country studies- china india sri lanka nepal east and central africa 100 million cookstoves

7/28/2019 Country Studies- China India Sri Lanka Nepal East and Central Africa 100 Million Cookstoves

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Country Studies

ChinaIndiaSri LankaNepalEast and Central Africa1991

Risk and Development ProgramEnvironment and Policy InstituteEast-West Center1777 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96848 USA


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ContentsCountry Studies

1. 1 0 0 Mil lion Improved Cookstoves in China: H o w Was It Done?(November 8, 1991), G u Shuhua, Huang Kim, Qiu &al on g andKirk R. Smith 2 - 5 22. T h e Indian National Improved Stoves Program (July 10, 1991),Jamuna Ramakrishna 1 - 2 63. Improved Cookstove Programs in Sr i Lanka: Perceptions o f Success(November 4, 1991), Jan Bialy 3 - 2 44. T h e Status of Improved Cookstove Programs in Nepal (July 10, 1991),Ganesh Ram Shrestha, Hari G. Gorkhal i and Kirk R. Smith 1 - 1 75. I mproved Cookstove Programs in East and Central Africa (December 26, 1991),Piyasena Wickramagamage 1 - 3 9


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100 Million Improved Cookstoves in China:How was it Done?

Gu Shuhua, Huang Kun, Qin DaxiongInstitute of Techno-Economic & Energy Systems AnalysisTsinghua University, Beijing

andKirk R. SmithEast-West Center

Country Studies No. 18 November 1991

Risk and Development ProgramEnvironment and Policy InstituteEast-West Center1777 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96848 USA


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The East-West Environment and Policy Institute publishes Occasional Papers, WorkingPapers, and Project Papers.

Occasional Papers are monograph-length manuscripts, which are subject to internal andexternal peer review, edited, and distributed at a modest cost.Working Papers present results of completed and ongoing research and inform interestedcolleagues about work in progress. They are reviewed internally, edited, and distributed inlimited numbers for comment and discussion.Project Papers present research results with the least possible delay. They are approved forpublication by a research associate, are not always reviewed or edited, and are distributed bythe projects.

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ContentsCountry Study No. 1: China

Section I: A n Introduction to the Chinese National Improved Stove Programs 2History 3Nationwide Rural Energy Infrastructure 5Pilot Counties 6Research and Development 7Rural Energy Companies 8Personnel and Budget 1 0The Future 1 2

Section H: China's Rural Biomass Stove Program: The Growing Dilemma 1 4Improved Stoves for the 1990s 2 2

Section II W h at Can Other Countries Learn? 2 4Institutional Lessons 2 5Technical Lessons 2 8Appendix A: Seven-County Survey o f the Chinese National Improved StoveProgram 3 0Appendix B: Improved Biomass Stoves (113S)--Stories from China 3 5Bibliography 3 8


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1 1 . 0 ,

Section I

An Int rod uct ion t o th e Chinese Nat ion al Improved Stove Program

Between 1982 and t h e end o f 1990, t h e Chinese Natio nal ImprovedStove Program (CNISP) repo rted th e in st al la t i on o f improved stoves, i n120 mi l l i on ru ra l households. T h e s e were mainly biomass (wood o r cropresidue) cookstoves, b ut al so include d cooking/spaceheating stoves i nthe northern ar eas .1 T h er a t ea n dt o t ale x te n toft hi se ff or tfar

exceeds that of any other nat ion during this per iod, even consider ingChina 's larg e s iz e . M o r e than 50% of a l l Chinese rura l households arereported t o have received improved stoves. E ls ew he re , on ly Kenya hasexceeded 10% o f i t s households, alt hou gh a few n ati ons have exceeded 5%( I nd i a , S r i Lanka , Tha i l and . ) I n t erms o f t o t a l s t oves , perhaps 90% o fa l l improved cookstoves ( IC3 ) in st a l le d g lo bal ly as p ar t o f improvedcookstove programs (ICP 3) i n th e 1980s were i n China.

The l i t t l e in format ion tha t has been avai l able outs ide China on theCNISP would seem to in di ca te t ha t f ew o f th e Large problems holdin g backICPs i n o t her count r i es , such as des i gn f a i l u re s , l a ck o f pub l i cacceptance, and qua l i t y cont ro l d i f f i c u l t i es , p l ague t he CNISP, o r , a tleast , have no t been as ser ious.

How di d t h i s happen? Wh a t a re th e elements o f th e CNISP th a t madei t so successful , a t le as t b y compar ison to most othe r ICPs? Wha t arethe lessons f o r othe r countr ies?

Outside China, t h e r e has been a tendency f o r th e sto ve community(whether designers, donors, o r disseminators) t o ignore th e Chineseexperience. T h e r e seem to be two pr in c ipa l reasons:

F i r s t , be i ng so l a rg e , Ch i na i s a w or ld un to i t s e l f , Which meansthat most o f the publ ishing, news repor t ing, and conferences re la t ed t o

1 I n much of China, cooking of animal fodder as we l l as food i s animportant ro le f o r s toves.


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the CNISP have been i n Chinese and thus n ot gen era l ly accessible toout s iders . Th os e f ew pub l ica t i ons w r i t t en f o r an out s ideEnglish-reading audience have tended t o be disccunted, p a r t ly because o fthe lack o f accessib le support ing backup mater ia l and pa r t ly , i t seems,because of th e unfortunate experience o f the ru ra l energy technologycomnunity wit h premature cla ims o f success about t h e Chinese biogas andmicrohydro programs i n th e 1970s ( se e b elow ).

Second, t h e Chinese experience i s al so downplayed because o f th eb e l i e f t h a t Ch in a i s s o d i f f e r e n t , p o l i t i c a l l y a nd c u l t u r a l l y , fr o m t h erest o f the developing wor ld t ha t what happens i n China has l i t t l erelevance elsewher e.

This has been qui te f r us tr at in g t o th e stove community i n China, whosee other countr ies st rugg l ing, somet imes apparent ly i n va in , w i thproblems th a t hav e alr ead y been tac kle d w it h some success i n China.Then, even i f i t does happen t ha t i n t e rn a t i on a l a t t e n t i on i s d rawn t othe CNISP, f u r t h e r f r us tr at io n comes because China i s classed as t oo" d i f f e r e n t . "

Our hope i n th is rep or t , th ere for e , i s t o help overcome theseconst ra ints , f i r s t by making more descr i pt ive informat ion avai lab le t oan i n t e rna t i on a l audi ence and seco nd , c r i t i c a l l y d iscussi ng t he CNISPw it h in t h e Chi nese contex t , l ook i ng pa r t i cu l a r l y a t t he cha ll enges i tf aces i n t he 19905 . I n t he l a s t sec t i on , w e po i n t ou t l essons f rom t heCNISP th at might be appl ied e lsewhere i n the wor ld . Througho ut , we r e l ysomewhat on t he scant publ ished l i t e r a t u r e i n Engl ish and Chinese, bu tpr inc ipal ly on t he observations made dur ing a recent in t ensi vefour -county study done fo r IDRC (Qi u, e t a l . , 1990) and a seven-countysurvey undertaken f o r our p ro je ct (s ee Appendix A) .

History

Promotion of isproved energy technology has played a ro le since th eChinese Revolu tion i n programs t o enhance ru r a l development. T h e r e


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were, f o r example, improved stov e programs i n th e 1950s and 1960s,which, however, d i d no t have widespread success. B y comparison,substant ia l ly greater a t te nt ion has been g iven to ru ra l energy s ince theend o f t h e cu l t u ra l r evo l u t i on , i . e . s i nce about 1976.

In the l a t e 1970s, most at t en t i on was paid t o biogas and microhydroand considerable int er na t io na l i nt er es t was drawn t o th e Chineseprograms to develop and disseminate these technologies. I n d e e d , t h e i rapparent success provided t im el y encouragement t o ru ra l e nergytechnology programs i n ot he r co unt rie s, many of which were ju s tstar t ing. Un fo r t un at e l y , however, some o f th e c la ims made about t heChinese programs (from both within and without the country) werepremature and l ed t o what now seem un re al is t i c exp ect at i ons .2 B y t h eearly 1980s, more sober evaluat ions revealed t h at both t he ease and th eextent of d issemination had of te n been overstated. W i t h b iogas, f o rexample, th er e was obviously sub sta nt i al l y more to be learned aboutovercoming con str ain ts imposed by t he cost and complexit y o fconstruction.

During thi s t im e, improved stove programs were the res pon sib i l i ty o fthe Minis try o f Camerae. T h e s e programs succeeded most ly i n urbanareas perhaps because o f th e lac k o f appropri ate disseminat ioni n f ras truc t ure i n ru ra l a reas . T h e M i n i s t ry o f Commerce s t i l l has urbanstove programs, bu t ma inly devoted t o encouragement o f fu el switc hing .

In th e 19803, resp ons ib i l i t y fo r promoting ru ra l energy technologiescame to be d iv ided among four minis t r ies (se e F igure 1 A) , a l lcoordinated by th e Department o f Saving and Inte gr ate d Use o f Resourcesof t he Sta te Planning Commission. Bioma ss and c oal stoves, renewable(except hydro) an d non-commercial sources, and ru r a l e nergy conservationare now wi th in t he purview of the Minis t ry of Agr ic ul ture 's (MOA's)

2 Fo r example, se e Govt . o f China, "Biogaa U t i l iz a t i o n and ComprehensiveDevelopment i n Chi na, " UN Economic and So ci al Commission f o r As ia andthe P ac if ic , Bangkok, 1 5 August 1979 , DP/EDRS/33.

4


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Bureau o f Environmental Pro tec tio n and Energy (BEPE), which was creat edin 1983. T h e ru ra l energy st ructu re wi t h in BEPE is shown i n F igure 1B.

I n t he ear l y 1980s , co i nc i dent w i t h t he reorgan i za t i on t ha t l e d t ot he c rea t i on o f BEPE, a g rea t e r p ropor ti on o f e f f o r t was sh i f t e d t oimproved biomass stoves ( IB S) . T h i s came about pa rt ly because o f agrowing appr eciat ion o f th e e xte nt and magnitude o f ru ra l household f u e lshortages and th e impoverishment o f fo re st lands and agr ic ul tu ra l s oi lsand also because of recognit ion that an IBS program offered potent ialfor a quick ret urn o f energy savings a t re la t i ve ly low cost compared tobiogas and o the r a l te rna t ive s. T h e IBS program design, however, tookgreat advantage o f the experience and widespread r ur al energyinf rast ructu re t ha t had been created la rg el y i n the process of promotingbiogas and microhydro.

Thus, al though t he present Chinese IBS program has an o f f i c i a ls t a r ti n g d a te o f 1 9 8 3, i t a c t u a l l y ha s c r i t i c a l r o o t s go in g b ac k a tleast 5 years p revio usly . T h i s i s important t o remember when makingcomparisons with th e progress o f ICPs i n oth er cou ntr ies.

Nationwide Rural Energy In fr as tr uc tu re

BEPE now coordinates a system of admin istra t ion, resea rch, r u r a lenergy manufacturers, and extension serv ice organizat ion s th at coversa l l 38 provinces and municipal regions3 wi th more than 1500 county RuralEnergy Off ice s (R EM' o u t o fa b o u t2 3 0 0c o u n ti e s .B e fo r e1 98 3,t he se

were ca l le d Biogas Off ic es , bu t were renamed a t th e t ime BEPE wascreated and took au tho r i ty ov er them. A s shown i n F igure 2 , th e Rura lEnergy system operates a t every l ev el o f administ rat ion in China, f romt he n a t i o n a l M i n i s tr y t o t h e v i l l a g e .

Although re l y i ng upon th i s na t ion al in f ra st r uct ure , t he success oft he I BS program can be account ed par t l y t o i t s u t i l i z a t i o n o f d i r ec t

3Here,u

provincia l" t o re fe r to both provinces and munic ipal regions.


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l inks from BEPE to th e counti es, bypassing t o some ext ent th e p rov inc iall eve l as shown in F igure 2 . D i s t r i c t s do not ex i s t i n every county and,thus, a l though t he ove ral l s t ruc ture in Figure 2 may look compl icated,the important l inkages ar e from BEPE to th e counties and from the re t otownships and vi l l a ge s .Pi lo t Counties

6

The nat ion al IBS disseminat ion st rate gy i s each year to choose pi lo tcounties tha t a re ready fo r in tens ive e f fo r ts . A s shown in Tab le 1 ,about 100 counties were chosen each yea r making a t o t a l o f 790 p i l o tcount ies by th e end o f 1989. Co nt ra ct s ar e s igned between each pi lo tcounty and BEPE. Ty p i c a l l y , i n re turn fo r 25 ,000y ($5000) , t he countyagrees over thre e years t o implement an IBS program tha t w i l l re su l t i na t l e as t 90% penet ra t ion o f M s i n the county 's households. T h edeta i l s o f t yp ica l cont rac ts are presented in Tab le 2 .

The counties main tain Leading Groups, which ar e unpaid committeesappointed by t he County Chie f and chair ed by th e Vic e-Chie f t ocoordinate and administe r th e co ntrac ts. T h e s e Leading Groups al soprovide guidance and oversi ght o f th e County Off ic es o f Rural Energy(CORE), w hi ch t y p i c a l l y h av e 5 - 8 f u l l - t i m e s t a f f . S i m i l a r l e ad i nggroups are created at the township and vi l lage levels, Which, however,general l y do not have rur a l energy o f f i ces . A s d iscussed l a te r , many o fthe Leading Groups al so oversee ru ra l energy fact or ies and se rvic ecompanies.

The province REO,sp r i n c i p alr o l ei st oa d vi s eR EP Sofc a nd i da t es

for p i lo t count ies and organize the "checking' (moni tor ing andevaluation) teams t ha t v i s i t each county t o ascertain whether thec on tr ac t h as b ee n f u l f i l l e d ( T a b l e 3 ) . T h e c r i t e r i a f o r ch oos in g p i l o tcounties are l iste d i n Table 4. Ty pi c a l ly, les s than hal f of thoserecommended are chosen each ye ar. T h e methods and c r i t e r i a used by thechecking teams are li st ed i n Table 5. T h e teams consist o f experts fromother provinces as w el l as fro m other counties i n th e same province.


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Research and Development

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The count ies, i n tu rn , adopt p ol ic ie s t o promote IBSs depending onl ocal ci rcum st ances. Exam pl es o f such po l i c i es a re l i s t ed i n Tab l e 6 .Note th at some rat he r s t rong car rots and st ick s ( ince nt iv es andd i s i n c e n t i v e s ) a r e a v a i l a b l e a t t h i s l e v e l .

Provinces are not genera l ly involved d i rect ly in the d isseminat ionat th e county l ev el , a l though as shown i n Table 3 , the y have an advisoryrole . O n th e o the r hand, a number of provinces have improved stoveprograms o f t h e i r o wn , w i t h t h e i r own s e t o f p i l o t c o u n ti e s. I n d e e d ,as shown i n Tab l e 1 , nea r l y 50% o f t he na t i ona l t o t a l has been bu i l t aspart o f prov incia l programs.

Unfor tunate ly , th is survey does not d i rect ly address the provincia lprograms. Al th ou gh i t seems th at many o f th e same approaches ar e taken ,a separa t e s t udy woul d be needed t o be sure . I t i s w e l l t o no t e ,however, t h a t a previou s ESMAP re po rt observed t h a t many fewe rf ina ncia l , tec hn ica l , and manageria l resources seemed t o be ava i la blefor t he pro vin cia l programs ("Chi na County-Level Rural EnergyAssessments," ACE 101/89 , 19 89. ) T h i s was pa r t ic ul ar ly so fo r thosecount ies t ha t had not ach i eved p i l o t count ry s t a t us w i t h i n e i t h er t henat ional or the prov incia l programs.

R&D i s conducted at th e na t ion al , pr ov in ci a l , and county leve ls .The lea d org aniz at ion i s th e Energy-saving Group o f th e Energy Centerunder t he Chinese Academy o f Ag ri cu lt ur al Engineering Research andP la nning ( CI AE RP ), a MOA i n s t i t u t i o n . I t s p r i n c i p a l s to v e f a c i l i t y a tpresent i 3 th e China Center o f R ural Energy Research and Trai nin g(CCRERT), loca ted i n Changping County, j u s t outs ide Be i j i ng , which wasbegun in 1985 and put i n to operat ion i n 1988 wi th f in an ci a l and designsupport f rom t he I t a l i a n i n t e r na t i o na l a i d agency.

A network o f 25 resea rch i ns t i tu t i on s conducts research fundedLargely through BEPE. T h e CCRERT focuses mainly on tr ai ni ng , bu t al sopromotion through nat i ona l compet i t ions. Wi nn er s o f lo ca l design


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contests ar e brought t o th e Mon itoring and Tes t C enter (MTC a t CCRERT)with t h e i r improved stoves , where the y compete against winners fromother reg i ons . ( M T C has a l a rge f a c i l i t y t ha t enabl es 30 s t oves t o beinstrumented and tested a t a t ime, w i th rea l - t i me res ul ts appear ing on alarge e lec tro nic "scoreboard.") S u c h compet i t ions help promote improvedstoves by provid ing pub l ic i ty as we l l as incent ive to workers in thef i e l d .

R&D i n th e mid-1980s was dir ec te d main ly toward design andmodi f ication of s toves to match loc al condi t ions o f fu e l andcooking/heat ing needs. Tow ar d th e end o f th e decade, more at t en t io n wasbeing placed on development o f convenient lon g- l ive d in se rts th a t couldbe eas i l y manufact ured i n l o ca l towns, i f no t ac t ua l l y i n v i l l age s .

Rural Eorgx_Companies

An importa nt and expanding pa rt o f th e CNISP i s th e promotion o flocal rural energy manufacturing and service companies. These make andse l l s tove par ts and whole stoves as we l l as ot her energy devices, suchas so la r wa ter heate rs and biogas components. I n some cases, th eyprovi de i n s t a l l a t i on and serv i c i ng o f energy technol og ies i n t he f i e l d .The rura l i ndust ry c l as s i f i c a t i on i nc ludes f a c i l i t i e s p roduc ing m ol ds ,tools , s to ves, gas p ipes and SO on; tho se processing fue ls , such as c oalbr iquet tes; and teams th at i n s t a l l and mainta in r ur a l energy systems,including stove s.

Throughout th e country i n 1988, t h er e were about 1000 such ru ra lenergy companies, mainly op erat ing at th e county le ve l i n conjunctionwi th t he county of f ic es o f ru ra l energy (CORE), and more than 2200 r ur a lenergy serv i ce un i t s opera ti ng a t t h e t ow nshi p l e ve l . A l l t o l d , t heseenterprises involved about 30,000 employees, 530 mi l l io n yuan i n annualturnover, and 110 mi l l io n yuan i n f ix ed assets .

These rur al energy companies pla y sev eral important r ol es i n th eCRISP, in cl ud in g:


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1. He lp in g ensure coordinated pr ovi sio n o f sup pli es, management,t ransport , and market ing.

2. Prov i d i ng par t o f t he f unds needed f o r l oca l d i f f u s i on , e . g . , subs idyof stove par ts f o r poor households and v i l la g e demonstrat ions.

3 . Of f er i ng a way to harness forces o f compet i tion to improve qua l i t yand cost -ef f ect iven ess .

4 . Promising t o be the best r oute to move CRISP to f u l lcommercial ization, i . e . , t o gre at l y reduce involvement of nat iona l andprovince bureaucracies during the 1990s.

5. Enabl in g average IC ef f i ci en ci es t o r i s e beyond 30% (BWT) throughc lo se r a t t e n t i o n t o q u a l i t y c o n t r o l .

Through th e provi ncia l Rura l Energy Of f ic e (PRE0) , th e nat ion algovernment provides low-cost (0 -2 .3%) lo ans t o ass ist i n th e st ar t - up o fthese lo ca l r ur al energy companies (RECo s) .4 T h e s e l o a n sa r eg e n e r a l l ynot av ai l abl e fo r long- term ca pi ta l improvements such as bui ld in gs,however. T h e PREO provides tra in in g and arranges f o r c ros s-tr ain ing,both techni cal and manager ia l , among di f f er en t count ies . I n addi t ion,the RECos enjoy r e l i e f f rom th e usual 55% nat ion al ta x on "bene f i tp ro f i t , " a l t hough not necessar i l y from l oca l t axes . T h i s amounts t o a10-15% contr ibu t io n (se e b elow).

The RECo manager repor ts d i re ct ly to th e county c hi ef as w el l as t othe PREO. H e can decide on changes i n the product l ime a s w el l as h i reand f i r e workers, who ar e g ene ral ly paid b y piecework. Work er s wagesare s et by government and , altho ugh se t by th e RECo, th e governmentposts maximum f o r managers' bonuses . P r i c e s a re se t by th e CORE,

4 Thi s discussion i s mainly based on intervi ews i n Hubei Province wherethere a re 84 RECoe. T h e la rg es t has a s many as 300 employees, but mostare much smaller.


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based on cost de clarat ions b y the RECo tha t inc lude mate r ia l , l a bo r ,e l e c t r i c i t y , r e n t , t a x , an d 25% " p r o f i t . " T h i s p r o f i t i s used t o p ayhack loans and inve st f o r expansion. Som e marketing i s done i nnewspapers and r ad io and many RECos have r e t a i l ou tl et s.

RECos have d i ver s i f i e d i n t o a range o f o t her ac t i v i t i es , i nc l ud i nghotels and restaurant s , such t ha t some der ive more than h a l f th e i rincome f rom non-rura l -energy act iv i t ies . Managers c i te re l iableprocurement of good qu al i t y ma ter ial t o be one of t h e i r c hi ef problems.The PREOs a ls o c i te mater i a l supply as one o f the pr i nc i pal factor s t obe considered when se tt in g up RECos.

I t i s gene ra l l y f e l t th at RECos have been most successful i n th esouthern parts o f China, Which have th e r eput at ion o f being more open toentrepreneurial innovat ions.

Although most o f th e improved stoves introduc ed i n th e CNISP havesome manufactured p ar ts , t h e Chinese count about 24 o f th e 114 m i l l i oninsta l le d ICS as "commercia l ," i . e . , those i n which the combust ionchamber was manufactured elsewhere, perhaps i n separ ate pa rt s, ra th e rthan c on st ru ct ed on s i t e . I n o r d e r t o r e l i a b l y o b t a in b o i l i n g wa t eref f ic ie ncies i n excess o f 30%, Which i s a goa l f o r t he next generat ionof I Cs , m ost s t oves w i l l have t o be cent ra l l y manufact ured . T h i s w i l lmean a such grea ter ro le f o r th e RECos and, consequent ly, a smal ler ro lef or v i l l age t echn i c i ans .

Personnel and Budget

In a ddi t io n t o th e co ntract money provided by BEPE to th e count ies,the coun ties and townabips provid e moneys from t h e i r own resources. A sis th e ease throughout most o f th e Chinese program t o date , however, t h edi rect costs of the stove mater ia l and const ruct ion are borne ent i re lyby the households, except i n a few lo ca l areas where f re e stove pa r tsare avai la bl e to th e poorest households (n et annual income les s tha n 200yuan per ca p i t a i n 1987 ) . Ta b l e 7 shown t he d i s t r i b u t i on o f t hesemoneys in one county o f Sichuan Province. N o t e th at th e to ta l


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government contr ibut ion (nat ional , county, township) over three years isless than 3% of th e t ot a l program costs. A s shown in Table 8 , th ed i rec t na t iona l cont r ibut ion to each IBS in the na t iona l p i l o t count iesaveraged about 0 .28y (US $ 0 .05 ) i n the l a te 1980s . F o r the ent i ree f for t (na t iona l p lus p rov inc i a l ) , th e average d i re c t governmentcont ribut ions to ta l on ly 4 .2y (US $ 0 .84 ) pe r s tove .

Another sourc e o f government supp ort a r e th e wages f o r governmentemployees engaged i n promoting IBSs. A s shown i n Tabl e 9 , t h e number ofworkers di re ct ly involved i n BEPE programa to ta ls about 200,000. O fthese, those working i n manufactur ing uni ts and as v i l l ag e techniciansare paid through stove user charges. (M a ny ar e a lso engaged wi th otherr u ra l e n er gy te ch no lo gi es a s w e l l . ) T h e f i r s t t h r e e c a te g or ie srepresent people work ing essent i a l l y f u l l t ime on IBS , whi l e theadministrat ive s t a f f at th e county and township lev el spend, on average,one-th ird o f th e i r t ime on th is program.

Thus, nat ionwide, th er e a re approximately 11,000 f ul l - t i megovernment-supported job s devoted t o th e IBS program, a t an annu alpubl ic cost o f perhaps 30 m i l l i on yuan ($6 mi l l io n) i n wages a t230y/worker-month.(Tensoftho

are supported directly through householders stove payments.)

Foregone taxes on the rural energy companies (see above) are anotherform of government suppor t. I n th e l a te 1980s , annual pr of i t s o f suchcompanies amounted t o about 50 m il l i o n yuan, 40% o f which might beassigned t o s tove programs. i t th e usua l 55% tax ra te fo r such pro f i t s ,this amounts to lo s t government revenue o f about 11 m i l l io n yuan.

As shown i n Table 1 , about 15 mi l l io n stoves have been b u i l t eachyear i n th e l a t e 1 9 8 0 , smaking in di re ct government support (governmentwages and foregone taxes) about 2 .7y per s tove . T h u s , th e to ta l (d i r ec tplus ind ir ec t) government contr ibu t ion would seem to be about 6 .9 yuan($1.40) 2 9r lo I l l l ed _s to ve , as compared t o the average constructioncost of something les s than 4 5y. D is cou nt i ng th is by the percentage ofimproved stoves found to be operat i ng we l l ( 7 0-8 0 % ) i n t h ei n f o r m a l


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survey undertaken f o r th is pro jec t (se e Appendix A) , re su l ts i n anoverall government cost pgr operating...improved stove of something like9.2 yuan (US$1.8 0) .

E xtrapolat ing back to the e ar l i e r years , t h is impl i es tha t over the7 years o f th e Chinese IBS program, some $200 mi l l io n had been inves tedby the Chinese government though 1989, a t a l l le ve ls i n promoting IBSscosting about $1 b i l l i o n (5 b i l l i o n yuan) f o r householders to ac tua l l ybui ld . T h u s , t h e government costs come t o approximately on e- f i f t h theamount pa id b y householders f o r th e stoves themselves, a r a t i o unequaledin most oth er IBS programs around t h e world. A lt ho ug h by no means aninsigni f ican t amount , even th e to ta l expenditure i s smal l by mostcomparisons in t he energy f i e ld . I t i s l es s than 15% of the cost o f onetypical new power plan t or re f i ne ry, f o r example, and y et seems t os i g n i f i c a n t l y t ou ch t h e l i v e s o f p eo pl e i n a t l e a s t 8 0 m i l l i o n r u r a lhouseholds.

The Future

In 1990, si gn if ic an t l y f ewer improved biomass stoves wereint roduced, 6 mi l l io n, compared t o 15 mi l l io n pe r year dur ing the l a t e1980s. I t i s now p lanned t o mainta in a growth o f severa l mi l l i o n pery ea r, w h i l e f o cu s in g more o n q u a l i t y a nd d u r a b i l i t y . S p e c i f i c a l l y , t h eprogram w i l l

1. Continue wi th th e same emphasis i n lower-midd le t o upper-middleincome households, wi th more emphasis on co mmercialization, i . e . ,central manufacture.

2 . E xtending e f f or t s more v igorously in to poor a reas , e . g . , f r in ge areasand mountainous regions. I t i s recognized th at these areas w i l l presentmany more d i f f i cu l t i e s than t he re la t i v e l y eas i l y accessib lemiddle-income areas i n ut ic h t he program has mostly operated to da te .


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Section I I

China's R ur al Biomass St ove Program:The Growing Dilemma

History has shown t ha t households switc h t o higher qu al i t y cookingfuels when they have the means and oppo rtuni ty. T h e general re su l t ove rtime i s movement up , what has been termed, t h e "Energy Ladder." T h i srefers t o th e n atur al tendency f o r households t o move from th e lowerqua l it y f ue l s ( rungs o f t he l adder ) tow ard h i gher l eve l s . T h e exac tcomposi tion o f the la dder depends on lo cal condi t ions. I n China, t heladder genera l ly goes from animal dung ( r e l a t iv e l y few people) , throughcrop res idues, wood, coa l , LPG, natu ra l gas, and, i n a few cases, t oe l e c t r i c i t y , a l t hough f i n er d i s t i nc t i o ns cou ld be made ( e . g . amongd i f f e r e n t k in d s o f c ro p r es id ue s a nd c o a l s ) . M o s t o f t h e r u r a lpopulation stands on t he rungs from crop residues t o co al , Whi le mosturban households l i e between coal and gas. I n othe r countr ies t heladder may be d i f fe re nt , e . g . , charcoal o r kerosene may a lso p lay ro l es ,and t he r e a r e to o many instan ces where communities have been fo rce d downthe ladde r , e . g . , back t o crop res idues when loc al fo res t resources aredepleted.

The energy po l ic y di lemma rais ed by th is f ramework i s o f a typeoften confronted when deal ing w ith th e in ter act ion s o f energy andeconomic development . I n the case of b iofUe la i n ru ra l areas, t hedilemma is th at we sees to want both l es s and more use of bio fue ls. W ewant les s, because o f th e damage done t o th e lo ca l environment throughso i l degradat ion and defo rest at ion . O n th e ot her hand, we want more andlonger use of bio fue ls s o t ha t development can occur wi thout putt ingaddi t ional s t ra in on th e commercial fue l s t ha t represent the next s tepson the ladder.

In terms o f th e energy lad de r, th er ef or e, we seem compelled t ochoose between pol i c ie s designed e i th er , 1 ) t o accelerate the natu ra ltendency of households t o move toward high er qu al i t y fu el s, th usre l ie vi ng pres sure on biomass resources sooner than might otherwise


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occur; o r 2 ) t o suppress th is nat ura l tendency by establ ishin g a longerterm ro l e f o r b iofue ls than they otherwise might have in order t opostpone the ad di t io na l demand f o r commercial fu el s. T h e s e two opt io ns,u n fo rt u na te l y, w ou ld seem t o b e p a r t l y i n c o n f l i c t . C e r t a i n l y , t h e yimply somewhat di f f er en t s ets o f pr io r i t i es and measures of success.

One obvious response t o th is di lemma i s t o say th at we w i l l focusour ef fo r t s onl y toward increasing th e ef f ic ien cy wi th Which b io fue l i sused, but no t encourage anyone to use more of i t . T h i s would seem t osat is f y both goals and to resonate wi th our ge nera l ly favorableexper ience when increasing var ious types o f produc t iv i ty i n th e p ast .Unfor tunat e ly, how ever, i t i s d i f f i c u l t i f no t i mposs ib l e i n such acompl icated human and natu ra l ecosystem as an A gri cu l tu ra l vi l l ag e t o doonly one th ing . Cha ngin g the ef f ic i en cy o f s toves wi l l change how theycan be used, how they ar e perceived, and what and how much they w i l l beexpected t o d o . T h e s e c ha ng es, i n t u r n , w i l l a f f e c t o v e r a l l f u e l u s e .When th is occurs , as i n China, a long wi th ra pid ly changing ru ra lpat te rns o f i ncome, f am i l y s t ruc t ure , p roper t y r i gh t s , c rops , t i m e use ,d i e ts , a n d a v a i l a b i l i t y o f a l t e r n a t e f u e l s , p r e d i c t i n g t h e im pa ct o noveral l f u e l demand i s no long er obvious.

This i s separate , o f course, f rom th e household bene f i t achievedwi th e ac h u n i t o f b i o f u e l , a n i mp o rt an t b u t se p ar a te i s su e . A l l e l s ebeing equal , incre asing e f f i c ie ncy w i l l increase household ben ef i t s , b utthis may occur p ar t l y through households cooking more or f in di ng oth eruses o f bio mass , s u ch as s e l l i n g t o p a p er m i l l s . I n t h i s c a s e , o v e r a l ldecrease i n b io fu el demand may decrease much le ss th an What would beexpected on t h e bas i s o f e f f i c i ency t es t s .

To keep t h is f rom becoming too a bst r act , we i l lu st ra te wi t h byreference t o th e dilemma faced by C hina's po l i cy makers f o r mapping outthe next stages o f i t s IBS ( Improved Biomass Stove) program. A nat t r act ive opt ion , obvio usly , would be t o do more of th e same th ingsthat have been successful t o d ate , i . e . , t o design and d isseminateanother generat ion o f IBS, even more ef f i c i en t and durable than th ef i r s t generat ion. C on si de r some other opt ions, however :


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1) I f t he goa l i s p r i n c i pa l l y t o move rur a l popu la ti ons away f rombiofuels as rap id ly as possib le , th en working f o r the ex t ra few percentof savings possible i n an af ford able second generat ion IBS may not bethe most e f f ec t i ve immediate approach. I t may be, f o r example, th a twhat i s needed f i r s t i n many rur a l a reas i s a more e f f i c i e n t ,a t t r a c t i v e , a nd c on ve n ie n t c o a l s t o v e s o t h a t t h e s h i f t t o c o a l t h a t i snow occu r r i n g can be acce le r a ted .

Acommon si gh t we found i n th e households we surveyed was abeaut if u l I BS as a cent e rp i ece t o t he k i t chen , o f t en f i n i shed w i t h Whit et i l e and kept spotl ess . A s shown i n Tab l e A- 1 , however, i n a corner o fthe ki tche n we usual l y ( 88 o f 112 households) al so found an old- look ingp or ta bl e c o a l st o v e . I n a d d i t i o n , i f a s to v e was l i t w hen we a r r i v e d ,i t most l i k e l y would be the coal s tove. A l t ho ug h i n some households i tis onl y used a few months each yea r, i n many i t i s used nea rly every dayover long per iods to heat water , Whi le th e IBS was used f o r much br ie fe rperiods f o r cooking dishes.

Compared t o th e imp ressiv e IB S now i n many Chinese r u r a l households,the coa l stoves we saw are ug ly, awkward, and d i r t y and do not seem tohave benef i te d from much o f th e coalstove R&D th at has gone on i n rece ntyears . I t seems most l i k e l y , however, t ha t they could be made moree f f i c i en t , m ore a t t ra c t i ve , and m ore cl ean i f a subst ant i al program a tthe scale o f t he one fo r IBS were establ ished fo r co al s toves.

Acombination approach might a ls o be considered, where th e secondgeneration improved stove i s designed t o use e i th er coal or b iof uel(perhaps wi th a removable in se r t or mul t ip le pot ho les) . T h ebiofuel -burning ef f iciency of such a device might even conceivably bel ow er t han one des igned so l e l y f o r b i o f Ue l and ye t s t i l l r es u l t i n amajor reduct ion in biofuel usage.

2) I f t he goa l i s p r i n c i pa l l y t o s low t he r i s i ng demand f o r commerci alfuels i n ru ra l area s, then the design goals fo r t he second generat ion


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IBS m ig ht b e a l t e r e d a c co r d in g l y. I n p a r t i c u l a r , i n s p i t e o f t h e i rcomparatively poor s ta te o f development, c o al stoves a re commonly usedf or many t asks i n m i l l i ons o f ru ra l househol ds , and , i f h i s t ory i s anygui de , w i l l be used i n many more i n t he f u t ure . W hy i s t h i s? W ha t i si t about coa l s toves t h a t a t t r ac t peopl e? C a n t hese charac t e r i s t i cs bebu i l t i n t o t he second generat i on o f I BS so t ha t peopl e w i l l f e e l l essneed to swi tch t o coal? T he se ar e t he questions tha t might be asked.

One ch ar ac ter ist ic , f o r example, t h a t seems t o make coa l stovesa t t r a c t i v e i s t h a t t h e y r e q u i r e much l e s s t e n d in g . P a r t i c u l a r l y whenheat ing water o r cocking animal fodd er, peopl e do not want t o be forcedt o s ta nd b y s o a s t o f e e d t h e f i r e o f t e n . U n f o r t u n a t e l y , h ow ev er, acommon res ul t o f s t rate gies ta ken to increase ef f ic i enc y i n an IBS i s atendency to increase the f requency of fue l ing (e .g . , by decreasing thesize of the combust ion chamber) , thereby exacerbat ing this di f ferencebetween coa l and b io fue l s toves. A s above, th e IBS design tha t bes tkeeps people from using more coal may actually be one that mimics suchfavorable aspects o f coal as long -durat ion low-power operat ion, even i fth is must be done a t th e expense o f some biofuel -burning e f f i c ie ncy.5

This s t a t e o f a f f a i r s i s i l l u s t r a t e d q u i t e s t r i k i n g l y i n FuyangCounty, Zhe j ian g P rovince, which has app aren t ly achieved a successfuld issemi na ti on o f t h e f i r s t genera t i on o f I BS . T h e v i l l a ges t here haveat ta ined condi t ions t ha t would be t he envy o f ru ra l energy plannersthroughout the developing world. N e a r l y every ru ra l household seems t ohave and use an IBS th at i s sui ted t o household needs and i ss u b s ta n t ia l l y more f u e l e f f i c i e n t a nd a t t r a c t i v e t h a n t h e t r a d i t i o n a lstoves i t r e p l a c ed . i t t h e same t i m e , s t r i c t c o n t r o l o ve r l o c a l f o r e s tland combined wi th af fo res tat i on have st abi l i z ed and increased th e areaunder f o re s t t o t he ex t en t t ha t ess ent i a l l y a l l I BS f ue l can be gat heredby v i l l age rs on a sus t a i nab l e hea l s . T h e w a lk i ng d i s tance i s shor t andthe average household need spend on ly 6 person-days pe r ye ar g atheri ng

5Theinco

(see Appendix A) i s an example o f one such techniq ue.


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the i r en t i r e supply, which averages about 900 kg . A s a resu l t o f th i sbalance between woodfuel and demand, a l l o f th e agr ic ul t ur al waste(mainly wheat and r i c e st raw) can be al l oca ted t o pig pens where i tmixes wi th waste to form a fer t i l i zer considered to be of substant ia lvalue.

What could be bet ter ? H e r e i s a sustainable supply of woodfuel usedef f i c i e nt l y and thus making poss ib le f u l l re turn o f c rop res idues to theland. C l o s e r examinat ion, however, re ve als a more complicateds i t ua t i on . I t seems t h a t i n s p i t e o f t h e ap pa re nt a t t ra c t iv e n es s o fusing wood, subs tant ia l amounts o f coal and e l ec t r ic i t y ar e a lso used.Of 21 households v i s i te d, 75$ use c oal , most every day. T h e average useis about 240 kg per ye ar (supplying about 60% o f the ef fe ct i ve energy i naverage annual woodfuel use) . Most households also use an electr ic r icecooker. P a r t o f the success i n c ont ro l l i ng fore st loss and br ing ingsusta inab i l i t y to the for est / v i l l a ge system, there fore , mast be agsignedto fu el swi tching as wel l as t o the IBS program.

This i l l u s t ra te s th a t even in the unfor tunate ly ra re case where theh ighest qua l i t y b io f ue lo w o o d ,i sc h e a pa n de a syt oo b ta i nins u f fi c i en t

quantity f o r a l l cooking needs, households want th e convenience ando th er advantages o f e v en h i gh e r q u a l i t y f u e l s . ( I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t onote, however, t ha t based on the average marginal cost o f coal i n thearea (18 f en /k g) , amount o f wood gathered i n one day (150 k g) , re la t i v eenergy contents (kg coa l cake = 1 .1 kg wood) , and stove ef f ic i enc ies(coa l s tove = 2 x IBS ) , th e va lue o f the e f fe c t i v e energy tha t can beobtained from one day' s wood gath ering i s abo ut 12 yuan, qu i t e clos e t othe loca l da i l y wage fo r unsk i l l ed work . )

Obviously, i n th is r egion, f ut ur e plans fo r ru ra l energy technologydissemination must care fu l ly consider th e r oles o f and inter act io nsamong the various fuels in use.

The sol ut io n t o th is di lemma probably cannot be found a t th enat ional le ve l , a l though ther e needs to be some di rec t ion as to ove ra l ln at io na l p o l i c y o b je c t i ve s . T h i s i m p li e s t h a t t h e r e w i l l p ro ba bl y b e


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- - There seems t o be growi ng recogn i ti on a t a l l l eve l s i n t he Rura lEnergy Of f ices th at th e present s tove te st i ng pra ct ices need t o berevised. T h e boi l in g water te st (BWT) , which has been the standard f o ra number of y ears , seems t o have served f a i r l y wel l , pa r t ic ul ar lyconsidering how re la t i ve ly easy and quick i t i s t o administer and t ot each . I t has been es tab li shed i n o t her countr i es , how ever, t h a t t heBWT does not c or re la te we l l i n many circumstances t o act ual fu e l u se.In add i t i on t o sponsoring th e research needed t o determine th isrelat ionship i n China, i t a ls o seems incumbent upon the BEPE to cont inuepressing fo r a new se t o f te st ing procedures th a t more accur atelyr e f l e c t r e a l c o ok in g p r a c t i c e s .6

The movement up th e energy la dd er has increa sed t h e need f o r suchprocedures even more, because i t i s th e cooking pract ic es most l i k eb o i li n g wa t er ( e . g . , r i c e c oo ki ng an d t e a making) t h a t f i r s t a r e t a k enup by h i gher qua l i t y f ue l s . Wh at remains f o r t he I BS ( e . g . , cooki ngdishes) i s even less we l l measured by th e BWT. Fur t herm ore, i t i s i nt hese l ess prescr i bed t asks t ha t i nd i v i dua l var i a t i on ( e . g . , due t o t hei n t e rac ti on o f s t ove desi gn w i t h t h e cooks' pa t i ence , s k i l l , andbusyness) w i l l be most i w or t a n t , f a c t or s t h a t a re no t i ncl uded a t a l lin the BNT, but can be inc luded i n othe r te sts and may s i gn i f i ca nt l yaf fect o ve ra l l fu e l demand.- - One of th e most hear tening (and i n other countr ies , unfor tunate l y ,rare) aspects o f th e Chinese IBS program has been th e "checking," i . e . ,the systematic postdissemination monitoring and evalu ati on th at hasapparent ly occurred. Al t ho ug h we were not a ble to inspect th e a ctualrecords o f these cheeks, sever a l conversations wi th people a t d i f f er en tlevels have indicated a s ig ni f ica nt e f f or t has been made. T h e secondgeneration IBS Program, however, w i l l probably re qu ir e a somewhatd i f f e ren t se t o f f ac t ors t o be examined i n such checks. I n par t i c u l a r ,de t a i l s o f t he o t her household st oves , f u e l s , p r i c es , and a l t e rn a t e uses

6 In de ed , such research i s underway wit h hopes of introducing such anew testing method by 1992.


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for biomass w i l l be needed so t ha t ov er al l planning can be made in anintegrated way and th e i nf lue nce o f IBS can be separated from thechanges due t o o t her f ac t ors . O n e can t h i nk o f o t her f ac t ors t o i nc l udeas we l l , f o r example, changes i n th e amount and ty pe o f food beingcooked, bu t ca re needs t o be ta ken such th at the se checks do not becomeoverburdened wi th long quest ionnaires more su i ta bl e f o r researchprojects.

- - Another reason t o begin soon to improve rur a l coal s toves i s t oprevent increases i n th e heal th ef f ect s t ha t a re known to res ul t f romthe indoor a i r pol lut i on due to use o f unvented coa l cookstoves i nChina. W e l l more than 100 s c i en t i f i c papers have been published i n theChinese and i n t e rna t i ona l l i t e ra t u re on such e f f ec t s i n Ch ina , w h ichhave pr i nc ip al ly been conf ined t o urban areas. W i t ho ut improved stoves,wi th h igher e f f ic iency and chimneys, the increasing coal use in rura lar eas c an b e e xp ec te d t o e x a ct a s i m i l a r t o l l o n r u r a l h e a l t h . A l t h o u g hby no means repre sent ing a systematic surv ey, t h e monitoring instrumentswe car r i ed dur i ng our v i s i t s t o househo lds i n 20 v i l l ag es qu i t e o f t enregi s te red s i g n i f i ca n t i ndoor a i r po l l u t i on concent rat i ons due t o t hesimple coal s tove commonly used (See F igu re 1 -1 . ) T h i s i s anotherreason to conclude tha t i t i s now t ime t o t r ea t th e development anddissemination o f improved coa l s toves i n ru ra l areas as ser iou sly asimproved biomass stoves have been treated.

- - An addi t i onal and worr isome development i s th at th e use o f open coalstoves as room beaters , i n a so r t o f t ra ns i t i on between the kang and thevented coal water p ipe heate rs , i s becoming more popular. H e r e ther eremains th e problem of long- term a i r pol lut ion he al th e f fe cts beingjoined by th e r i sk o f overnight deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning,an a l l to o common occurrence throughout north east As ia and elsewhere.There i s an unf or tuna t e t rade - o f f t h a t comes i n t o p l a y . C l e a n c oa l ,desi rable from a long- term heal th perspect ive , tends t o increase th er is k o f overnight death because the smoke i 3 1383 perc ept ible t o humans,although usu al ly c onta inin g e qu al ly d eadly amounts o f carbon monoxide.The answer l ie s i n provid ing vent ing, such as a Chimney. L i k e wi th i t suse in cooking, t h e use o f the ubiqui tous open coal s tove f o r heat ing


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seems not to have been wel l integrated into the disseminat ion strategiesto date .

- - We v is i te d a number of households where t r ad i t i on al s toves were s t i l lin use, t he IBS had deter iora ted, o r the stove represented an ea r l ydesign o f IBS and had never been upgraded. I n asking why people had notbothered to obt ain th e c urre nt IBS model used by some o f th e i rneighbors, we were often told that "we have enough straw, so whybother. " Obv io us ly , these people d id not see any other possib les igni f icant bene f i t f ro m t he IBS, such as convenience or appearance. I naddi t ion, they apparent ly recognized no bene f ic ia l a l t ern ate uses f ort he s t ra w. T h i s r a i s e s t h e qu es ti on t h a t i f , i n d e ed , t h e r e i s as igni f icant environmenta l advantage t o returning the st raw t o thef i e l ds , t hese peop le do not apprec i a t e i t . ( T h e ac t ua l advantage w i l lvary between are as, o f course, and should b e amenable to est imat ion byappropr ia te research .) T h i s t hen ra i ses t he ques ti on Whether, i f ourpurpose i s t o retu rn more crop res idue to the f i e l ds , we should nott hi nk o f d i r e c t i n c en t i ve s f o r d oi ng so , i n a d d i t io n t o t h e r a t h e rindi rect one o f mere ly reducing th e need f o r s t raw fo r cooking, whichmay not be enough on i t s own. I n add i t i on , t he re i s c l e ar need f o rresearch and ex tens ion re l a t ed t o t he f e r t i l i z e r va l ue o f c rop res i dues .

- - Al though not ne ar l y as dramatic as w it h c oal cookstovea, th er e seemedto be some tendency f o r th e r ur al energy programs to ignore h eat ingneeds. F o r example, th er e was sub sta nt i al confusion among bothhouseholders and r u r a l energy personnel whether i t was pos sibl e o rdesirable to l ink an improved biomass cookatove to a t radi t ional kang.Several households said th a t the y had heard th at th is was not a goodi dea and t hus t hey d i d n o t have an I BS. O t h er s d i sagreed. A l t hou gh t hekang seems slowly to be decreasing i n pop ula r i t y, f r om what we saw i tseems l i k e l y t o be important f o r many years t o come i n some areas.

I n rov ed St oves f o r t he 19912

22

The CNISP is becoming more compl icated i n important ways. F i r s t , i nthe areas alrea dy readie d by th e program, th e growth phase o f the 1980s,


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st imulated Largely f rom outs ide w i l l have t o be transformed in to asusta inabl e phase , suppor ted a l most en t i re l y a t t he l oca l l ev e l . T h i swi l l be probably have to b e accompanied by a del ibe rat e s h i f t away fromhome-constructed t o manufactured stoves i n ord er to provide t he qu al i t ycontrol necessary t o re l i ab l y ach ieve h i gher f u e l e f f i c i en cy . Sec ond ,ways wi l l be requi red t o address th e needs o f populations a t th enat ional f r ing es , i n income, geography, o r cul tur e , where programmanagement wi l l l i k e l y be more d i f f i c u l t , e xpensive, and t ime consuming.Th ird , t he program w i l l need t o be more f u l l y i n t egra t ed i n t o na t i ona lenergy strategies as rural incomes cont inue to grow, urban-ruralinteract ions increase, and fuel swi tching accelerates .

Expressed seve ra l t ime s was th e o pini on th at ways need t o be foundt o decrease t he cos t o f d i ssem ina ti on dur i ng t he 1990s. F i r s t , g i vent he co n st ra i nt s abo ve, t h i s seems l i k e l y t o b e d i f f i c u l t . I n a d d it i o n,however, i t i s puzz l ing in th at th e Chinese program, arguab ly , has notonly been th e l ar ge st and most successful program in th e world, i t seemsalso to be one o f the most cost -ef fe ct i ve . Government funds haveaccounted f o r less than 15 percent o f to ta l s tove program costs(depending on what is included) , there is no other program of anysigni f ica nce th at spends such a smal l f r ac t i on , al tho ugh some mayevent ua l ly come c l ose as t he i r i n i t i a l cos t s a re spread over l a r gernumbers o f s toves. F r o m a n at ion al p ol i cy standpoint , i t would seemdi f f i cu l t t o po i n t t o any o t her expend i t u re i n t he energy sec t or t ha treaches t he cost- ef fec t iven esa off ere d by these government investmentsin stoves.


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Section I I IWhat Can Other Countries Learn?

There i s no quest ion tha t China i s di f f er en t i n many ways from mostother developing countr ies st rug gl i ng with ru ra l biomass conservat ionprograms. I t has perhaps a unique combinat ion of a more or le ss in ta ctcentral i zed bureaucrat ic network being invigorated by t he ten tat ivef i rs t winds o f entrepreneurship and open markets. Pr ob ab ly few lo calgovernment authori t ies in other countr ies, for example, couldsuccessful ly implement th e incen t ives and pen alt ies shown i n Table 6.

Another, not so we l l known, di f f ere nce i s created by intern at io nals ta t i s t i cs . Ty p i c a l f i gures f rom the World Bank, Un i ted Nat ions , orother auth or i t ies show China t o have an income per capi ta th at p laces i tin the middle of the poorest group of nat ions.7 A n y o n e w h ov i s i t sr u r a lChina and I n d ia , however, would be understandably suspicious o f acalculat ion showing the two countr ies t o be equal ly poor . T h ei n f ra s tr u c tu r e a nd q u a l i t y o f l i f e i n r u r a l C hi na a r e , o n t h e wh ol e,noti ceably and s ig n i f i ca nt l y be t te r .

Eff ort s have been made t o modify GNP or GDP pe r ca pi ta cal cul ati onsto ta ke ac tu al purchasing power i n to account (R . Summers & A. Hesto n,1991, gu i r I s r l y_g . o f E con. , May, pp . 327-3 68 . ) Because pr i ces varydramatical l y in d i f f e re nt co unt r i es , t h i s g ives a more accurate view ofrea l re l a t i ve economic condi t ions . P a r t i c u l a r l y in China , wages are notgood representat ions o f actua l we l fare s ince much income * is s t i l l i nthe form of inexpensive be ne f i ts, such as housing, based on assets ownedor services provided by the st at e .

When corrected for purchasing power, India's 1985 income per capitar ises by a lmost a fa cto r of thr ee ($270 t o $786) because domestic pr ices

7 At $330 , between Rwanda ($32 0) and In di a ($340) i n 1988, f o r example,and ranked 21 i n pove rty among a l l nat ion s (World Development Repor t,1990).


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are lower than t he wor ld average . C h i n a ' s income per cap i ta , on t heother hand, r i se s b y more than a fac tor o f seven ($310 t o $2310) , makingChina thre e t imes r i ch er than I nd ia and wi th in t he range inhabi ted bythe Phi l ippines, Jordan, and other "middleincome" nat ions.

Thus, much o f th e success o f th e CNISP might be accounted t o as ign i f i cant l y l a r ger ab i l i t y o f ru ra l Ch inese to pay fo r s toves comparedpeople i n poorer countr ies, such as In di a and Nepal. A s China a ims i t sprogram toward i t s poorer regions, however, i t i s more l ik e ly to runinto th e same problems faced elsewhere When attempti ng t o promote stovesin cash-poor regions .

This a l so helps expla i n why the " t r adi t io na l" b iomass stoves i nChina were, i n many cases, alr ead y more sim i l ar to th e "improved" stovesbeing in troduced i n Ind ia and o ther countr i es than to t rad i t io na l s tovesin those count ri es tha t cons is t o f l i t t l e more than three rocks or acarved o u t b l oc k o f c l a y . T h u s , r e t r o f i t t i n g o f g r a t es , b a f f l e s , a nda i r - f l o w r e s t r i c t i o n s c o u ld b r i n g a bo ut f a i r l y e f f i c i e n t s t o ve s wi t hr e l a t i ve l y l i t t l e a dd i ti o na l e f f o r t .

A l l i n a l l , th e Chinese were s tar t ing f rom a higher base .

Although China is t o scae extent a wor ld unto i t s e l f , never theless,important lessons f o r othe r count r ies can be gleaned from examination o fthe Chinese Nat ion al Improved Stove Program. T h e most important o fthese ar e probably t he

I n s t i t m I l g a g L ILe s,s _ A s i l1. Targeted Areag. On e o f t he most cr i t i c a l reasons fo r t he successenjoyed t o date by th e CNISP i s adherence t o a f a i r l y s imple concept - -work i n t h e b e s t a re a s f i r s t . T h i s i s d on e b y means o f t h e p i l o t c ou nt yprogram. I t i s important to note , however, as shown i n Table 4 , t h atthe c r i t e r i a fo r being chosen as a p i l ot county go we l l beyond suchobv ious ly sa l i e nt f ac tor s as evidence o f b io fu e l shor tages . E q u a l l yimpor tant a re the managerial , f i na nc ia l , t echn ica l , and ra y mater i a l


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resources ex ist ent i n the county. F i n a l l y , t he county must demonstratethe des i re t o become a p i l o t county by en t e r i ng f i r s t i n t o a p rov i nc i a lcompetit ion t o be nominated t o BEPE and the n succ essfu lly winning i n th ef i na l n a t i ona l compet it i on . Th us , a l though t he CNISP i s cent ra l i zed andtop-down in many respects , i n choosing s i te s i t re l i es on a st rongbottom-up approach.

This i s t o be cont ras t ed , f o r exam pl e, w i t h t he I nd i an Nat i ona lProgram on Improved Chu laa, wh ich i n many ways i s t h e on ly program th a teven approaches the same scale ( see the re lev ant proje ct rep or t i n th iss e r ie s ) . I n I n d i a , t h e p o l i t i c a l a nd b u re a uc ra t ic p re ss ur es h av e l e d t oattempts to implement the program extremely widely f rom the st ar t . T h eresu l t has been f rus t r a t i o n i n some areas t h a t do not r ea l l y need or a renot ye t ready t o manage ICPs, a s we l l as i n other areas t ha t may beneedy and ready, but hampered because the resources are so difftse byt he t i me t hey reach t he v i l l ag e l ev e l .

2 . Bureaucrat ic Leanness A s shown in F igure 2 , e ss ent ia l ly every l ev elof t he Chinese bureaucracy i s involved wit h th e CNISP in some fashion.This i s somewhat mis lea din g, howe ver, because t he county-BEPE co ntr ac ti s t he c ruc i a l cen t erp i ece o f t he program, esse nt i a l l y cu t t i ng out w hatcould have been an overly lengthy bureaucratic pathway through theprovincia l bureaucracies . T h i s center -per iphery connection i s seen byChinese observers t o b e one o f th e most v i t a l factors' i n th e program'ss u c c e s s .

3 . I n g g a m l a g a i g n a g r A g g : A b s o l u t e l y e s s e n ti a l t o t h e o v e r a l l successof any promotion and d isseminat ion a ct iv i t y i s reg ula r , systemat ic , andconsistent moni tor ing and evaluat io n. T h i s has been an integ ra l pa r t o fthe CNISP sinc e t he beginning, f o r example, being a pr ime element o f theBEPE-county cont racts (Table 2 ) . Un fo r t un at e l y , such ser iousut i l iz at io n o f monitor ing and evaluat io n i s no t common in ICPs aroundthe world.

Although th er e a re some unresolved issue s w it h regard t o th e wayCNISP monitor ing and eval uat io n a re performed r e l i a n c e on th e province


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Rural Energy Of f ice s t o choose and oversee th e "checking,' t e a m s h a sapparentl y worked f a i r l y we l l . T h e y prov ince o f f i ces provide areasonable degree of independence, which is necessary for successfullyconducting th i s impor tant ac t i v i t y and u t i l i z in g t he re su l ts .

4. L i t t l e D i r ect Government Contr ibut ion: I n common wi th a number ofother successful programs around t h e world , most Chinese users pay th efu l l c ost o f stove mater ia ls and construct ion lab or . T h e governmentcontr ibut ion i s much smal ler (about 15%) and r es t r i cte d mainly tot ra in ing, adminis t rat ion , and promotion. A s shown i n ICPs elsewhere,where fea si bl e, t h i s approach helps assure more ac t iv e householderinterest i n understanding, using , and maintaining the stoves.

5 . Minimal_Money_Flow: I s a di rec t outcome o f the smal l d i re ctcontr ibut ion , th er e ar e r el a t i v el y modest amounts o f money f lowingbetween bureaucrat ic lev el s . T h e lar ges t s in gle f low fo r example, wouldseem to be t he 15,000 yuan ($3000) t h a t can be t ransmi tted i n one yearas p a r t o f a B E-P E - c o u n t yc o n t r ac t .A g ai n ,b y pa s si n gthep ro vi nc e

bureaucracy keeps thes e f low s from being much la rg er . Al th ou gh notinsi gni f i cant , funds o f th is magnitude ar e not l i k e l y to engender muchin the way o f bureaucra t i c tu r f b a t t l e s o r o ther s igns o f s t ress .

Contrast this again to the Indian Nat ional Program for ImprovedChulas where funds ty pi ca l l y on t he order o f $250,000 (and as high as $1mi l l i on) pe r year f l ow f rom De lh i to the s ta te nodal agencies and ondown t h e l i n e . A l t h o u g h t h e r e a r e no S i p s o f a c t u a l g r a f t an dembezzlement, th er e i s ce rt ai nl y more tendency fo r funds o f th ismagnitude to be delayed along their way through the bureaucratic layers.Indeed, as discussed i n our pr oje ctl s country rep ort on I ndi a, delayedpayments from higher le ve ls are one t he most common and strongestcomplaints at the lower levels of the Indian program.

6. Strategy_12r Commerslallgation: Although the Chinese themselvesexpress dissati sfac tion with progress t o date, one o f the most str ik in gaspects o f the program is i t s promotion o f Rural Energy Companies. I f


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Techni cal Lessons

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t he p ro gr am i s e v e n t u a l l y t o r e ac h f u l l c o m me r c i al 1 z a ti o n ,8 i t w i l l b et hr ou gh t h e s e e n t e r p r i s e s . I m p o r t a n t l y , h o we v er, t h e s e c omp an ie sg e n e ra l l y d o n o t n a r r o w l y f o c u s o n l y o n s t ov e s , b u t a r e d i v e r s i f i e d i n t oo th e r r u r a l e ne rg y t ec h n ol o g i es ( a s w e l l a s h o t e l s a n d o t h e r a p p a r en t l yu nr el at ed a c t i v i t i e s ) . F e w I CP s i n o t h e r c o u n t r i e s h av e h ad s uc h w e l lconce ived, b road-based, and long- te rm approaches to commerc ia l iza t ion .

Less c r i t i c a l , b u t s t i l l u s ef u l a r e t h e

1. L o n g - t e r m h i g h - e f f i c i e n c y p e rf or ma nc e o f s t o v e s c an mo st r e l i a b l y b eachieved t h r o ug h c e n t r a l i z e d pr o d u c t i on o f t h e c r i t i c a l p a r t s o f t h ec om bu st io n c ha mb er f o r i n s t a l l a t i o n a t t h e h o us eh ol d i n t o t h e s t o v ebody.

2. S i g n i f i c a n t i n i t i a l e f f i c i e n c y im pro ve me nts c an b e a ch i ev ed a t l o wcost b y r e t r o f i t t i n g a g r a t e an d r e du c in g t h e s i z e o f t h e f u e l s u p pl yopening o f t h e t r a d i t i o n a l ch imney s t o v e . T o t a l a i r f l o w i s t h e r eb yd ec re as ed , t h u s r e d u c i n g h e a t l o s s , W h i l e a i r f l o w t h r o ug h t h e b u r n i n gl a ye rs i s i m p ro v ed , t h u s i n c r e a s i n g co mb us ti on e f f i c i e n c y . A s h c l e a n i n gis a l s o made eas i e r . 9

3. T h e c om bu st i on c ha mb er d e s i gn i s c r i t i c a l a n d i n v o l v e s c o n s i d e r a t i o n so f b o t h s i z e a n d s ha p e. T h e d i a m e t e r s h o u l d b e 60-70% o f t h e p o topening and t h e d i s t an ce be tween t h e g r a t e and po t bo t t om shou ld be16-20 cm .

8 Commercial izat ion i n th e Chinese context means sel f -p erpe tuat ing a tth e l o c a l l e v e l . E l s e w h e r e , t h e t e r m i s s ometimes a pp l i e d t o p ro gr amswhere the user s imply pays the f u l l mater ia l and construct ion costs ,something already es se nt ia l ly achieved i n China.9 I n th is regar d, Chinese "tr ad i t io na l" stoves commonly already havemany o f t he c har act er i st i cs being sought by ICPs i n oth er count r ies,e .g . , enclosed combust ion, t i g h t l y f i t t i n g p ots , and chimneys.


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roof line.

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4. A f l a me b a f f l e c a n s i g n i f i c a n t l y i nc r ea s e he a t t r a n s f e r e f f i c i e n c y .This i s done by reducing th e si ze o f th e smoke out le t i n th e chamber andadjusting the c learance between the ba f f le and pot such that i t i sre l a t i ve l y smal l n ear th e smoke o u t l e t and l a rg e n ear th e fu e l - f eedopening.

5. In su la t i on in the stove body can sign i f ic an t l y improve heatretent ion .

6 . To be most ef fe ct iv e, ch imneys should be a t le as t 0 .5 meter above the

7 . Perhaps most i mpo r tan t o f a l l , i t i s n ecessary t o work i n t h e f i e l dto ad just the stove design to local condi t ions.

8. The importance o f convenience t o th e household cannot beover-emphasized (a ls o one o f t he lessons o f t he energy ladde r) . T h emost ef f i c i en t and cleanest stoves do no good i f they are not used.


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Appendix A.

Seven-County Surve y o f t h eChinese N at io na l Improved Stov e Program

From th e i nc ep ti on o f t h e UNDP/ESMANEWC pr o je ct , an impo rta ntcomponent was t o be an eva lua tio n o f th e Chinese Nati ona l Improved StoveProgram (CNISP) . T h i s was considered ess en t ia l n ot onl y because of th ere l a t i ve l y huge sca l e o f t he CNI SP, bu t a l so because o f t he re l a t i v escarc i ty o f in format ion ava i lab le outs ide China about t he program.

Although such an evaluation could not be done without thecooperation o f th e Bureau o f Environmental Pro tec tio n and Energy (BEPE)of th e Min is tr y o f Ag ric ul tu re , some mechanism was needed t o ensure adegree of independence. T h u s , as th e p roj ect began in mid-1990, t h e EWCcontacted t h e I n s t i t u t e f o r Techno-Economics and Energy Systems Analys is(ITEESA) a t Ts inghua Univers i t y f o r assistance. T h i s was appropr iatenot only because of ITEESA's experience i n ru ra l energy anal ysis ,including a 1990 re po rt t o th e In ter na t io na l Development Research Centreon t h e CNISP, bu t a ls o because o f lon g-t erm EWC-ITEESA coop erati on.ITEESA agreed t o ac t as th e p roj ect r epre senta t ive i n deal ing wit h BEPEand t o ass i s t w i t h t he survey, ana l ys i s , and repor t i ng .

At th at po int , same 700 count ies were designated as p i lo t count iesin t he CNISP, o f which more than 400 had gone through th e "checking"(monitoring and evalua tion ) procedure and been found t o meet th econdit ions of th e i r cont racts , i . e . , 90% penet rat ion o f improved stoves(see Ta b le s 2 & 5 ) . I n o r d e r t o a l l a y a ny s us pi ci on s t h a t t h e p r o j e c thad been le d onl y t o th e v ery best s i t es , th e EWC requested BEPE,through ITEESA, permission to v i s i t a subset o f count ies selectedrandomly.

Af t e r on ly shor t r e f l ec t i o n , t h e BEPE provi ded a l i s t o f 315count ies i n 21 provinces and municipal areas t o choose among. Gi v e ntrav el c ons trai nts due t o l i m it s o f t ime and money, t h e EWC and ITEESA


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together chose seven count ies i n fou r provinces ( Be i j in g, Shaanxi ,Hubei, and Zhe j i ang) f o r v i s i t s .

In addi t ion to interv iews wi th BEPE, and othe r nat ion alorganizations invol ved wi th th e CNISP, arrangements were made i n eachprovince t o meet wi t h t he Province Rural Energy Off i ce s, th e CountyOff ices o f Rura l Energy (CORE) as w el l as people involved a t th etownship and v i l la ge le ve ls . In te rv ie ws were a lso held wi th managers a tseveral r ur al energy companies and st ore s.

I n each prov ince , severa l v i l l age s w ere v i s i t ed , maki ng 20 i n a l l .These vi l l ag es were gen era l ly chosen by th e COREs, al though th eEWC/ITEESA team i n sev eral cases asked t o see ad di t ion al vi l l ag es o ft he i r own choos ing. I n each v i l l ag e , severa l househo lds w ere v i s i t e d sothat s toves could be examined and users interv iewed. A f t e r be ing takent o t he f i r s t house by t h e i r hos t s , t h e p ro j ec t team choose add i t i ona lhouseholds by u sing th e random number gene rato r o f a hand ca lc ul at or .Al together, 112 households were visi ted.

Throughout t h e survey per io d, a continuo usly recordin g carbonmonoxide monitor was ca rr ie d by t he team. A t th e end o f each day, acomputer record was create d o f th e day's read ings. A sample day i sshown i n F igure A -1 . N o t e th e high le ve ls sometimes reached insi dehomes dur i ng t he v i l l ag e survey. I n near l y a l l cum . ' , t hese were t heresul t o f sm al l coa l s toves used throughout th e day to h eat water f o rtea .

Before d iscussing th e res ul t s , we should note th at such a surveycannot b e c a l l e d s t a t i s t i c a l l y v a l i d . I t i s n o t , b y a ny s t r e t ch , ar ep re se n ta ti ve s amp le o f a l l r u r a l Ch in a . I n p a r t i c u l a r , b y t h e t r i c k sof the "random* se lect i on process we used and t he l i mi ts o f t ime andtransport , i t on ly encompassed areas i n th e lower middle to upper middlerange o f income w it hi n 25 km o f county toums and perhaps 150 km o fprovi nce cap i t a l s . T h i s represents many t ens o f m i l l i ons o f peop l e , bu tleaves out t hose areas l i k e l y t o m ore d i f f i cu l t i n t he second genera t ione f f o r t o f t h e 1 99 0s .


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For China as a whole, t he survey only covers something l i k e 10% o fthe provinces, 0 .3% o f the count ies , 0.004% o f the v i l l ag es , and0.00006% of th e households. I t i s biased toward th e more accessibleareas i n t he nor t h and cen t ra l p rov i nces , l eav i ng out e n t i re l y t henortheastern, western, and southern regions. I t d id not a t tempt tocover any o f t he provi nce p i l o t counti es . Neve r t he l e ss , g i ven t he w aythe sample was chosen, i t can be expected t o at le as t pa r t ia l l y reve altypica l condi t ions.

32

General impressions and sp ec i f ic informat ion gained from th e surveya re f ou nd i n a l l t h e s ec t io n s o f t h i s r e p o r t . T a b l e A - 1 , ho we ve r,summarizes th e re su l ts o f th e Imformal household surveys taken or al ly bythe EWC/ITEESA team. I t can be seen th a t approximately 64% o f th ehouseholds visited had well-maintained and apparently often-usedimproved cookstoves.1 0 A n o t h e r1 2p e r c en th adi m p ro v e ds t ov e s,but

somewhat th e worse f o r wear (mos tly broken and unrepaire(j b a f f le s ) .Assuming th a t the se 1 2 perc ent achieved on ly h a l f th e improvement o fwel l-maintained stov es, th e percentage o f " improved-stove equivalents"was about 70%.

Unt i l m ore de t a i l ed s t ud i es a r e done, t h i s va l ue w i l l be used as t h elow e st im at e o f wha t f r a c t i o n o f t h e t o t a l i n s t a l l e d st ov es i s s t i l l i nuse. A high e st imat e can be calculat ed by assuming tha t t he 70%ref lec ts no t ju st households t h a t received improved stoves and now donot use them, bu t a ls o those households th a t neve r had one. T h e highend, th er ef or e, i s about 80% (70% divid ed b y th e 90% pene trat io n claimedf or t hese successf ul p i l o t count i es ) .

This range, 7 0-8 0 % ,i su s e di nt h isr e po r tasac rud ee s

the p er ce nt o f i n s t a l l e d s to ve s s t i l l i n f u l l u se . B e t t e r e s ti ma te s

10 Improved stoves th at were s imply the re sul t o f re t r of i t t i ng o f a gr ateand modif icat ions t o reduce ai r f lo w ( f i r s t phase improvements) Imre n otcounted here . A s t ove had t o have a b a f f l e ( new or re t ro f i t t ed ) t oclas si fy as improved.


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would, o f course, have t o i nclu de dynamic fac to rs such as th e t im e lapsebetween the dates o f th e survey and th e act i ve phase o f the ICP i n th epar t i cu l a r count y, age o f t he househo lds, l i f e t i m es o f t he s t oves , andso on.

One o f th e most s tr ik in g o bservations coming from th e householdv i s i t s w as t he near ub i qu i t y o f sm a l l coa l s t oves us ing coa l cakes , nom at te r w hat o t her s t oves m ight be i n t he k i t chen . N e a r l y 80% o f a l lhouseholds had them and, un li ke th e biomass stov es, many i f not mostwere a l ready l i t when the team entered th e k i tc hen even outs ide o fmealt imes. T h e s e stoves had no f lu es , as seen i n th e carbon monoxidelevels shown i n F igure A-1 . T h e y were found i n both areas where coalwas o f f i c i a l l y ava i l ab l e and w here i t was not . T h e y w ere used bot h bypeople wi th coa l ra t i on cards who paid government pr ic es and by peoplewho bought coa l on th e open market a t high er pr i ces .

In addi t ion t o the co al s toves, ot he r evidence of what might betermed "energy lad der creep" can al so be seen i n Table A-1. A number o fhouseholds had e l ec t r ic fans f o r improving stove per forma nce.11 T h u s ,the actua l number of t r ad i t io na l s toves was only 114 . Thus, n o t ever y house t h a t no lon ger had an improved biomass sto venecessar ily had changed back t o the t r ad i t io na l s tove. Som e apparent lymoved on up t he energy ladder . Th er ef or e , depending on the goals o f theimproved stov e program, some o f th e 20-30S non-improved-biomass-stovesin th e sample might be removed o r , ev ent c o u n t e d a sa s u c c e s so fa

d i f f e re n t so r t . T o p i n t h i s down exac t l y woul d requ i re const ruc t ing astove hi st or y f o r each household.

1 1I nFuyangCo

i n t o t he I Cs so t ha t w at e r coul d be eas i l y hea ted dur ing cook ing. T h i shelped b iomass stoves provide some o f the ben ef i t o f coal s toves, i . e . ,easy daylong heat ing o f wate r .


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The County Of f ice s o f Rura l Energy i n s i x o f the seven counties ( a l lbut Tongxian) completed survey questionnai res o f th e ty pe described i nPro ject Ma in Report #1 . I TEE SA t rans l a t ed i n bo t h d i rec t i ons . T h eprincipal r es ul ts ar e summarized in Table A-2.

The tabl e shows th at th e p r ices o f biof uels r eported by householdsvar ied w i t h i n a f ac t or o f about 2 across t he count i es, as d i d da i l ycooking t i m es . A l l count ies repor t ed increased f u e l e f f i c i ency t o bethei r Ch ief obje ct ive and reduct ion of smokiness t o be next in pr io r i ty .Three counties choose the s lowing o f deforestat ion to be o f f i r s tpr io r i ty , bu t o nly one county so l is te d money savings (a l though fou rl i s te d i t t o b e n e x t i n p r i o r i t y ) . S a v i n g t i m e was a se co nd -l ev elobject ive in f iv e count ies . O n e or no count ies choose increasingenvironmental awareness, community development, t h e st at us o f women,j obs, w e l f a re o f poor, s k i l l and income genera t i on , o r sa f e t y t o be o ff i r s t o r second p r i o r i t y . I n t h r e e o f t h e f o u r c ou nt ie s t h a t r ep o r te d ,the CORE employed many more men th an women i n t h e improved st ov eprogram. Al th ou gh the re a re to o few data points t o be sure , i t seemsthat th es e Chinese c oun tie s emphasized smoke red uc tio n and women'sstatus somewhat les s t han ICP3 i n ot her Asian countr ie s (Se e Pro jectReport #1),


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Table A-1

County:Vil lage No.

53955

Number o f Sto vesImproved C o a l M o d e r n

5 5 20 3 16 83 5 12 5 1

Tradi t ional

312

( cont rac t years ) Househo l ds

Tongxian-1 ( 6 3 -8 5 )-2Miyun-1( 8 5-8 7 )

-23Xingping

-1( 8 7 -8 9 )

3 3 3-2 6 3 6 3Quanxian-1 (83-85)-2

64 51/3a 3 1-3 4 1 / - / 31 ) 3Xiaogan City-1 (8 5- 87 ) 4 3 2 1-2 5 1 4 4-3 6 /4 4 1 1

Yun Meng-1 (85-87) 6 3 5 3-2 7 5/1 6 1-3

7 3/4 5Fuyang-1 (84-86) 7 7 4-

2 6 6 6-3 8 a 6-4 6 5/1 4Totals ( 2 0 vi l lages)Percentages 112100 72/1364/12 8879 109 1614

Seven-County Improved Sto ve SurveyOctober, 1990

a. Numbers on the l e f t o f the slash re fe r to apparently well maintainedinproved biomass stoves/those on t he l e f t are improved biomass stoves t ha thad obvious de fec ts. N o te st in g was done, however.b. The second number here re fe rs t o improved stoves designed sp eci fi ca ll yor raw coal.c. "Modern" refers to LPG or Biogas.


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Table A- 2

(County #1 i n Table A-1 d i d not respond) .County

2 3 4 5 6 7Fuel Cost W 0 . 1 2 WS 0. 1 S 0 . 1 S 0 . 1 RS 0 . 1 2 S 0 . 0(yuan/kg) S 0 . 1 2 MS 0 . 08 Log 0 . 2 Cot 0.16 Cot 0.20 Log 0.2C 0 . 1 2 4 RC 0 . 147 C 0 . 2 W 0 . 2 W 0 . 1Increase

(% since IC? B-50 30 400 100 30 60began) C-100 170 100Gathering_time 8 3 7 6 1(person-hours/w)Cooking_time(p-hid) 3

4 1.5 2 3 3

Objsctives: Fuel 1 1 1 1 1 1Smoke 2 2 2 2 2 2Time 2 2 2 - - 2 2Money 2 2 2 1 2Forest 2 - - - i f IC 1 1 e 1 h

St ove E f f i c i eno 19% +15% 29% 20/25/30% t-10k-26%

Da il y Wage 7 4 9 1.3(yuan)Annual In f l a t i o n 2.1% 0I l l i t e r a c y ( f e m a l e / m a l e ) 27/18

Wri t ten quest ionnai re resul ts for s ix count ies

Increase: b-biamass; c- co al

Fuels: w-wood; s -uniden tif ied stra w; c -coal cakes; ws-wheat straw ; co t- co tto nstalks; re -r aw coal ; ma-maize s ta lk s; so-smoky coal ; l o g -woodlogs

Object ives: number indi cate s whether obje ct iv e was rate d f i r s t or secondp r i o r i t y b y t h e c ou n ty. A d d i t i o n a l o b j ec t i ve s r a t e d f i r s t o r second i n c ou nas ind ica ted : e -i nc re as e environmental awareness; h-in pro ve s ta tu s o f women;j -increase wel far e o f poor; k -sk i l l development .Stove Ef f ic i enc y: IBS unless marked; k -IBS wi th kang; t - t ra di t i on al ; 10 /25 /30%indicates performance o f simple- IB S/precas t-parts/ f ul l - factor y-manufa cture; +1indicates absol ute improvement above t ra di t i on al stove .


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Appendix B

Improved Biomass Sto ves (I BS )Stories from China

In the course o f c ol l ect i ng information f o r th e four -county IBS studyfor LDRC, a se ri es o f anecdotes were recorded re la te d t o th e improvementsthat have come about because o f th e improved sto ve program i n di ff er en tpar ts o f t he country. U nf or t una t e l y , t h er e w ere no resources ava i l ab l e t ocheck ou t th ese accounts i n more depth , f o r example, t o examine countyrecords on forested areas. T h u s , we c a l l them "st or i es , " no t because webel ieve them to be unt rue, but s imply because ver i f ic at io n s t i l l remainst o be done (and ought t o be pursued) . T h e r e i s par t i c u l a r need t oseparate the e f fe cts o f increased ef f ic i en cy f rom those o f increaseds up pl y. F o r a l l t h a t , t h e s e s t o r i e s p r es e nt a r a t h e r s t r i k i n g p a tt e r n o fbenef i ts t o th e IBS program.

1. Jiangj in County, Sichuan:

a) Farmers i n a few v i l l age s were former ly forced t o eat two coldmeals pe r day and burn t he i r fu rn i tu red ur in g the summer. N o tnecessary af ter the int roduct ion of IBS.

b) Huangni Township people had t o t r av el 25 km fo r wood or coa lduring per iod when straw was scarce. N o longe r necessary.

c) Sanhe Vi l l ag e, i n a poor mountain area , experienced 9 deathsdur ing ear ly 19803 f rom f a l l s dur ing portage of coal o r wood.New i t i s no t necessary t o go out si de t he v i l l a ge f o r f u e l .

d) Xia ba Township: Coal st ea l i ng and fo re st destru ct ion slowed yea rby year due t o int roduct ion o f IBS and othe r r ur a l energytechnologies.

e) 53 la bo r days saved each year by each household using IBS. T h i s


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3 6

is based on average 87 minutes p e r day savings determined bycontrolle d cooking t es ts done by county REO.

f ) Gao Xie Township: Vi l l a g e p revio usly purchased 23 ton s o f coa leach year bu t a f t e r one year o f IBS, c oa l was no longer needed.Based on re po rt by co unty REO.

g) County fore st a rea decreased un t i l s t ar t o f IBS program, thenincreased.

h) Pin gl u Town: Ducks rais ed wit h saved cooking t ime, ear nin g 400yuan/year. ( M o s t l y a mat ter o f re format ion of ru ra l economy. )

i ) Rentuo Town: si lkworm product ion sta rte d because o f ex tr a t imeavai lable . ( A l s o due to changed economic condi t ions. )

j ) Dushi Town: Surplus crop residues used to ra ise output o f c i t r usby 14% i n one household. ( A l s o due t o improved orchardmanagement.)

2. Huangpi County, Hub ei:

a. Because crop residues were burned, s o i l degraded such t ha t 35% o ft he a rab l e l and had l ess t han 2% organi c m at te r i n 1983 . P a r t l ydue t o i n a b i l i t y o f f ar me rs t o r e t u r n c r op re si du es t o f i e l d s ,because they were burned f o r fu e l .

b) Nieshu Ri ve r accumulated much s i l t due t o erosion p ar t l y caused byfarmers d igging up t re e ro ots and cu t t i ng o f f grass stubs.

c) O n l y 24000 ha o f t r e es l e f t o f 68700 ha pl an ted due par t l y t ogathering b io fu el , bu t al so t o poor management.

d) Rate of opthalvological and respiratory diseases reduced by morethan 30% and 20% since 1980. B io ga s sta r te d i n 1980, IBS i n1983.


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e) County f or es t coverage increased from 14.7% t o 17.6%.

f ) Average organic content o f so i l increased by 1 .16%.

g) Saved crop resid ues used t o cr ea te 10 0,000 yuan o f woven productsin 103 households.

h) Saved cro p resi dues used t o s t a r t mushroom production and inc rea sevalue i n othe r agr icu l tu ra l products . P a r t o f courtyard economy.

3. Wuhua Co unt y, Guangdong:

a) By ea r l y 1980s, erosio n-af fect ed areas had increased 900 kmg sin ce1960.

b) Two r iv e r beds rose 90 and 54 cm s ince 1960 p ar t l y due t o d iggingof t re e roo t s and cu t t i ng o f f o f g rass s tems. Be f o re 1985,mountains were yel lo w - - now they ar e gr

country studies- china india sri lanka nepal east and central africa 100 million cookstoves

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