed such as improved thermal insulation (roof, windows, floor, walls, roll curtains), stove-linked back boiler, parabolic solar cooker, solar water heater, pressure cooker, ARTI Sarai steam cooker and hay box (heat-retention box), to name a few. Because of the intimate relation between long cooking times and minimal house heating at high altitudes, good thermal insulation is a pre-condition to changing the duration of the cooking stove.

Author Sjoerd Nienhuys

senior Renewable energy Advisor

email: sjoerd@nienhuys.info Website: www.nienhuys.info

Pressure cooker training

This article is related to only one activity of a renewable energy staff training programme, realised in coordination with Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action, GAA) in Ayni, a small town in the centre of the Zeravshan Valley, about 150km north of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

Figure 1: Preparing a traditional dish as a comparative test between the common cooking method and a pressure cooker

29Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

Pressure cooker in high altitude areas

Shortening the cooking process is an option for fuel saving which will also save fuel during the summer period. The pressure cooker is particularly useful for cooking above the 1,000m altitude.

As a small component of the renewable energy training for Welthungerhilfe staff, I held a short training session on the pressure cooker in Ayni village located at 1,500m above sea level. The purpose of the training session was to demonstrate the energy saving aspect of the pressure cooker by comparing the same dish (soup) cooked according to the traditional method and using the pressure cooker and a hay box (heat-retention box).

The pressure cooker is essential in the higher altitudes, because it creates a higher boiling temperature due to the steam pressure inside the cooking pot. The higher the altitude, the lower the atmospheric pressure and the related natural boiling temperature and hence, the longer it will take for food to cook. Several types of pressure cookers can have about 100kPa pressure increase over local atmospheric pressure, but models vary greatly. The required boiling time for softening the food is between one fourth and one fifth of the normal boiling time, depending on the altitude.

Cooking activities

1. The meat and vegetables (carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and onions) were cleaned and divided equally between the pressure cooker and cooking pot.

The vegetables were not chopped into small pieces, but were cut following the traditional method of keeping the potatoes whole and the vegetables chunky.2. The amount of water (for the soup) in

the pressure cooker was just above the vegetables, while the amount of water in the common cooking pot was well above the vegetables.

In addition, because the traditional cooking method requires two hours of simmering after being brought to boil, an additional two cups of water were added to the open pot during the cooking process.

The vegetables in the two pots were prepared according to the traditional method with large chunks of potatoes and meat in order to demonstrate the difference in energy use between the two methods.

Chopping the vegetables small in the traditional cooking pot would have tenderised them earlier, but the traditional dish included the meat. The long cooking process also guaranteed the stewing of the meat.

Comparative demonstration

In order to compare the two cooking methods, a new double pit gas stove was used, giving the same gas flame under the pressure cooker and the other cooking pot. Doing this test on two traditional mud stoves would not be possible as these would not have two cooking points, and the flame could be not accurately be controlled.

In the larger village of Ayni many people used bottled gas for cooking. Time saving would imply less cooking gas, motivating them to calculate the financial differences. 3. The two pots were placed on a double

pit gas stove, assuring that the flame under the pots was about equal.

Although the pressure cooker has a larger mass in terms of the amount of metal, it came to boiling point faster than the cooking pot because of the lesser amount of water. 4. The pressure cooker came on pressure

in 17 minutes, while the pot with the glass lid took 25 minutes to reach boiling point. Once the pressure cooker came to full pressure, it was taken off the stove and placed in a heat-retention box.

The temporary hay box (heat retention) was made from a cardboard box lined with three layers of metalized foil having a Polyethylene (PE) backing of 3mm. The highly reflective aluminium surfaces of the foils were placed towards the heat source. These will reflect radiation heat, provided there is a 5-7mm air space on the shiny side.

Altitude in meters Sea level 1000 m 1500 m 2250 m 3000 m Pressure cooker A

Altitude in feet Sea level 3000 ft 5000 ft 7500 ft 10.000 ft 3000 ft + (15 psi = 107kPa)

Boiling temp. degrees Celsius 100 ºC 96.6 ºC 95 ºC 92.2 ºC 90 ºC 118 ºC ~ 120 ºC

Boiling temp. degrees Fahrenheit 212 ºF 206 ºF 203 ºF 198 ºF 194 ºF 244 ºF ~ 248 ºF

Estimated boiling time needed 100% 105% 110% 125% 150% 25% - 20% (approximately)

Cooking time savings and fuel savings will increase with increasing altitude.

30

GENERAL

This foil is commonly used for pipe insulation, under laminate floors, for house insulation and is becoming widely available.

Heat-retention cookers are commonly made from insulation materials such as Expanded Polystyrene (EPS €=0.04 W/m.K), loose wool (€=0.05 W/m.K), straw (€=0.08 W/m.K) or even less insulating materials. However, the highly reflective metalized foils are far more effective and require less space.

For a total heat resistance of R= 3.0 m.K/W, a material thickness of 12cm EPS is needed or 24cm loose straw, making it a voluminous box. Each reflective foil with 3mm PE backing has an R value of about 0.8 m.K/W. Hence, only four foils are needed to reach R=3.2 m.K/W, being only 2cm in thickness. 5. After placing the pressure cooker in the

heat-retention box, it was covered with small broken pieces of EPS packing material, followed by a layer of bubble foil. By this time (25 minutes), the traditional cooking pot had started to boil and the gas flame under this pot was lowered slightly to simmering.

6. After two hours, during which two cups of water had been added (evaporation), the traditional dish was ready. The pressure cooker was taken out of the heat-retention box. The pressure cooker had retained some of its pressure, meaning it had actually continued to cook the ingredients at a

higher temperature than the traditional cooking pot.

7. Comparing the two soups, all the Welthungerhilfe project staff agreed that the soup cooked in the pressure cooker tasted better and the carrots were softer. One female staff member commented: “Now I do not need to be home two hours before lunch in order to start cooking, I can make the soup in the morning and it is still warm at lunch.”

8. The pressure cooker used only 17 minutes of gas while the traditional pot took 25 minutes (high flame to come to the boil) and 120 minutes (simmering time); in total 145 minutes. This meant that the pressure cooker used only 12% of the gas (or other cooking fuel such as firewood) as compared to the traditional cooking method.

The exercise demonstrated that the combination of the pressure cooker and heat-retention box results in considerable savings of cooking fuel (actually one-eighth of the amount). The high saving is partly due to the inefficient cooking method of the traditional dish requiring long cooking times. This correlates with houses being poorly insulated and requiring constant heating during the winter. The exercise was concluded with another two short training sessions on (a) the technology of the pressure cooker and its use, and (b) the technical design of the heat retention box.

The Welthungerhilfe programme uses the Afghan model pressure cooker now because it is available in the capital Dushanbe and it can be used on any kind of stove (gas, electricity, open fire and solar cooker).

Safety requirements

Using the pressure cooker without knowing how it works can lead to dangerous situations, especially when the fire under the pot cannot be accurately tempered. With vigorous boiling, steam and foam will develop inside the pressure cooker. When the pressure pot is filled to the rim, the foam and bubbling food will clog the pressure control steam vent. This will excessively raise the pressure and temperature, and without a proper safety valve, the pot may explode.– A pressure cooker works on steam

development, therefore water is an essential ingredient

– Pressure cookers having an increased height top lid are slightly safer than pressure cookers with a flat top, because foam less easily blocks the steam vent

– A pressure cooker should not be used for frying

– Aluminium cooking pots should not be cleaned on the inside with soda or a metallic sponge; otherwise, aluminium will enter into the food, having a negative health aspect (Alzheimer’s)

Pressure cookers are on the market in different price classes and qualities. In Afghanistan (4 litre, USD 25), low cost aluminium pressure cookers are available, and these are now being introduced by Welthungerhilfe as a result of the training exercise. Considering the amount of gas saved through a pressure cooker, the cost of the cooker is recuperated within a summer season.

Figure 4: The two pots are filled with exactly the same amount of ingredients. The pressure cooker has less water because evaporation will be far less

Figure 2: several layers of the reflective insulation are shown here. From top to bottom: Aluminium foil with Pe backing, 5-7mm fluffy wool, shining metalized foil, 5-7mm fluffy wool, and another shining metalized food packing foil

Figure 3: The pressure cooker inside the heat storage box is covered with broken pieces of ePs insulation material and two layers of insulating bubble foil

31Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

Retention-heat box

It was suggested to make an insulated stand and cotton cloth-covered heat-retention bag (big tea cosy) with several reflective foils inside to reduce its volume when stored away. A local women’s workshop can be set up to produce and market the best designs.

Follow-up on training session

Although the staff training session had demonstrated clearly the effect of the two new technologies, statistical data could be collected during further demonstration sessions in the villages and with other food products. This single demonstration, using only one eighth of the amount of gas, using the two techniques of pressure cooker and heat-retention cooker was highly convincing of the potential benefits. This, however, needed to be translated to village based cooking demonstrations, eventually including the use of wood, dung and coal fires. From every demonstration session a good time and fuel record should be kept. The best designs for the heat-retention boxes or cosies can be evaluated at the same time.

The following recommendations resulted from the training session:– Have such cooking demonstrations

in the villages, tasting the dishes for comparison

– Explain the operation of the pressure cooker with its advantages and disadvantages

– Develop a cookbook with easy tasty recipes using the pressure cooker

– Make the pressure cooker available through local shop outlets in the villages, selling it only with an instruction manual and cookbook

– Make the heat-retention bag available through local shop outlets and include an instruction manual for the types of food that can be cooked with the aid of the bag

– Explain the relation between traditional long cooking times and house insulation

Behavioural change related to cooking and traditional dishes is difficult. The notion that ‘new cooking methods do not taste good’ is not always correct and often merely an expression of resistance to change. Resistance to change sometimes has a rational basis - it is up to the development agency to understand what this rational basis is, and devise methods to overcome this resistance. Enthusiasm of local communicators and leading community members about new working methods (lower cost, more efficiency) will help to introduce these methods and achieve energy saving.

In the case of the cooking methods, and when the long cooking periods for making stews are linked to house heating, thermal insulation of the house is often a priority, before something can be done on the stove design or cooking methods.

Profile of the author

sjoerd Nienhuys has been working for 30 years in developing countries specialising in low-income housing, earthquake engineering and renewable energy. With a particular interest in cooking problems in remote areas, sjoerd has introduced and further developed various stoves and also looked at energy savings in the cooking methods.

Figure 5: The pressure cooker is placed inside the heat retention box before it is further filled with ePs pieces

Figure 6: The cook verifies that the gas flames are exactly the same size under the two pots. This assures comparable energy use and would be difficult to realise precisely with a wood fire

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latest contact detailsAuthor’s website*

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32

GENERAL

India’s sustained rural economic development vitally depends on its energy security and the promotion

of sustainable and environment friendly energy technologies in rural areas. The energy needs, which are growing with the pace of economic development, cannot be met with only oil and gas for long. Currently, the total domestic production by Indian companies is less than one third of current domestic consumption. Oil and gas reserves in India are quite limited and our growing bills for imported crude oil are putting unbearable burden on our economy, particularly with the rising cost of crude oil in the international market.

These facts compel us to think of a new strategy to deal with the rising energy demands. We need a new paradigm of energy security to address our developmental needs, particularly in rural areas. This paradigm would have to focus on several issues: a less energy intensive path of development, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, and also aimed at reducing carbon emission and improving efficiency in production and consumption.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is executing an ambitious programme for Integrated Rural Energy Planning (www.mnre.gov.in) comprising of policies addressing the issues of utilisation of renewable energy sources in the rural sector. The micro-level planning and development should meet

the needs of the villages with locally available energy sources. This paper deals with different aspects of energy security in a cluster of four villages in the Faizabad District located in Eastern Uttar Pradesh of India.

The cluster of villages chosen comprise of viz Bawan (households: 1,355), Bachauda (households: 405), Biraulijham (households: 480) and Dhanthua (households: 367). These villages are under Block Amaniganj in Milkipur Tehsil of Faizabad District in Uttar Pradesh, India and are located about 0.5-

2.5 km from the main road. The distance from block headquarter is 4-11 km from the bus station, and 25-32 km from the railway station.

Faizabad falls under agro-climatic zone 8 (eastern plains) in Uttar Pradesh, India

The temperature varies from 5°C – 45°C with average annual rainfall of 1,010 mm. The soil type of the area is mainly Balui Domat. The demographic details of the cluster are given in Table 1.

The literacy rate of the cluster ranges from 49.9% to 35.8%. Village farmers have a marginal agricultural landholding of less

Authors Ms. Shweta Singh and Dr. Usha Bajpai

Renewable energy Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, university of Lucknow, Lucknow 226007, india. Telephone: +91 933 591 3885 email: dr_ushabajpai@rediffmail.com

Scope of Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy in Villages in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India: An Energy Security Analysis

A survey has been carried out in a cluster of four villages in Amaniganj Block of Faizabad District of Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India. The survey is based on primary and secondary data collected from household and village level questionnaires. The present energy consumption in cooking, lighting, other domestic activities, agriculture allied activities, rural industry and transport has been worked out. An effort has been made to evaluate the present energy resources in the cluster and surplus/deficit in terms of energy resources has been worked out. A five-year programme incorporating energy conservation systems and renewable energy systems has been proposed, and accordingly energy security analysis has been carried out.

Village Total Hamlets

Male Adult

Male Child

Female Adult

Female Child

Total Average/ Household

Bawan 13 2620 1210 2507 1133 7470 5.51

Bachauda 6 831 325 760 253 2169 5.36

Biraulijham 2 1065 460 970 418 2913 6.07

Dhanthua 8 804 198 741 188 1931 5.26

Village Net sown area (ha)

Cropping intensity (approx)

%

Pastures (ha)

Barren land (ha)

Area underforest (ha)

Otherland (ha)

Net irrigation

area (ha)

Total area (ha)

Bawan 512.0 172.4 Nil 15.0 26.0 59.0 396.8 612.0

Bachauda 202.0 172.4 Nil 4.9 4.3 26.6 192.3 237.8

Biraulijham 129.5 172.4 Nil 1.0 Nil 197.5 100.4 328.0

Dhanthua 250.0 172.4 Nil 19.5 Nil 33.5 210.0 303.0

Table 1: Demographic details of the cluster

Table 2: Land use pattern of the cluster

33Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

than one hectare (ranging from 51.5% to 79%). The remainder are made up of small farmers with an agriculture holding of 1-2 hectare (ranging from 4.8% to 8.6%) and large farmers with an agriculture holding of more than 2 hectare (ranging from 0.9% to 3.4%). Livestock population consists of bullocks, cows, buffaloes, bulls and others. The majority of the land is under cultivation.

For drinking water, the villages in the cluster are dependent on 612 hand pumps installed by the Government under various rural development schemes and by households. In addition, there are twenty open wells and thirteen small and big ponds. Gomti River is nearest to the cluster. Water is available throughout the year. The distance from the river to the cluster is 9-11 km. The hamlets of Bawan -Pure Nema, Pure Laad and Ratapura- are unelectrified.

Social infrastructures include medical, educational and community centre facilities. Bawan has one midwife centre, one dispensary, one primary health centre and one Allopathic and one Ayurvedic hospital. Each village has a Panchayat Bhavan for meeting the Gram Panchayat. In terms of educational facilities, Bawan has one nursery school, three primary basic schools and two higher secondary schools. Bachauda has one nursery school and two primary basic schools. Biraulijham has one nursery school and two primary basic schools and Dhanthua has two nursery schools and one primary basic school.

Paddy, arhar, urad and sugarcane are the main Kharif season crops while wheat, gram, mustard, peas, lentil and barley are the main Rabi season crops. Bawan has three rice mills and one furniture and wood-related small industry. Bachauda has one rice mill.

Mechanically driven equipment include bullock carts, privately owned tractors, privately owned diesel engine pump sets and Government and privately owned electric pump sets. The villagers hire tractors and diesel pump sets for their agricultural needs. Human power and animal power is frequently used for domestic, agricultural and transportation needs besides the use of cycles, motorcycles and scooters.

Detailed assessment of available energy resourcesThe most important energy resource of the cluster is renewable energy resources like solar energy, cow dung and biomass, including firewood and agricultural waste.

To assess solar energy in the cluster, an assessment of available solar energy in 10m2 of each household was calculated, roughly 19,700 kWh annually. There are 2,607 households in the cluster and so the potential of solar energy is 51.36 x 106 kWh annually. The wind energy potential in the cluster is negligible because it is in the dilute form.

Biomass energy resources include agricultural waste, firewood and animal excreta, etc. These are important fuel sources in the cluster, especially for domestic purposes.

It has been recommended that the energy plantation should cover 6% of the total land area (Advisory Board of Energy, 1985). Taking the total area of the cluster into account, 88.848 ha can be used for the energy plantation. The average biomass availability from the energy plantation can be taken as 6 ton/ha/year and so the biomass availability in the cluster will be 533.08 ton/yr which can be realised in a period of six to seven years. Forest residue parameters have not been considered because of strict laws relating to their exploitation.

Agricultural waste -stalks, leaves, straws, husk etc.- is considered to be an important source of biomass for energy production. The consumption of agricultural waste is basically for fodder and fuel purposes. To calculate the agricultural waste, crop production is multiplied by the crop residue ratio (Bajpai and Bajpai, 2007). The figure for the cluster for the crop grown in the Kharif and Rabi seasons amounts to 1522.61 ton/year for Bawan, 662.82 ton/year for Bachauda, 287.85 ton/year for Biraulijham and 690.07 ton/year for Dhanthua, totalling 3163.35 ton/year for the whole cluster.

Livestock population is an important parameter with 6,792 buffaloes, cows and bullock. Sheep, goat, poultry etc. have not

been included in the bovine population. Taking an average collection of around 75% of animal excreta per day, an average excreta yield of the cattle is 11 kg/day, 56.03 ton of wet dung or 11.20 ton of dry dung (assuming 80% liquid). This has a potential of 1867.8 m3/day of generation of biogas (Bajpai, 2004).

Trees like semal, peepal, imly etc. and wild bushes are found in agricultural and non-agricultural land. Various tree species found in the village land are neem, shisham, babul, ber, munj eucalyptus and various types of wild bushes etc. The average biomass yield from non-agricultural land can be taken as 4 ton/hectare firewood and timber for Faizabad District. This includes areas under forest, canal strips, village wood lots, community spaces, etc. The cluster does not have pastures. The area under forest is 30.26 ha. Only the barren land and other land can be taken into account because of strict laws relating to exploitation of forest residues. Non-agricultural land in the cluster is 357.02 ha and the annual production of biomass will be 1428.08 ton.

Commercial fuel includes electricity (three hamlets of Bawan village are unelectrified). Kerosene, for which the supply is 3 litres/card holder per month, amount to 95 kl/year through the public distribution system. Diesel, petrol and LPG are scarcely available. The overall assessment of all energy resources and fuel supply in the cluster is given in Table 3.

Existing energy consumption patternEnergy consumption in the domestic sector has the major share in rural energy.

The survey analysed the following parameters:– Cooking devices used in the surveyed

villages– Cooking fuels and their consumption– % of different fuel sources– Energy use in domestic lighting– Energy consumption in other household

devices such as electronic fan, coal and electric iron, TV etc.

The survey found that the most popular appliance used for cooking is still the

Figure 1: Dr. usha Bajpai with villagers in the cluster

Figure 2: Ms shweta singh getting information from a village

34

GENERAL

traditional chulhas (woodstoves), though it has efficiency of only 5% to 10%. It is also very hazardous to health as it emits much smoke because of its low thermal efficiency. All the households have this device -about 1.3% of the households use kerosene stoves and only 97 households in the cluster use LPG stoves- none of the households use biogas stoves.

All the households in the cluster use firewood for cooking purposes. The per capita consumption is 0.74 kg/day. Its share in energy terms is 61.60% for cooking.

A major quantity of agricultural waste generated in the cluster is consumed for fodder/feeding and other purposes. 43.5% of households use agricultural waste as a fuel source. Its share in energy terms is 9.93% for cooking and per capita consumption is 0.11 kg/day.

100% of the households use dung cake for cooking activities. Most of the dung available in the cluster is used for making dung cakes. The share of the dung cake in energy terms for cooking is 26.45% and per capita consumption is 0.42 kg/day.

Kerosene is a minor fuel used for cooking activities (1.3% of the households in the cluster). Per capita consumption of kerosene for cooking purposes is 0.002 l/day; of this source only 0.22% of the total energy consumption is for cooking.

LPG consumption is presently around 3.72% and per capita consumption is 0.006 kg/day. The share of LPG is 1.80% of the total energy for cooking. Although there are five family-size biogas plants installed in the cluster, all the plants are non-functional and so biogas is not used for cooking purposes in the households.

The main energy source for domestic lighting in the cluster of villages is kerosene, followed by electricity. All households use kerosene in domestic lighting. The majority of households have connections which are not properly permitted while none of the households use biogas. Per capita consumption of kerosene in lighting is 0.033 l/day and per capita consumption of electricity is 0.023 kWh/day. In terms of energy consumption, 93.4% share is of kerosene and 6.64% is of electricity.

The energy consumption in other domestic activities like running electrical appliances i.e. fan, coal and electric irons, TV etc. has also been surveyed. The share in energy is 80% coal and 20% electricity.

Table 4 presents the total energy consumption in all the domestic activities in the cluster. The maximum energy share is for firewood (56.64%) followed by dung cake (24.32%).

The total energy input in agriculture-based activities has been studied and divided into three major end-uses i.e. cultivation, irrigation and thrashing and harvesting. The villages mostly use tractors and bullocks for agricultural activities.

Diesel and electrical engine pump sets are used for irrigation purposes. There are 80 owned bullock carts, 59 owned tractors, nine owned electric pump sets, five

Government tube wells, 186 owned diesel engine pump sets and 82 owned thrashers. However, those villagers who do not own pump sets, tractors, etc. hire them.

The majority of farmers use electric and diesel pump sets for irrigation in addition to the use of four ponds. The average capacity of the pump sets is in the range of 7.5 to 10 HP. The share in irrigation in energy terms is 25% of the total for agriculture.

Tractors are the main source of cultivation (bullocks 1-2%). The households which do not own bullocks or tractors hire them

Figure 3: Percentage share in cooking in energy terms

n 1. Firewood n 2. Agricultural waste n 3. Dung cake n 4. Kerosene n 5. LPG

Category Estimated resource base

Solar Energy 51.36 x106 kWh/year

Energy Plantation 533.08 ton/year

Agricultural Waste 3163.35 ton/year

Animal Excreta 4090.48 ton/year of dry dung is generated in the villages assuming 75% collection efficiency

Biomass from Non-agricultural land 1428.08 ton/year of biomass

Electricity Very poor supply less than 4 hrs/day

Kerosene 95 kl/year supply through public distribution system.

Table 3: energy related resources of the cluster

Table 4: Fuel consumption in all domestic activities

Fuel Type Quantity Unit Per Capita Unit Share (%)

Firewood 3885.63 ton/yr 0.735000 kg/day 56.64

Agricultural waste 568.00 ton/yr 0.107400 kg/day 10.96

Dung Cakes 2207.45 ton/yr 0.417500 kg/day 24.33

Coal 28.78 ton/yr 0.005440 kg/day 0.78

Kerosene 184.02 kl/yr 0.348000 lt/day 7.22

Electricity 63.50 000’kWh/yr 0.000012 kWh/day 0.25

Biogas 00.00 000’m3/yr 0.000000 m3/day 0.00

LPG 30.10 ton/yr 0.005693 kg/day 1.65

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.8

Firewoo

d,kg/d

ay

Agricu

lture

waste,

kg/da

y

Dung C

akes

,kg/da

y

Coal,k

g/day

Kerose

ne,lt/

day

Electric

ity,kW

h/day

Biogas

,cum/da

y

LPG,kg

/day

Figure 4: energy consumption per capita in domestic activities

12

3

45

35Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

for cultivation. Tilling of land is generally carried out three to five times a year. Land preparation activities like tilling, pudding and sowing are also taken into account. The share in cultivation in energy terms is 57.3% of the total for agriculture.

Harvesting and thrashing of crops is generally performed manually using bullocks or tractors. The share of thrashing and harvesting in energy terms is 17.7% of the total for agriculture.

There is one small furniture industry operating in Bawan village which consumes electricity. Three rice mills in Bawan and one rice mill in Bachauda village consume electricity/diesel. There are many village-owned shops that consume fuel like kerosene, diesel and electricity. Energy consumption in the cluster has been worked out on the total consumption of industry in the four villages.

Transportation also forms a major energy consumption source in the cluster. Tractors and trolleys are the major transportation of crops and products from the fields, manure and fertilizers to the fields and household transportation of the villages. Tractor mounted trolleys are used to carry agricultural produce. People also use motorcycles and scooters as private vehicles.

The overall energy consumption is calculated by adding all the sectors like domestic, agriculture, industry and transportation together (Table 5).

Assessment of energy deficit and surplus energy resourcesTo carry out the energy security analysis, it is important to assess the energy gap and surplus energy resources in the cluster.

There are 1,904 cement houses and 703 mud houses in the cluster. The solar thermal and solar photovoltaic system can be installed to harness the available solar energy.

Wood is used for domestic firewood and local timber requirements. Assuming that 20% of the wood is utilised as timber, the remaining firewood from the energy plantation and from non-agricultural land will be 426.24 ton/year and 1142.46 ton/year of firewood respectively against the annual consumption of 3885.63 ton of firewood. This is an alarming situation.

In terms of animal waste, the annual consumption of dung cakes is 2207.45 ton while the availability of wet animal excreta is 20452.41 ton/year or 4090.48 ton/year of dung cakes. Annual dung cake surplus in the cluster is 1183.03 ton. Assuming that 30% of the total production of agricultural waste is being used for fodder and thatching, the total surplus of agricultural waste in the cluster is 2214.3422 ton/year. In terms of kerosene, the villagers in the cluster buy 94.027 kl/year from the black market.

The overall gaps/surplus of all energy sources and fuel supply in the cluster are given in Table 6.

Sustainable rural energy plan

The conversion technologies and energy devices form a critical link between the available primary and secondary energy resources and the perceived energy needs of the users.

The basic consideration for selecting any energy device or any energy conversion technology is that the device should be convenient to use and be reliable with trouble free operation and minimum maintenance requirements. The energy delivered should match the users’ needs and be cheaply available. The device should have a positive social and environmental impact and the device and conversion technology should be efficient and effective in using primary energy resources.

In order to provide energy security in the cluster, a sustainable rural energy plan has been worked out to be implemented in the next five years. The survey covered the willingness of the villages to adopt the renewable energy system instead of additional devices.

Category Deficit (-) or surplus (+)

Solar Energy +51.36 x106 kWh/yr

Firewood -2316.71 ton/yr

Dung cake +1183.03 ton/yr

Agricultural waste +1646.3422 ton/yr

Biomass from non-agricultural lands +93.34 ton/yr

Kerosene -94.027 kl/yr

Table 5: Village-wise annual fuel consumption

Fuel Type Unit Bawan Bachauda Biraulijham Dhanthua Total

Firewood ton 1865.10 699.37 466.27 854.89 3885.63

Dung Cakes ton 699.86 510.48 555.86 441.25 2207.45

Agricultural waste ton 285.00 105.00 68.00 137.00 568.00

Kerosene kl 98.24 29.35 34.80 26.62 189.01

Coal ton 32.06 9.58 11.35 8.67 61.66

Electricity 000’kWh/yr 43.11 27.93 6.93 6.53 84.50

Biogas 000’cum/yr 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

LPG ton/yr 15.62 5.01 6.01 3.96 30.60

Diesel kl 129.98 41.85 44.14 40.97 256.94

Animal Power 000’h 56.75 38.02 39.73 30.65 165.15

Table 6: energy related resources of the cluster

36

GENERAL

Energy security analysis

It is important to project the key energy demands for the cluster in the next five years, based upon potential variation growth rate in key sectors like agriculture etc. and the likely increase in per capita or unit consumption level or domestic activities with improved economic status. Some basic assumptions on switching over from traditional fuels to commercial fuels and perceptive improvement in the villages have been made to estimate the energy demand in the next five years as given in Table 7.

If the proposed renewable energy conservation devices/renewable energy systems are implemented in the cluster, the following situation may arise:

Firewood: Additionally 426.24 ton/year of firewood from the energy plantation and 1142.464 ton/year of firewood from non-agricultural land may be available.

On the implementation of the proposed programmes for biogas plants, improved Chulhas (woodstoves -fixed and portable), solar cooker (plane box and dish type), pressure cooker and solar water heaters, there will be a saving of 1610.04 ton/year firewood.

Dung cake: Out of 20452.41 ton/year of wet dung available in the cluster, roughly one third of the amount may be used for the running of biogas plants and the remaining may be used for fuel purposes in the form of dung cakes.

Agricultural waste: The rice husk available in the cluster may be used to run the biomass gasifier and the remaining agricultural waste may be used for fuel purposes. A sufficient amount is available in the cluster. The installation of a biomass gasifier in the cluster will go a long way to improving the supply of electricity in the area.

In terms of the requirement of kerosene for lighting purposes, the proposed installation of SPV home lights, SPV lanterns, and SPV lamps will sufficiently reduce the consumption of the kerosene in the cluster for light.

The installation of SPV street lights will improve the street lighting facilities in the villages.

The proposed installation of CFL/LED lamps, electronic fan regulator and electronic ballast for tube light will conserve the electricity in the cluster. Frictionless foot valves will considerably reduce the consumption of diesel in running the pump sets. Drinking water facilities in the villages may also be improved. However, in agriculture and allied activities, rural industry and transport activities, the cluster may continue to depend upon commercial fuels like diesel, petrol and LPG. This may however be reduced to some extent by using battery-operated vehicles and other systems based on renewable energy systems.

If the proposed programmes for energy conservation systems and renewable energy systems are implemented in the cluster in the next five years, it will go a long way to provide energy security in the villages at least for cooking and lighting purposes which are the major rural energy demand areas.

References Advisory Board on energy, 1985, Towards a Perspective on Energy Demand and Supply in India, 2004/05, New Delhi, india.

Bajpai, u, 2004, Project Report for Rural Energy Plan for Cluster of Villages, Block Katehri, Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, india.

Bajpai, u and Bajpai, suresh C, 2007, Aspects of energy security in the Villages, Proceeding of 3rd International Conference on Solar Radiation and Day Lighting, (SOLARIS 2007), Volume ii, pp 278-288.

Profiles of the authors

Ms. shweta singh is a Research scholar in the Renewable energy Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, university of Lucknow, india. she holds a Masters degree in environmental science and has attended many national conferences and presented her research papers.

Dr. usha Bajpai is a Reader in the Department of Physics, university of Lucknow, india and Coordinator of M.sc. Programme in Renewable energy. she has over 30 years of experience of teaching and research in various universities in Nigeria and india. she is also a Consultant of the Ministry of New and Renewable energy, Government of india.

Fuel Type Domestic Agriculture Industry Transport

Total consumption

in next 5 years

Firewood (ton) 4145.97 00 00 00 4145.97

Dung Cake (ton) 2471.84 00 00 00 2471.84

Agricultural waste (ton) 682.40 00 00 00 682.40

Kerosene (kl) 196.72 00 16.48 00 213.20

Coal (ton) 35.38 00 34.16 00 69.54

LPG (ton) 37.91 00 00 00 37.91

Biogas (000’cum) 00 00 00 00 00

Electricity (MWh) 105.31 13.95 7.61 00 126.87

Diesel (kl) 00 213.82 3.66 119.76 337.24

Animal Power (000’h) 75.37 110.92 186.29

Table 7: estimate of energy consumption in the next 5 years

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37Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

Households in rural areas of developing countries are heavily dependent on wood and other

biomass fuels for domestic thermal energy requirements such as cooking, room heating, heating water for bathing and boiling water for drinking.

Although gasifier stoves are in general efficient and clean burning, issues like the need for fuel processing and behavioural changes in cooking practices have limited the widespread use of general purpose gasifier cook stoves. However, there is scope for introducing gasifier based thermal devices for specific applications. We have developed a water heater (for bathing water) based on the T-LUD (top lit updraft) micro-gasification principle (Anderson et al 2007), and have got encouraging results at the laboratory level as well as in field level testing.

Water heating stoves for bathing In the rural areas of Maharashtra State, in Western India, households generally use two cook stoves, one for cooking and the other for heating water for bathing. The water heating stove is kept just outside the house. The choice of these two biomass stoves depends upon the economic condition of the family. Generally poor families purchase the cooking stove from the local manufacturer (potter) and for water heating use a three stone fire. Middle class and lower middle class families may purchase two stoves – one for cooking and one for water heating. The middle and upper middle class families in rural

areas use LPG or kerosene stoves for cooking and a locally manufactured fire wood fuelled metallic water heater called a ‘bomb’ (due to its capsule like shape), as shown in Figure 1. However, these stoves are costly, inefficient and polluting.

The general practice followed in rural families is that the eldest woman (generally the grandmother) sits in front of the water heating stove and continuously feeds the fuel in the stove. Generally she sits in front of the stove daily for about 2-3 hours in the morning. The young children in the house sit or play around the grandmother, as the younger women (the mothers) remain busy in other house work. During the winter season the elderly men sit near the water heating stove for warmth. Even though the water heater is not inside the house, it does contribute to smoke exposure for the elderly and the children in the household.

Natural draft gasifier water heaterA design of the natural draft gasifier stove requiring batch feeding was developed to address this issue. The design is shown in Figure 2. The stove is fitted in a supporting metallic frame. The primary air flow through the stove body for pyrolytic gasification is controlled by a manual adjustment, provided at the lower end of the stove. The fuel gets hot secondary air for combustion by passing through an air gap between the fuel holder and the metallic frame. Sufficient combustion volume is provided between the fuel holder and the bottom of the pot, which

allows the combustible gas to burn totally and cleanly. The circular metal plate with a central hole above the fuel holder, creates turbulence, and provides better mixing of secondary air with the combustible gas. A skirt is provided around the water heating pot, to increase the contact area between the pot and flame.

Authors Sanjay K. Babar1 and Dr Priyadarshini Karve2

1 Department of Applied science, D.Y.Patil College of engineering, sector No.29, Pradhikaran, Akurdi, Pune 411 044, india.2 Appropriate Rural Technology institute, 2d Floor, Maninee Apartments, s.No.13, Dhayarigaon, Pune 411 041, india

email: skbphy@yahoo.co.in

Natural draft gasifier water heater for rural households

In developing countries, biomass is used as a primary source of energy for cooking and water heating. Use of the biomass in traditional cook stoves creates serious health problems to rural women and children. Biomass gasification appears to have a significant potential for domestic cooking applications. However, due to some cultural and design barriers, the gasifier cook stoves are not widely accepted by the rural households.

Figure 1: Water heater bomb

Figure 2: Natural draft gasifier water heater design

38

GENERAL

Laboratory performance of the stove

The stove was tested for emissions and efficiency under laboratory conditions. The CO was measured in PPM by the CO level meter (TESTO 315-2). Readings were recorded every minute throughout the stove operation period. The CO level meter was kept 1 meter away and 1.6 meters above the mouth of the stove. The flame temperature was recorded with the help of a thermocouple with a digital read out unit. Efficiency was measured using the standard procedure of a water boiling test.

The variation of hot gas temperature and carbon monoxide with time is shown

in Figure 3. The increase in CO at the end is due to the exhaustion of the volatiles from the fuel and partial combustion of the resulting CO. This is visible in the change of colour of the flame from partially yellow to blue. At this point the resulting charcoal can be emptied into a metal can for other uses.

The general observations are summarized below: – Time for boiling 5 litres of water

= 22 minutes – Thermal Efficiency = 31.5%– The natural draft stove has a tall chimney

between the fuel holder and the bottom of the cooking pot (i.e., between the gasification zone and the gas combustion zone). This provides better mixing of

secondary air with the combustible gas and reduces the CO emission

– The CO emission is high only for a few minutes at the end during the char burning

– Fuel charge ~ 1 kg of fuel wood The performance of the stove was also compared with that of a traditional ‘bomb’ water heater. The gasifier heater was observed to be superior in terms of efficiency as well as reduction in emissions (Table 1). It was also observed that the hot gas temperature remains high and stable over a longer time period in the case of the gasifier water heater as compared to the ‘bomb’ water heater. The variation of hot gas temperature and carbon monoxide concentration is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: The variation in hot gas temperature near the heating pot and the CO emission over the operation of the gasifier water heater

Figure 4: The variation in hot gas temperature near the heating pot and the CO emission over the operation of the ‘bomb’ water heater

39Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

Performance of the stove in the user’s home

As the laboratory performance of the stove appeared satisfactory, the water heater was given to a user for testing. As the stove is for heating water for bathing, it is not necessary to bring the water to a boil. It is just required to heat the water up to 70-75 °C. Based on the user’s demand, the water holding capacity of the stove was increased to 30 litres.

The stove continuously operates for 45 minutes for one batch of fuel (1 kg). During this period, the temperature of 30 litres of water reaches to about 72°C from room temperature. The stove has been used by the user for more than one year.

The test household is located in the western region of Maharashtra state of India. This is a low rainfall area and there is an existing tradition of using a traditional ‘bomb’ for water heating. In this region the majority of the rural people use the locally abundant prosopis or mesquite as a source of fuel wood, since it is easily available and in large quantity. Along with this fuel sometimes people use wood from trees like Neem and Mango. The water heater has been used with a mix of all the common fuel wood types used in the region and has been found to give satisfactory performance.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the science and society Division, Department of science and Technology, Government of india, for their financial support to the work reported in this paper.

References Anderson P., Thomas Reed T.B., Weaver P., 2007, ‘Micro-Gasification: What it is and why it works’ Boiling Point No 53, 35.

Bhattacharya s.C., Leon M.A., 2005, ‘Prospects For Biomass Gasifiers For Cooking Applications in Asia’, Proceedings of World Renewable Energy Regional Conference, indonesia.

Budds J, Biran A, Rouse J, 2001, ‘What’s cooking?’ A review of the Health Impact of the Indoor Air Pollution and Technical intervention for its reduction – A ‘WeLL’ study produced under Task 512.

smith K., 2006, ‘Health impacts of household fuelwood use in developing countries’ Unasylva 224, Vol. 5, 41.

‘Biomass Energy in Asean Member Countries’, FAO Regional Wood energy Development Programme in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 5: Photograph showing water heating stove in operation at user’s home

Profiles of the authors

sanjay K. Babar M.sc. (Physics) is currently engaged in research on gasifier cook stove designs working on two funded projects in this area. sanjay is doing doctoral research in the Department of Physics, university of Pune, india and is a lecturer in Physics at D.Y. Patil College of engineering, Pune, india.

Dr Priyadarshini Karve has been working on improving stove designs, experimenting with upgrading of biomass fuels, and dissemination of biomass energy technologies in rural areas since 1991. Currently, Dr Karve is working full time as Project Co-ordinator, ‘Commercialisation of improved Biomass Fuels and Cooking Devices in india – scale up project’, at Appropriate Rural Technology institute (ARTi) and also as Director, samuchit enviro-Tech (seT) Pvt. Ltd.

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Parameter Gasifier Water Heater ‘Bomb’ Water Heater

Thermal Efficiency 31.5% 19.07%

Average CO emission 2 ppm 52 ppm

Table 1: Comparison of gasifier water heater and traditional ‘bomb’ heater

40

GENERAL

If Tortilla, the traditional Mexican maize bread, is still an ingredient in almost every Mexican meal, it is

because production is now mostly done in small shops called ‘tortillerias’. These shops are mostly family firms in which women work, and in which most non-family employees are women, and they produce not only tortillas but also ‘masa’ the dough from which tortillas are made that is also the base of many other dishes.

According to the Ministry of Economy there are more than 63,000 tortillerias in the country, to cover every neighbourhood in large cities and every town in rural areas. The tortilleria is an important meeting place for women who attend to

Authors Emilio de los Rios Ibarra

Calle 19 num 212 x 22 y 24Col. García Gineres97070 Mérida Yucatán MexicoTel: 52 999 9254689email: emiliodelos@gmail.com

Figure 1: Don Ceferino from Maxcanu prepares his nixtamal on his brand new pot and rocket burner

Rocket science gets to the rural tortillerias in Yucatan, Mexico

Tortillerias, small shops that produce tortillas with locally developed machines exist in every neighbourhood and small town in Mexico. Mechanized tortilla greatly simplifies women’s domestic tasks. Most tortillerias use LP gas as fuel for tortilla production and to prepare the nixtamal. The operation consists of heating maize in water mixed with lime, to a near boiling temperature and leaving it to rest for some hours. With rising fuel prices, the owners of tortillerias in rural Yucatan, Mexico, switched to fuelwood for nixtamal production. Fuelwood is a cheaper fuel than gas, even with an open fire.

But new sanitary regulations and the need for higher fuel efficiency led to the development of a new solution for the task: a rocket burner under a 150 litre capacity stainless steel pot, with a special jacket to enhance heat transfer; enough to prepare 100 kilograms of maize, with 25% of the amount of fuel used with the previous method.

41Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

buy tortillas or have their nixtamal milled (when they prepare it at home).

Tortillerias use locally developed machines that produce up to 100 kilograms of tortillas per hour, which run on LP gas and electricity. Machine tortilla production greatly simplifies the daily tasks for women, leaving them time for other activities or recreation.

The recent increase in maize and energy prices impaired the profitability of tortillerias, to the point that the Ministry of Economy implemented a programme to help tortillerias enhance energy efficiency, under the assumption that LP gas and electricity are the sole sources of energy, as happens in most towns.

The owners of tortillerias in rural Yucatan, did not wait for the government programme to arrive, and took some actions to reduce their energy bill, switching when possible the use of LP gas to fuelwood, as fuelwood in Yucatan is abundant and its price by energy unit is 2.6 times less than LP gas.

The main use of fuelwood is to prepare the nixtamal, an operation that consists of heating maize in water mixed with lime, to a near boiling temperature and leaving it to rest for some hours. Oil drums are usually used as containers - cut in half over a three stone fire. Fuel consumption is about 13 pieces or 12 kilograms of fuelwood to prepare 50 kilograms of maize. As with all open fires the process wastes energy and gives an uncomfortable and unhealthy working environment.

The system has other inconveniences: containers are made of steel, rust quickly and represent a toxicity hazard as no one knows what the original use for the drum was. Recently the Mexican government issued a sanitary standard stating that all equipment used within the tortillerias should be food grade stainless steel.

The cost of a stainless steel pot to replace the half oil drum is at least MXN 5,500.00, (over 400 USD at present exchange rates) - far too expensive to be purchased by most of the small scale tortilleria owners in one payment. The federal government, through the Economics Ministry, set up a support programme to finance the transition (Programa Mi Tortilla) mainly directed at

urban tortillerias. It was supposed to arrive in Yucatan during 2009. The eventual arrival of Mi Tortilla programme triggered the need for an alternative for wood fuel users.

After a short study, we supplied an energy efficient fuelwood stainless steel system to comply with the new sanitary standard and this reduced fuelwood consumption by at least half. The new system consists of a rocket burner and a 150 litre capacity stainless steel pot with a special jacket to enhance heat transfer; enough to prepare 100 kilograms of maize, replacing two drums. On the first run, the system performed much better than expected, reducing fuelwood consumption from 24 to 6 kilograms, to prepare 100 kilograms of maize. The system will pay for itself in two and a half years by fuel savings at current fuelwood prices, and allows the proud owner to comply with sanitary standards.

As the Mi Tortilla programme for 2009 did not cover Yucatan, a small fund equivalent to the price of two pots with burners was set up to offer financing to the tortillerias, with a 20% value as a down payment, with the rest to be paid within three to four months with two payments a month. The first two were sold by the end of March 2009, expecting to recover the working capital by late April and continue sales, but the flu outbreak caused unexpected cancellation of reservations in the tourism industry of Cancun and the Maya Riviera, where many people from rural Yucatan find jobs. The unemployment crisis led to reduced sales in tortillerias and no other equipment could be placed after the outbreak. As an alternative we sought finance to promote the equipment from the National Forest Commission (CONAFOR). We received the resources and are currently promoting the equipment in various parts of Yucatan.

The cut oil drums and three stone fires will be replaced.

Recent studies have shown the switch to fuelwood in Yucatan is frequent, not only in tortillerias but also in other cottage industries with some hotels now heating water with fuelwood.

Fuelwood is abundant and cheaper than any fossil fuel. Most of the fuelwood comes from milpa (slash and burn system), though by improving energy efficiency in its use we expect the consumer will be willing to pay an extra price for sustainably produced fuelwood as he will still save quite a considerable amount of money compared to other fuels.

Profile of the author

emilio de los Rios ibarra is an Agricultural engineer at the National university of Mexico (uNAM) with a master’s degree in Agricultural Development from Wye College external Program and postgraduate studies at École superieure d’Agronomie Tropicale, Montpellier France. He has more than 25 years field experience in rural development, mainly in the Mexican lowland tropics. emilio currently lives in Yucatan, Mexico, where he works as a freelance consultant in renewable energy, sustainable forest management and efficient fuelwood use.

www.hedon.info/MJTARead and comment on article* Author profile and *

latest contact detailsNational Forest Commission *

(CONAFOR) website

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42

GENERAL

Notwithstanding the grave proportions of the situation, the governments of many

developing countries have not exhibited commensurate urgency in addressing the startling energy poverty prevalent in those countries. Indeed, according to Warwick and Doig (2004), the macro-energy policies of most developing countries (with the notable exceptions of India, South Africa and China) do not include any mention of what is in fact their most important fuel source – biomass.

The above observations were borne out at the 2008 International Renewable Energy Conference (IREC) held in Abuja, Nigeria. The main objective of the conference, held annually, is to provide a networking platform for all renewable energy stakeholders in Africa. This article gives an overview of the main themes captured by the conference. I report two main observations: first, that very little is being done in the way of biomass energy development in the country; and second, that the pace at which the country is developing its renewable energy industry is generally slow.

With the aid of excerpts from interviews with stakeholders in Nigeria’s energy industry, the article illustrates the above inferences and concludes with recommendations for addressing the problems recognised.

Discussion: Summary of observations

The International Renewable Energy Conference was aimed at providing an overview of the renewable energy situation in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole, and as such conference delegates were selected across a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Despite the diverse interest groups represented at the conference however, there were a few similar threads that ran across the majority of the presentations.

First was the fact that there was a huge bias towards electricity provision. Many speakers used the term ‘energy’ when in fact what they meant was ‘light’ or ‘lighting’. A few speakers discussed the steps they were taking to provide biofuels as a cleaner alternative to gasoline. No mention was made during the conference of promoting cleaner use of fuelwood for cooking. Considering that cooking accounts for 91% of household energy consumption in Nigeria, 75% of which is attributable to traditional biomass (Oladosu and Adegbulugbe 2004), this is a huge oversight.

The general preoccupation with electricity provision has impacted directly on the energy solutions being promoted by the majority of stakeholders. The Nigerian government has set up a Rural Electrification Agency which focuses on generating off-grid electricity using solar photovoltaic and small hydropower technology. There is presently no such dedicated government agency promoting cleaner and safer use of fuelwood and other forms of biomass. This is in spite of the on-the-ground reality of prevalent

solid biomass use, not only in rural areas of the country, but in urban areas as well.

A national non-profit multi-stakeholder council exists to provide common ground for renewable energy professionals to work together for efficient renewable energy implementation and to develop a comprehensive sustainable energy strategy for Nigeria. The reports of the council to date however show that much more attention has been given to promoting solar lighting options than to any other application. In the reports given at the council’s Annual General Meeting held on the last day of the conference, no mention was made of initiatives to improve access to cooking energy for households and institutions.

Overall, the development of Nigeria’s nascent renewable energy industry appears to be tilted in favour of solar lighting applications. Virtually all the products on display at the conference exhibition stands were solar photovoltaic components, most of them imported from other countries. At the moment, there are only two organisations (both of them non-governmental) actively pursuing renewable cooking applications in the country. Neither was represented at the conference.

The second point of observation is that the general tone of the conference presentations was futuristic. Words like ‘would’, ‘should’ and ‘must’ were continuously used in describing solutions to the nation’s energy problems. This suggests that a lot of initiatives are still at the proposal/planning stage; relatively little work has been done in the area of implementation of renewable energy alternatives.

Author Temilade Sesan

institute for science and society, university of Nottingham NG7 2RD, united Kingdom.

Telephone: +44 115 960 6740

email: laxta1@nottingham.ac.uk

Energy without the dirt? Making a case for the integration of biomass into energy policy in Nigeria

The energy poverty that typifies rural areas of developing countries in Africa is staggering in its proportions. These areas have become trapped in subsistence-level economies characterised by inefficient use of ‘non-commercial’ energy, low agricultural productivity and poor standards of living (Best 1992). Household energy use, primarily in the form of fuelwood for cooking, accounts for the largest share of total energy consumption in the region. This reflects the small amounts of energy used for commercial activities and also the inefficiency of end-use appliances (Ibid.).

43Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

GENERAL

Recommendations

There seems to be a preference amongst policymakers and industry actors in Nigeria’s energy sector for users to ‘move up the energy ladder’ from traditional biomass to cleaner and more modern sources of energy such as electricity, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas. However, limited access to infrastructure, capital and credit means that the majority of the Nigerian population reliant on free or cheaply available biomass for their cooking needs usually cannot afford to make this switch.

The realistic response to this situation in the short and medium term is for the national government to direct energy policy towards cleaner and more sustainable burning of biomass, so as to mitigate attendant hazards to the health and environment of users. Responsibility for this has been historically borne mostly by multilateral organisations and international non-governmental organisations. The World Health Organisation (WHO) for instance, through its ‘Programme on Indoor Air Pollution’, partners with development institutions to deliver improved stove programmes aimed at reducing the exposure of women and children to health-damaging pollutants.

It is expedient that the Nigerian government acknowledges the pervasiveness and urgency of the household energy poverty situation in the country. More than that, it needs to assume a central role in the drive to effect cleaner and safer burning of biomass in the short term, while simultaneously fashioning forward-looking energy policies that will foster longer-term solutions for the future.

References

Best, G. (1992) The Role of Renewable energy Technologies in Rural Development, in Bhagavan, M. R., Karekezi, s. (1992) (eds.) energy for Rural Development, Proceedings of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Role of New and Renewable Sources of Energy in Integrated Rural Development, Stockholm, January 1990, London: Zed Books.

Oladosu, G.A., Adegbulugbe, A.O. 1994. Nigeria’s Household energy sector: issues and supply/Demand Frontiers. Energy Policy. 22, 6, 538-49.

Warwick, H., Doig, A. (2004) Smoke – The Killer in the Kitchen: Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries, London: iTDG Publishing.

Profile of the author Temilade sesan is a Year 2 PhD student at the university of Nottingham, currently researching into the reasons for low diffusion of improved stoves in developing countries, using Nigeria and Kenya as case studies. she has presented papers on participatory approaches to implementation of stove projects at conferences in Africa, Asia and europe.

Stakeholder consultations

The following excerpts from interviews with energy stakeholders (representing government and civil society respectively) underscore the validity of the observations presented on the previous page.

Stakeholder 1 The energy problem in Nigeria has a fundamental root cause: lack of private sector investment. For renewable energy alternatives to be developed on a commercial scale, local companies need to take the initiative to invest hugely in the development of these alternatives.

To date, our research centres have developed various renewable energy applications ready for commercialisation, but there is no industry presence for widespread deployment.

So far however, investors have shown a leaning towards solar energy applications. Improved stoves are not popular with investors because the technology is considered to be too basic, and the prospects of profit not encouraging.

Stakeholder 2 The fuelwood problem in Nigeria is far more severe than most realise. Donor agencies have given a lot of attention to the rural areas because it’s thought that’s where the greatest problem lies. In truth, the crisis plays out on a staggering scale in urban areas.

Almost every local restaurant owner in urban areas all over the country cooks over a traditional open fire. Institutions such as boarding schools and prisons which house and feed large numbers of people also use wood as the main cooking fuel. If the problem in rural areas is household energy, that in urban areas is institutional energy.

www.hedon.info/NJTAFull article online* Author profile and *

latest contact detailsWorld Health Organisation *

(WHO) website IREC website*

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44

Cooking and carbon

HEDON’s Special Interest Group on Cooking and Carbon was instrumental in co-ordinating responses to the UNFCCC’s “Practitioners Workshop on improvement of the usability of CDM methodologies with high impact on women in developing countries” in October and November 2009. Members discussed and proposed revisions to relevant methodologies.

Cookstoves and markets: experiences, successes and opportunitiesA new report from GVEP-I sets out to tackle the question of why the adoption of improved cookstoves has been so slow in developing countries. The main purpose of the report is to delve deeper into issues of why and how cookstoves take so much time and effort to be brought on to the market successfully.

One message is clear: from product development to achieving large scale dissemination, the market for cookstoves is highly dependent on government or donor (even carbon) funds and subsidies, sector specific non profit institutions, and in the current climate, visionary social entrepreneurs.

Download the report here: www.hedon.info/1642/news.htm

‘Room to Breathe’ campaign aims to tackle Indoor Air Pollution (IAP)The ‘Room to Breathe’ campaign recently launched by the Shell Foundation aims to save lives, improve livelihoods and reduce climate change emissions by tackling Indoor Air Pollution (IAP).

“Women should not be dying as a result of cooking meals for their families,” says Simon Bishop, Head of Policy and Communications at the Shell Foundation. “People have almost no awareness about either the issue - or the potential solutions. That is why we need this campaign.”

Room to Breathe is part of the Foundation’s wider Breathing Space programme, which has been tackling IAP since 2002. Its focus is on “promoting ‘the’ internationally-recognised most effective way to tackle IAP – so-called ‘improved cookstoves’, ones that significantly reduce emissions and fuel use.”

More information here: www.hedon.info/1646/news.htm

Stove compendium

HEDON’s Special Interest Group on Clean Indoor Air has been collecting stove information for a 2010 stove compendium. If you have designed a stove or if you are disseminating or selling a stove, please fill in the form at: www.hedon.info/StoveImages

HEDON

News from HEDON

HEDONWhat a great time to be reading Boiling Point. These are the days that will define our generation as leaders in the household energy sector. And you, as a Boiling Point subscriber and HEDON member, are at the heart of shaping how the story unfolds.

You’ve turned to Boiling Point and HEDON as an essential source of breakthrough ideas on household energy and the role it plays in livelihoods and poverty. But now is a time to transform the effectiveness of what is done to address these issues, and you have new questions and greater expectations. Your organisation and your career should reap the benefit of the perspectives and insights that the worldwide Household Energy Community can provide. We are working hard to create the ideal journal and online community platform to make them indispensable sources for information and contacts, but we rely on you to bring these ideas to life. Please add your voice, build the network by inviting others to the community, and share what you know. In so doing you will find that it brings numerous benefits to you.

The Hedon Household Energy Network is an international forum dedicated to improving

social, economic, and environmental conditions in the South, through promotion of local,

national, regional and international initiatives in the household energy sector.

45Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009

CALL FOR PAPERS

Boiling Point looks for articles which are written in English, Spanish, French or Chinese, preferably using clear and plain language, and which can be used by other people in their own work. Do not be deterred, however, if you are not used to writing – it is the information that is important – we will review articles, edit them and return them for your approval prior to being published.

Theme articles

Each edition of the journal typically contains 4 to 5 full length theme articles which can include research papers, programme reports etc that are relevant to the theme topic. Boiling Point 58 will focus on the marketing of household energy technologies and practices. The issue will include social marketing (eg. marketing aimed at a social good such as health and indoor air pollution) as well as marketing in more commercial settings. To be effective even non-profit-making organisations need to think carefully about how their products or practices are being marketed and analysis of target markets, product-market grids, ‘customer’ perceptions, and positioning. This issue will be looking at experiences with marketing and how our efforts can be made more effective.

General articles

We welcome submission of general/short articles at any time, which can cover any topic. Examples include project/programme updates, technical papers, book/report reviews, conference and workshop reports. Please note: Technology based articles should be focussed on the real life application of proven technologies. Each edition of the journal also contains a Toolkit and regular features such as a Case Study or Viewpoints (opinion pieces

and interviews) and if you are interested in contributing to one of these then please contact us on the address below.

Front cover photo competition HEDON are offering you another fantastic opportunity to get your best image onto the front cover of Boiling Point. We are looking for a full colour photograph for the front cover that illustrates the theme of BP58 - Marketing

More specifically the photo must be: of good quality format and suitable for high resolution colour printing (A minimum resolution of 300 dpi and a higher quality file type i.e. not .bmp); sent to us in it’s original format (not pasted into an MS Word file); credited to the correct person, with a caption if appropriate; owned by the person/organisation entering the competition; and preferably have a central focal point, a bold composition and rich colours.

The editor’s decision is final and the selected photo will win absolutely nothing, apart from the admiration of our 2000+ subscribers and of course our thanks.

For more information please visit www.hedon.info/XBTA

Guidelines and submission dates

The deadline for article submission and the front cover photo competition for the ‘Marketing’ issue is Monday 1 March 2010. We welcome other articles at any time, on a rolling basis.

When submitting an article to Boiling Point authors should note the follow instructions: Articles can be submitted digitally in a commonly used word processing format or by post; Articles should be no more than 1500 words in length; Illustrations, such as drawings, photographs, graphs and bar charts are essential and should follow the

‘Figure Formatting’ guidelines; All references should be provided in the format given in the ‘References’ guidelines. In addition articles should include a 100-200 word summary, a 50 word profile for each author and up to six keywords that you feel best describe your article.

Please read the more detailed guidelines, available at www.hedon.info/BoilingPoint or via the @HEDON link below. Files can be emailed to the editor at boilingpoint@hedon.info or posted to the address below.

The Boiling Point editorial team will review your submission and final article selection is based on article quality, originality and relevance. Thank you for your cooperation, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to clarify any of these issues.

Regards,The Boiling Point Team

HeDON Household energy Network PO Box 900, Bromley BR1 9FF, uK Tel + 44 (0) 20 30 120 130 Fax +44 (0) 870 137 2360 email: boilingpoint@hedon.info

Call for papersBoiling Point 58: Marketing

During 2010 we aim to publish Boiling Point quarterly and we are inviting readers to submit articles, papers and news on a rolling basis at any time. So if you feel that you have something to contribute to the wider household energy community, then please read the information below and send us your experiences – HEDON would love to hear from you!

Boiling Point. issue 57 — 2009 45

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A prActitioner’s journAl on household energy, stoves And poverty reduction

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the hedon household energy network is an international forum dedicated to improving social, economic, and environmental conditions in the south, through promotion of local, national, regional and international initiatives in the household energy sector.

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