News

HEDON in action

Report of the 8th meeting, June 1997, by Liz Bates and Paul Miller

HEDON is the Household Energy Development Organisation's Network. It exists as a forum for the exchange of information and ideas between organizations working in the North, with the aim of supporting work on household energy in the South. The subjects to be discussed in HEDON-8 were:

· Indoor air pollution
· How household energy measures can be integrated into other sectors

The meeting was attended by twenty-two delegates, including GTZ staff, and it was held at the GTZ headquarters in Eschborn.

The first morning was devoted largely to health issues. Paul Miller presented a paper outlining the work in this field which ITDG intends to do in Kenya. His contribution was followed by one from Dr Nigel Bruce, working with WHO at Liverpool University, and it was obvious that the projects had much in common, with the WHO project being carried out in Guatamala. The remainder of the session was spent learning about two new types of stove which run on kerosene designed by Waclaw Micuta. They were demonstrated in the afternoon.

The afternoon session dealt with household energy integration into other sectors. The benefits" of this concept were outlined in several case study papers.

Day 2 discussed how household energy is currently integrated into building sector programmes and the work of GTZ in West Africa was reported. There was a heated discussion on the production and use of charcoal as a fuel. It was suggested that this would be a good topic to confront in Boiling Point and that letters on the subject might generate healthy debate.

After lunch, a whole-group discussion ensued and it was decided that a publication should be set in progress dealing with how to influence governments and other powerful groups to include a household energy component in their policy-making. The workload was split into various aspects, such as emergency work, cottage industries, building sector etc. and various people agreed to take on particular facets.

RWEDP and ICIMOD workshop

Proceedings of the regional workshop on stoves used for space heating and cooking at different altitudes and/by ethnic groups, Pokhara, Nepal, February 1996.

In the April 1997 edition of Boiling Point, the first article was based on the findings of three group discussions which took place during this workshop; these were not the formal conclusions. The workshop was jointly organized by the Regional Wood Energy Development Programme (RWEDP), Bangkok and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal. We would like to express our thanks for all the information we received from RWEDP about this conference. Further details of the papers and of the formal conclusions from the conference can be obtained from:

FAO - Regional Wood Energy Development Programme, Mali-wan Mansion, Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

New network on energy and health

The USAID sponsored Environmental Health Project (EHP) is establishing an information network on the health impacts of indoor air pollution caused by cookstoves. One major objective of the network is to link the health and energy sectors to stimulate interest in health education and the prevention of respiratory diseases in existing and future stove programs.

For further information, please contact Dan Campbell at: EHP, 1611 North Kent St, #300 Arlington, Virginia 22209 USA, or check the web-site at www.access.digex.net/~ehp if you would like additional information.

Technical Enquiries to ITDG

If you have any technical enquiries, lTDG's Technical Enquiry Service should be able to help you. ITDG has extensive contacts within the UK and Europe, and can respond on a wide variety of topics. If your enquiries are about stoves or household energy, then our stove team can also help.

Please send all enquiries to:

The Technical Enquiry Service, Intermediate Technology, Myson House, Railway Terrace, Rugby, CV21 3HT, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1788 560631, Fax: +44 (0) 1788 540270

Email: enquiries@itdg.org.uk

(Please give your postal, as well as your email, address)

Contributions to Boiling Point

Contributions are invited for the next two issues of Boiling Point, the themes of which will be:

· BP40: Spring 1998 Household energy, smoke and health. This edition will be mainly about the effects of smoke on health but contributions on how health can be affected by improved household energy provision would also be very valuable.

· BP41: Autumn 1998 Urban household energy. This edition will look at the technical and social problems associated with household energy in urban areas, where a large population does not have access to fuel which can be collected and alternatives must be selected using different criteria to those which apply in rural areas.

Contributions are welcome in the form of articles of not more than 1500 words in length. Drawings, photographs, graphs, and bar charts are all very welcome. Articles can be submitted as typescripts or on disc (preferably Wordperfect 5.1 or ASCII).

All correspondence should be addressed to Boiling Point, ITDG Energy Programme, Myson House, Railway Terrace, Rugby, CV21 3HT.

Enquiries and letters about Boiling Point can be sent by e-mail to <elizabethb@itdg.org.uk>

Boiling Point is the journal of the Intermediate Technology Development Group's Stove and Household Energy Programme (HEP) and the Household Energy Programme (HEP) of GTZ. Typesetting by My Word!, Rugby; printing by Neil Terry Printing, Rugby.

Opinions expressed in contributory articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ITDG or GTZ.

We no longer charge a subscription to Boiling Point but would welcome donations to cover the cost of production.

Editorial and Production Team

Back Issues of Boiling Point

If you would like a copy of any back issues, please contact us. Multiple copies will be charged at £2 per copy plus postage. A detailed index of all Boiling Point articles is also available. Boiling Point also appears on the CD-Rom 'Humanity Development Library', with an excellent search facility. For further information contact Human Info NGO and Humanity CD Ltd, Oosterveldlaan 196, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium. Tel: 32-3-448-05-54, Fax: 32-3-449-75-74 or e-mail <humanity@humaninfo.org>.

12 - Alternative Fuels
13 - Safer and Less Smoky Stove
14 - Kitchens, Pots and Cooking Practices
15 - Stove Progress in Kenya and Sri Lanka
16 - Muds, Clays and Metals for Stove Making
17 - Fault Finding and Fixing
18 - Stove Programmes in the 90s
19 - Stoves Will Not Sell Themselves
20 - Non-biomass Stoves
21 - Stoves, Energy and the Environment
22 - Other Uses for Stoves
23 - Measures of Success
24 - Solar Energy
25 - Funding for Stove Programmes
26 - Technology and Design Transfer
27 - Women, Woodfuel, Work and Welfare
28 - Biomass Combustion, Chimneys and Hoods
29 - Household Energy Developments in Southern and East Africa
30 - Sales and Subsidies
31 - Clays for Stoves
32 - Energy for the Household.
33 - Household Energy Developments in Asia
34 - Smoke Removal
35 - How Much Can NGOs Achieve
36 - Solar Energy in the Home
37 - Household Energy in Emergency Situations
38 - Household Energy in High Cold Regions.