Implementation strategies for renewable energy services in low-income, rural areas, 2013.
World Resources Institute.
This issue brief is the first in a series of three that focus on expanding the delivery of affordable, renewable energy in developing countries. It describes the core business strategies employed by a group of socially oriented energy enterprises and organizations working to provide distributed, renewable energy services to low-income, rural communities and provides examples of how these strategies were implemented.
The enterprises and organizations described here promote the social, economic, and environmental benefits of delivering clean energy services to individuals and communities that are not well served by traditional energy providers. Their business models combine social and environmental objectives with entrepreneurship. Although these enterprises function across different countries and contexts, they are characterized by a common focus on clean, affordable, accessible, and scalable energy solutions. Millions of underserved people in 11 countries around the world have benefited from the work of the enterprises highlighted here.
Knowledge of Health Hazards and Perception of Prevention Amongst Females Exposed to Biomass Fuel and Gas/Electricity Fuel in A District of Bangladesh. AKMMC J 2013; 4(1): 20-24.
MA Alim, et al.
A crosssectional study was designed and conducted from March to June 2007, in Madla, a rural area,and in Thanthania, an urban area, under Bogra District of Bangladesh, to see and compare theprevalence of respiratory disease among female biomass fuel users and gas/electricity fuel users.A total of 103 females from the rural households meeting the defined enrollment criteria forbiomass fuel group were selected purposively as cases, while 101 females from the urbanhouseholds meeting the defined eligibility criteria for controls were included in gas/electricityfuel group. The participants were interviewed on a semi-structured questionnaire. Nearly 70% ofthe biomass fuel users used wood for the daily cooking and heating purposes, 64% leaves,31.1% cow dung, crop residue 30.1% and 7.8% saw-dust.
The biomass group exhibited asignificantly higher frequency of respiratory problem (16.5%) compared to their gas/electricitycounterpart (5%). The findings revealed that, 67.5% of the biomass group complained of eyeproblem followed by cold 36.1%, headache 33.8%, cough 13.9% and difficulty in breathing11.1%. The respondents of gas/electricity group also complained about same health hazards butthey were less aware of the problems. Both the group had fairly comparable level of perceptionof prevention of hazards of biomass fuel (p>0.05), except that a significantly higher proportionof biomass group (12.2%) told that the problem could be avoided by using kerosene stovecompared to the gas/electricity group (1.2%)
Providing Access to Electricity for the Unserved: A Free-Market Solution. Cato Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 2013).
Paul Ballonoff
The traditional problem often called “electricity development” is to improve and expand services from an established monopolistic electricity supplier. The lack of an effective dominant utility, however, is a defining condition for the 1.4 billion people without access for electricity, the so-called unserved. Therefore, the issues that arise are different from those of traditional utility service as a mandated monopoly. This article shows how free markets can help resolve the problem of serving the unserved.
Using the GBD results for progress on Air Quality Management in India, 2013.
Dr Kalpana Balakrishnan. Center for Advanced Research on Environmental Health, (ICMR, Govt. of India)
An excerpt from the presentation:
- The burden is not decreasing and the evidence is unequivocal
- The burden is seamless across rural –urban boundaries
- Density of intervention efforts would need to be substantively increased to achieve and demonstrate health benefits
- Range of health effects are broader and magnitudes bigger thanpreviously estimated
- Multitude of competing risk factors
LEARNING ABOUT NEW TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH OPINION LEADERS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON NON-TRADITIONAL STOVES IN RURAL BANGLADESH, 2013.
Grant Miller and A. Mushfiq Mobarak*
This paper studies how learning through opinion leaders and social networks influences demand for non-traditional cookstoves – a technology with important health and environmental consequences in low-income countries. Specifically, we conduct field experiments in rural Bangladesh to assess how (1) learning the stove adoption choices of locally-identified “opinion leaders” and (2) learning about stoves through social networks each effect a household’s own cookstove adoption decisions.
We find that both types of learning are more important for stoves with less evident benefits – and that households draw negative inferences about stoves through network members’ experience. Overall, our results suggest that external information and marketing campaigns can induce initial adoption and experiential learning about unfamiliar technologies, but sustained use ultimately requires that new technologies match local preferences.
House pollution fatal to newborns, says ICMR study | Source-Feb 15, 2013 |
New Delhi: With global health experts stating that millions died in India every year due to in-house air pollution, the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has launched a first of its kind study on impacts of air pollution on newborns in Tamil Nadu.
The five-year study was started in 2011 to check the impact right from pregnancy and 1,200 pregnant women in Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur are being tested at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College Hospital (SRMC) in Chennai to note the symptoms and effects of in-house air pollution.
Speaking to this newspaper, Dr Kalpana Balakrishnan, director, ICMR — Center for Advanced Research on Environmental Health in SRMC, said low birth weight; respiratory illnesses were the major symptoms being studied. “Through this study, we can identify how air pollution affects healthy adults and children by long exposure. Children and mothers develop acute respiratory illnesses and other pulmonary diseases because of in-house air pollution,” she said.
Pointing out that smoke choolas killed many Indians, Dr Kalpana said, “In-house air pollutants are more toxic than the thick chemical smoke in the outside environment. The most common fuel used for cooking and heating is wood and other solid biomass fuels such as charcoal, dung, agricultural residues and dry leaves. Long-time exposure to chemical released from these solid fuels would aggravate the respiratory diseases and result in death.”
She stressed that usage of clean fuel at home was the immediate solution to cut down deaths. “Providing LPG and other clean fuel would be primary preventive measures to control the death toll. Other suggestions like increase in mass transport systems and reducing motor vehicle population come much later,” she said, adding that next to high blood pressure, household air pollution was the leading factor for deaths in India.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, JAN 25-27, 2013, Kirkland, WA
ETHOS Conference 2013 Agenda (pdf)
Saturday Morning
Large Group Presentations & PanelsRaynee Chiang
Overview of Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Activities (pdf)
Katie Gross
Update on Winrock/EPA Initiatives and Upcoming Activities (pdf)
John Mitchell
Review of ISO International Workshop Agreement (IWA) Cookstove Guidance (pdf)
Raynee Chiang
Global Alliance Testing & Standards Update (pdf)
Classroom Breakout Sessions
Christian L’Orange
Development of Design and Optimization Tools for Tier 4 Biomass Cookstoves (pdf)
Nordica MacCarty
A Heat Transfer Model For Conceptual Design Of Biomass Cookstoves (pdf)
Dean Still
Tier 3-4 Stoves: How to Make Them! (pdf)(pdf)
Damon Ogle and Denis Hartley
InStove: New Initiatives in Africa and Haiti, a Nigerian Stove-Factory-In-A-Box, and a Water Pasteurization Application (pdf)
Peter Scott
BURN’s New Tank Stove (pdf)
Sebastian Africano
Improving Access to Clean Energy Using Cookstove Networks (pdf)
Risha Mal
Effective Utilization of Cook Stoves for Electricity Generation using TEG (pdf)
Mark Wagner
Thermoelectric Cookstove – Nicaragua (pdf)
Daniel Wilson
Can Cookstoves Pay Off Their Embodied Carbon? (pdf)
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Biomass Stoves and Lens Opacity and Cataract in Nepalese Women. Optometry and Vision Science, Vol. 90, No. 3, March 2013
Amod K. Pokhrel, et al.
Purpose. Cataract is the most prevalent cause of blindness in Nepal. Several epidemiologic studies have associated cataracts with use of biomass cookstoves. These studies, however, have had limitations, including potential control selection bias and limited adjustment for possible confounding. This study, in Pokhara City, in an area of Nepal where biomass cookstoves are widely used without direct venting of the smoke to the outdoors, focuses on preclinical measures of opacity while avoiding selection bias and taking into account comprehensive data on potential confounding factors.
Methods. Using a cross-sectional study design, severity of lenticular damage, judged on the LOCS (Lens Opacities Classification System) III scales, was investigated in women (n = 143), aged 20 to 65 years, without previously diagnosed cataract. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationships with stove type and length of use. Clinically significant cataract, used in the logistic regression models, was defined as a LOCS III score Q2.
Results. Using gas cookstoves as the reference group, logistic regression analysis for nuclear cataract showed evidence of relationships with stove type: for biomass stoves, the odds ratio was 2.58 (95% confidence interval, 1.22 to 5.46); and for kerosene stoves, the odds ratio was 5.18 (95% confidence interval, 0.88 to 30.38). Similar results were found for nuclear color (LOCS III score Q2), but no association was found with cortical cataracts. Supporting a relationship between biomass stoves and nuclear cataract was a trend with years of exposure to biomass cookstoves (p = 0.01). Linear regression analyses did not show clear evidence of an association between lenticular damage and stove types. Biomass fuel used for heating was not associated with any form of opacity.
Conclusions. This study provides support for associations of biomass and kerosene cookstoves with nuclear opacity and change in nuclear color. The novel associations with kerosene cookstove use deserve further investigation.
Review of Household Clean Energy Technology for Lighting, Charging and Cooking in East Africa-Kenya and Tanzania: A Learning Report, 2012.
Submitted By: GVEP International
This learning report documents the findings of a review of household clean energy technologies for lighting, charging and cooking in Kenya and Tanzania. It includes details on energy technology suppliers in Kenya and Tanzania, insights from other stakeholder activities in household energy and findings from surveys conducted at African Wildlife Foundations’ site in Imbirikani, Kenya and Jane Goodall Institute’s site in Kigoma Tanzania.
The report focuses on the technologies of improved cookstoves, biomass briquettes and ecocharcoal, solar technologies, biogas and wind. A range of product types exist for each technology option including both imported and locally produced products which vary in capacity and price. The energy market in Kenya is slightly more advanced than in neighbouring Tanzania and this report has listed key suppliers of these technologies in both countries. Whilst most are located in the major cities such as Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam they will supply countrywide and are expanding their activities into rural areas through partnerships and dealer networks.
Some of the conclusions drawn from site surveys conducted at the Imbirikani Group Ranch in Kenya and the Gombe-Masito-Ugalla Landscape in Kigoma Tanzania include:
- Firewood use within both areas is high, whilst charcoal is limited to the main towns and surrounding areas. The use of the three stone fire is high in both areas and few homes are using improved stoves. In Kenya many people feel they do not know any other way to cook than with the three stone fire, indicating that switching from this cooking practice represents a significant behaviour change. Awareness and availability of the stoves is also a factor at both sites with many households not knowing where to purchase these items.
- Fixed wood stoves with chimneys are suitable for both sites as well as portable charcoal stoves in more urban areas. Existing domestic stove producers around the Imbirikani site could be supported to expand their product range and reach. No domestic stove producers were identified at the Tanzania site although locally made wood stoves had been introduced by JGI. There is scope to develop the market for charcoal stoves in Kigoma town but further assessment of the demand would need to be done and production established locally.
Toolkit for Implementing Household Energy Projects in Conservation Areas, 2012.
Written By: Laura Clough and Kavita Rai, GVEP International.
This toolkit has been designed as a resource document for the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) to implement clean energy projects at the household level in conservation areas in Kenya and Tanzania. The toolkit will guide the user through the steps of designing and implementing an energy program and provides information on the following topics:
- Prerequisites when considering the suitability of energy technologies
- Necessary steps required to introduce a particular energy technology
- Market and socio economic feasibility of energy technologies
- Potential financing options for energy technologies
- Implementation process for energy projects
