Reducing of greenhouse gas emissions through the dissemination of cook stoves in Bangladesh
Practical Action has a long and sound reputation of working in the field of improved cook stoves and household energy in Bangladesh, Kenya and Sri Lanka. It is the focal point of the international community around household energy, being a founder member of the household energy network (HEDON) and the publisher of the international journal on household energy, Boiling Point.
But none of the previous assessment methodologies and interventions have included the benefits on GHG (Green House Gas) emission reduction, that emerge from the kind of technologies, methodologies and approaches that Practical Action has been using in the implementation of its activities, which ultimately� contributes to the mitigation of global warming.
The goal of the project is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the dissemination of improved cook stoves in Bangladesh. The purpose is knowledge of sustainable biomass, improved cook stoves technology, and local entrepreneurial model of stove dissemination imparted to 12 communities in Bangladesh.
Cooking and climate change
Throughout the world almost everyone eats cooked food and uses boiled or heated water. This accounts for a significant proportion of the energy used globally and contributes a sizeable proportion of the greenhouse gases generated. Also for people with the lowest income levels cooking constitutes a large part of their energy and fuel needs and forms a sizeable component of household expenditure.
The issue of global warming is particularly poignant in Bangladesh as much of the country is low lying and any sea level rise would have a drastic impact on the lives of many people. As a relatively poor country Bangladesh probably would not be able to afford to construct the massive and extensive sea and flood defense structures that would be required to protect much of the population from future sea level rises and the melting of ice in the Himalayas.
The dissemination of improved cooking stoves is one of Practical Action's priority areas. This is because wider usage of these stoves by people with low incomes can produce significant reduction of poverty and vulnerability for them as well as improve their health and lifespan due to reduction in the inhalation of smoke. An additional factor is that the stoves can be made locally thereby encouraging people with low incomes and especially women to become entrepreneurs and then to increase their incomes and contribute more in the local economy.
Although people in developing countries produce a tiny fraction of the greenhouse gases that we�do�in the North, there are opportunities for them to access funds for reducing their emissions. This project offered the opportunity of tapping those funds in ways which bring real benefits to the people.
Improved cooking stoves in Bangladesh
Cooking in rural areas in Bangladesh and even in some urban slums in Bangladesh is still often�done�using traditional methods. These sometimes make use of open fires or�a basic stove that is usually made by moulding a sand and clay mixture around the cooking pot, waiting for this to dry and harden, then lighting a fire in the bottom of the bowl with the cooking pot placed on top. No chimney or hood is usually used when cooking in this way. These methods of cooking cause several problems including wasteful utilization of fuel, poor and incomplete combustion of fuel making it difficult to cook some foods properly, and excessive smoke production that fills the kitchens and homes so that people breathe in large amounts of smoke that is harmful for their health.
In 2001 and 2002 Practical Action undertook a small project on dissemination of improved cooking stoves in collaboration with the Institute of Fuel Research and Development of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IFRD-BCSIR). IFRD-BCSIR had developed improved cooking stoves that Practical Action was supporting the testing and dissemination of with potential users.
Practical Action selected street food vendors in the districts of Bogra, Joipurhat, Rangpur, Gaibandha and, later on, Kishorgonj to trial the improved stoves. There were 112 street vendors as participants in the project, 85 of whom were women and 27 were men. Practical Action organised training courses for the participants comprising informing about the advantages of the stoves, demonstration of their use for cooking and guidance on the practical use of the stoves for cooking by the participants.
The take up of the stoves was successful and an assessment of the project in October 2002 showed that 547 of the improved stoves had been built and were in use by the street food vendors and households in the areas where the vendors operated. This clearly indicated that there was a lot of potential for the use of improved energy efficient stoves in Bangladesh to be greatly increased.�
Scaling up and addressing climate change
Four stove designs have been developed by IFRD-BCSIR. They have in common that they all have a fired clay ceramic body, they contain an iron grate for burning the fuel on, openings or channels in the body of the stove to provide increased airflow, and a chimney or hood to extract smoke to outside. Nearly all users of the stoves have been impressed with their performance and especially with their cleanliness. The improved stoves are much safer to use than the traditional types. The improved stoves can also burn the range of biomass fuels, such as wood from trees and bushes, rice husks and paddy straw, dried leaves and grasses, jute sticks, maize straw, sawdust, animal dung and fuel briquettes made from agricultural wastes, that are available to people with low incomes in Bangladesh.
It has been estimated that a single improved stove can halve the amount of fuel used. The cost of an improved stove is about 300 Tarka, estimated in 2003, equivalent to about US$5. Where people buy fuel rather than gather it themselves for free it is likely that over a typical lifetime of an improved stove of three years they would recover the cost of the improved stove several times over in�fuel-saving.�Additionally�an average reduction in greenhouse gas emission of about 1600 kg per improved stove per year can be achieved.
Practical Action then developed a project to scale up the dissemination of improved stoves which ran�from�October 2003 to December 2005, working with the staff and members of some 35 NGOs. About 690 people were trained on improved cooking stoves. Nearly 30 training courses were undertaken with the different participants and additional training was also done with manufacturers and suppliers of accessories, such as the iron grate and chimneys, for the stoves. This project was also supported financially by Climate Care.
Climate Care is a UK based organisation that collects financial contributions from individuals and businesses in the UK and other Western countries concerned about the amount of greenhouse gases their activities are creating. The payments that are made are equated to the level of greenhouse gases that particular individuals or companies are responsible for and converted to carbon credits by Climate Care that the organisation uses to support projects that produce reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. These projects include, for example, tree planting and improving fuel efficiency. Climate Care aims to promote carbon neutrality, i.e. that the greenhouse gas generating activities, which the individuals and businesses participating in the scheme produce, are offset by the projects, which Climate Care supports.�
As a result of this project are that there are now 27 additional stove makers, the majority of them women. A survey in January 2006 indicated that the stove producers had made 6720 stoves and that nearly all of them were in use. The producers continue to make new stoves daily. It is estimated that the 6720 stoves counted in January would avoid the emission of about 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, per year. The increased dissemination of the stoves has been undertaken with support from the Knowledge and Research Fund of the Department for International Development of the British Government, local NGO and stove producers own funds, DGIS Netherlands and other sources. The support of Climate Care for the improved stoves training activities has been critical for achieving this wider dissemination.
Making a bigger impact
The project has been publicized widely in Bangladesh, for example on national television. Eight of the NGOs that participated in the project have also started to provide training courses themselves and these would reach a larger number of people than the participants of the original project. Also the relatives of some of the stove producers who were trained in the project have started to produce or sell improved stoves themselves.
Practical Action organised a national workshop on improved stoves and climate change awareness that was attended by representatives from numerous NGOs, and research and local organisations. This resulted in the setting up of network called the Sustainable Energy Forum to raise awareness and promote positive actions on improved stoves and other environmentally sustainable energy options in Bangladesh. A dissemination plan to 2012 has been produced. Globally, the objectives and outcomes of the project are being promoted through the Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP), for example recently at international GVEP events in Cambodia and Brazil.
One issue Practical Action would like to address further in future activities on improved stoves in Bangladesh is how local people and organisations who make improved stoves or switch to using these stoves can receive carbon credits directly.
Project End: March 2006
This project is part of Practical Action Bangladesh's Access to Infrastructure Services programme.
