With a hat tip to WASHplus/IAP Updates, below are abstracts of selected articles from the Dec 2011 issue of Energy Policy dedicated to Clean Cooking Fuels and Technologies in Developing Economies
(Link to all articles in the December 2011 issue)
Item 1 – Authors: Min Bikram Malla, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Bates, Eva Rehfuess,
Applying global cost-benefit analysis methods to indoor air pollution mitigation interventions in Nepal, Kenya and Sudan: Insights and challenges, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7518-7529, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.06.031. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: Indoor air pollution from burning solid fuels for cooking is a major environmental health problem in developing countries, predominantly affecting children and women. Traditional household energy practices also contribute to substantial time loss and drudgery among households. While effective interventions exist, levels of investment to date have been very low, in part due to lack of evidence on economic viability. Between 2004 and 2007, different combinations of interventions – improved stoves, smoke hoods and a switch to liquefied petroleum gas – were implemented in poor communities in Nepal, Sudan and Kenya. The impacts were extensively evaluated and provided the basis for a household-level cost-benefit analysis, which essentially followed the methodology proposed by the World Health Organization. The results suggest that interventions are justified on economic grounds with estimated internal rates of return of 19%, 429% and 62% in Nepal, Kenya and Sudan, respectively. Time savings constituted by far the most important benefit followed by fuel cost savings; direct health improvements were a small component of the overall benefit. This paper describes the methodology applied, discusses the findings and highlights the methodological challenges that arise when a global approach is applied to a local programme.
Keywords: Indoor air pollution; Household energy; Cost benefit analysis
Item 2 – Authors: Andrew P. Grieshop, Julian D. Marshall, Milind Kandlikar,
Health and climate benefits of cookstove replacement options, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7530-7542, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.03.024. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: The health and climate impacts of available household cooking options in developing countries vary sharply. Here, we analyze and compare these impacts (health; climate) and the potential co-benefits from the use of fuel and stove combinations. Our results indicate that health and climate impacts span 2 orders of magnitude among the technologies considered. Indoor air pollution is heavily impacted by combustion performance and ventilation; climate impacts are influenced by combustion performance and fuel properties including biomass renewability. Emission components not included in current carbon trading schemes, such as black carbon particles and carbon monoxide, can contribute a large proportion of the total climate impact. Multiple ‘improved’ stove options analyzed in this paper yield roughly equivalent climate benefits but have different impacts on indoor air pollution. Improvements to biomass stoves can improve indoor air quality, which nonetheless remains significantly higher than for stoves that use liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons. LPG- and kerosene-fueled stoves have unrivaled air quality benefits and their climate impacts are also lower than all but the cleanest stoves using renewable biomass.
Keywords: Household energy; Intake fraction; Integrated assessment
Item #3 – Authors: Gireesh Shrimali, Xander Slaski, Mark C. Thurber, Hisham Zerriffi,
Improved stoves in India: A study of sustainable business models, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7543-7556, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.07.031. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: Burning of biomass for cooking is associated with health problems and climate change impacts. Many previous efforts to disseminate improved stoves – primarily by governments and NGOs – have not been successful. Based on interviews with 12 organizations selling improved biomass stoves, we assess the results to date and future prospects of commercial stove operations in India. Specifically, we consider how the ability of these businesses to achieve scale and become self-sustaining has been influenced by six elements of their respective business models: design, customers targeted, financing, marketing, channel strategy, and organizational characteristics. The two companies with the most stoves in the field shared in common generous enterprise financing, a sophisticated approach to developing a sales channel, and many person-years of management experience in marketing and operations. And yet the financial sustainability of improved stove sales to households remains far from assured. The only company in our sample with demonstrated profitability is a family-owned business selling to commercial rather than household customers. The stove sales leader is itself now turning to the commercial segment to maintain flagging cash flow, casting doubt on the likelihood of large positive impacts on health from sales to households in the near term.
Keywords: Improved stoves; Business models; Social enterprise
Item #4 – Authors: Ilse Ruiz-Mercado, Omar Masera, Hilda Zamora, Kirk R. Smith,
Adoption and sustained use of improved cookstoves, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7557-7566, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.03.028. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: The adoption and sustained use of improved cookstoves are critical performance parameters of the cooking system that must be monitored just like the rest of the stove technical requirements to ensure the sustainability of their benefits. No stove program can achieve its goals unless people initially accept the stoves and continue using them on a long-term basis. When a new stove is brought into a household, commonly a stacking of stoves and fuels takes place with each device being used for the cooking practices where it fits best. Therefore, to better understand the adoption process and assess the impacts of introducing a new stove it is necessary to examine the relative advantages of each device in terms of each of the main cooking practices and available fuels. An emerging generation of sensor-based tools is making possible continuous and objective monitoring of the stove adoption process (from acceptance to sustained use or disadoption), and has enabled its scalability. Such monitoring is also needed for transparent verification in carbon projects and for improved dissemination by strategically targeting the users with the highest adoption potential and the substitution of cooking practices with the highest indoor air pollution or greenhouse gas contributions.
Keywords: Technology adoption; Biomass fuel; Monitoring and evaluation
Item #5 – Author: Jyoti Parikh,
Hardships and health impacts on women due to traditional cooking fuels: A case study of Himachal Pradesh, India, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7587-7594, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.05.055. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: This paper explores the inter-linkages of gender, energy use, health and hardships in the Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh in India. It brings out a gender-differentiated and age-differentiated picture of hardships and health impact on the use of traditional biofuels. The study is based on survey with questionnaires covering 4296 individuals, 729 households, 84 villages and 9 districts where biomass fuels meet 70% of household fuel needs. On an average, women walk 30 km each month taking 2.7 h per trip for fuel wood collection over hilly terrain, often at high altitudes and undergo stress like stiff-neck, backache, headache and loss of work days. Girls below 5 and females in 30–60 age-groups have higher proportion of respiratory symptoms than males of similar age-groups. While many studies are done on the health impact of cooking fuels, very little quantitative work is done on the other aspects of the fuel chain viz. collection, transportation and processing of fuels. Such studies would guide energy policy and health policy to improve the lives of women.
Keywords: Gender; Biomass fuels; Hardships
Item #6 – Authors: Marlis Kees, Lisa Feldmann,
The role of donor organisations in promoting energy efficient cook stoves, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7595-7599, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.03.030. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: This article focuses on cooking energy and the role of donor organisations in the introduction and dissemination of improved stoves. After presenting some basic facts on cooking energy, the article discusses the cooking energy–poverty nexus and possible reasons for the often neglect of this topic in the context of development cooperation. Clean and efficient technologies for cooking are presented and a short introduction to different dissemination approaches shows the changes that occurred in the last years. The importance of public sector investments to increase the supply and use of clean cooking energy technologies in developing countries is analysed and underlined by GTZ’s experiences in this field. The case study of Uganda finally demonstrates how cooking energy interventions work in the field and points out that investment pays off.
Keywords: Cooking; Energy; Stove
Item #7. Authors: Karin Troncoso, Alicia Castillo, Leticia Merino, Elena Lazos, Omar R. Masera,
Understanding an improved cookstove program in rural Mexico: An analysis from the implementers’ perspective, Energy Policy, Volume 39, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 7600-7608, ISSN 0301-4215, 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.04.070. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Abstract: The adoption of innovations in rural areas depends, among many different factors, on the way development workers approach a community. Through a qualitative research methodology this study documented the adoption of a new technology, by following an improved cookstove implementation program carried out by a Mexican NGO. This technology reduces fuel consumption and addresses health impacts of indoor air pollution caused by the widespread use of traditional biomass fuels in open fires in developing countries. Different demographic and socio-economic factors have been analyzed to explain the low success rates implementation projects have faced worldwide, but there are almost no studies that examine the problem from the perspective of implementers. The aim of this study was to understand how the different visions of the individuals involved in an implementation program affect its outcome. Findings showed that the NGO work was constrained by the need to meet the commitment with sponsors. The adoption rates did not change between the first and the second stage of the project, even though the approach towards users was very different. A lack of a shared vision among the work team towards the project was found and the existence of two main perspectives among program workers—broadly described as people-centered and technology-centered—, gave place to differences in attitudes towards the program.
Keywords: Diffusion of innovations; Improved cookstoves; Actors’ perspectives
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