(introduction...)

Spring 1999
GTZ
INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY

It is with great sadness that we have to inform you that our Country Director for IT Kenya, Maina Keengwe, has died. His death follows a shooting in Nairobi on Tuesday 30th March 1999. To the best of our knowledge, armed robbers ambushed Maina outside his house. They shot him and stole his vehicle. Chris Underbill, Intermediate Technology's Chief Executive says of his colleague: "Maina Keengwe was a wonderful man. He was a tremendous champion for poor people, believing strongly in the cause of our organisation. Whether making contributions to our organisation worldwide or to our projects in Kenya, he was always vigorous, encouraging, and motivating. Mama's death leaves us all feeling very sad at his loss. In particular we feel for his wife, Connie, and their three young children. I also feel tremendously sorry for our colleagues in IT Kenya." MAINA KEENGWE 1959-99 May he rest in peace Maina worked for Intermediate Technology for three and half years and during this time, he made a huge contribution to the work of the organisation. He joined IT Kenya in July 1995 as Manager of the Rural Agriculture & Pastoralism Programme and in September 1996, became Intermediate Technology's first Kenyan Country Director. It is clear that Maina died for no other reason than what appears to be a serious problem of violent crime within the city, itself a symptom of the poverty which Maina sought to address through his work with Intermediate Technology.

Technical Enquiries to ITDG

If you have any technical enquiries, ITDG's Technical Enquiry Service should be able to help you. ITDG has extensive contacts worldwide, and can respond on a wide variety of development topics. A unit specializing in energy topics is particularly able to help in the household energy field. Please send all enquiries to:

The Technical Enquiry Service, Intermediate Technology Development Group, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1788 661100, Fax: +44 (0)1788 661101
Email: enquiries@itdg.org.uk

Contributions to Boiling Point

You are invited to send articles for the next two issues of Boiling Point, the themes of which will be:

· BP43: Fuel options for household energy This issue will look at available fuel sources, and the social, environmental, economic and technical benefits and constraints of individual fuels. The way in which several fuels and technologies may be used by one household will also be examined. We are seeking articles on any of these topics for publication towards the end of 1999.

· BP44: Linking household energy with other development objectives It is important to look at projects as being a way of improving the quality of life for communities rather than as technical interventions. This edition will examine ways in which household energy considerations can be part of other development sectors such as forestry, building, health etc. and the social, economic and technical benefits of such an approach.

Articles should be no more than 1500 words in length. Illustrations, such as drawings, photographs, graphs and bar charts, are essential. Articles can be submitted as typescripts, on disc (preferably WORD), or by e-mail. All correspondence should be addressed to: Boiling Point Editor, Intermediate Technology, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK, or by e-mail to <elizabethb@itdg.org.uk>

Boiling Point is the journal of the Intermediate Technology Development Group's Energy programme, and the Household Energy Programme (HEP) of GTZ, Germany. 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 do not charge a subscription to Boiling Point, but would welcome donations to cover the cost of production and dispatch.

Editorial and Production Team

Elizabeth Bates	-	Editor
Alison Doig	-	Theme Editor; Energy specialist
Smail Khennas	-	Senior energy specialist; French resume author
Carole Trigg	-	Administration Secretary
Tamsyn Barton	-	Head of Technology Unit
Karin Roeske	-	GTZ Representative
Cornelia Sepp	-	GTZ Editor

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>

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

39 - Using Biomass Residues for Energy

40 - Household energy and health

41 - Household energy: the urban dimension

Cover photo: Forest clearance in Nepal (E3 Nepal 18.05)

Theme editorial Improving the environment can lead to benefits for household energy

by Alison Doig, Energy Specialist, Intermediate Technology Development Group, Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ

Introduction: the environmental dilemma

In the past two decades, environmental issues have become an ever-increasing global concern. Many projects will aim to reduce the consumption of local natural resources, especially forest resources. Increasingly, household energy projects are addressing indoor air pollution to reduce health impacts on women and children. Global issues are now also influencing energy strategies in developing countries.

The issues

There are a number of possible impacts of household energy on the environment, which will affect both the local and the global environment. Some of the main concerns are as follows;

Resource Depletion

Fuelwood depletion is the problem that can have the most immediate impact on the community who use the forest resources. It is now widely accepted that fuel use is not the main cause of deforestation, as compared to the impact of commercial logging and land clearance for agriculture. However, where forests are depleted, fuel demands add increased pressures on remaining forest areas.

As new reserves of coal, oil and natural gas are found around the world, fossil fuel resource depletion is no longer considered the major crisis in the global energy sector. Nonetheless, the need for conservation for future generations should still not be forgotten. Fossil fuel consumption is also directly related to global warming (see below).

Loss of biodiversity

Loss of forestry has a direct impact on the natural surrounding environment. Some of the papers in this issue discuss the knock-on effects of deforestation, which include loss of forests environment, soil erosion and local climatic changes. All of these will add to the loss of the diversity in the local plant and wild life.

Indoor air pollution (health)

As Boiling Point 40 addressed in detail, the greatest impact of household energy on human health is due to pollution of the indoor environment. Smoke in the kitchen has been shown to be one of the main factors in many deaths in children under the age of five, as well as the cause of many illnesses and discomforts for women.

Global warming

Global warming has been shown to be caused by two factors.

· the release of so-called greenhouse gases to the atmosphere; carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is released when fossil and biomass fuels are burned, and to a lesser extent, methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), formed when there is incomplete combustion of fuels.

· Deforestation: trees and plants absorb CO₂ so when the forests are destroyed, less CO₂ is removed from the atmosphere, so increasing the greenhouse effect.

Although not seen on a daily basis, over a number of years the impacts of global warming will be felt in different parts of the world. Some authorities claim that recent natural disasters around the world have been due partly to global warming whose main effect is to raise global temperatures, thereby increasing drought in some places, and creating floods in others. A range of other climatic changes are also predicted.

Amoration de l'environnement et impact sur les usagers domestiques Dans cet article, l'auteur met en relief les facteurs ayant un impact sur l'environnement tant 'elle locale que planire. Les principaux facteurs sont l'isement des ressources naturelles, la perte de la biodiversitla pollution des foyers domestiques et le rauffement planire. L'auteur donne des exemples (foyers amores, amoration du couvert forestier, recyclage des dets urbains es fins rgques) ayant un impact positif a fois sur l'environnement et les usagers domestiques. Les obstacles a la mise en oeuvre de ces mesures sont mis en relief, notamment les droits fonciers, l'acca l'rgie et aux technologies amor ainsi que la situation nomique des usagers.

Win-win benefits

It would be easy to view environmental conservation as a costly addition in time and resources to a household energy project. A win-win benefit is one in which a benefit in one way also gives a benefit in another way. In fact environmental gain will, in most cases, result in additional wider benefits. This can be classed as a win-win situation, where both the environment and the communities involved benefit. A few examples of win-win benefits are given below.

Figure 1: Woman collecting charcoal for fuel from area cleared by forest burning

Improved stoves reduce both the time used in fuel collection and the amount of fuelwood needed

Improved cooking stoves should give a higher efficiency, which mean less time collecting wood and cooking, so more time can be devoted to the family or to productive enterprises. The environmental gains are of course, reduction in fuelwood consumed, causing less impact on forestry and lower global warming emissions.

Reduced smoke increases benefits to health

Another benefit of improved cooking stoves and the use of other higher grade fuels are the health benefits. By reducing the use of fuel wood, there is a significant reduction in exposure to smoke emissions for the cook and for her children.

Improved forest cover improves water retention and nutrition in the soil

There are a wide range of benefits which increased forestry cover has on the local ecosystem and the knock-on benefits to farming. These include improved water retention and soil nutrition. In addition, properly managed forests will allow for a wide range of biodiversity, therefore animal and plant species will not be lost.

Using urban waste as a fuel reduces environmental health hazards

Using urban waste as an energy source is a new concept in the household energy sector. The workshop described by Dunnett details the win-win opportunities for both energy supply and for reducing the potential environmental hazards of rotting waste on urban streets.

New livelihoods are gained from environmentally sound technologies

The introduction of improved and renewable energy technologies often opens up opportunities for developing local business. A commercial approach to producing, distributing and maintaining improved stoves has been shown to be the best and most sustainable approach. The article by Kimani recommends a commercialized approach even in refugee situations, where livelihoods are in a very fine balance.

Obstacles

However, there remain a number of obstacles for the introduction of environmental conservation measures in the household energy sector.

Land ownership and forestry rights: this is addressed in the article by Klunne, where lands used for fuel collection are being returned to large land owners for large sugar production.

Access to fuels: The article by Malhotra describes the difficulty that rural populations in India have in accessing kerosene and LPG, due to subsidies which favour the urban communities. Limited access to alternatives to fuelwood can often intensify the pressure on local forestry resources.

Access to improved technologies: The main barrier to accessing improved or renewable energy technologies is the initial cost. Even if the day-to-day cost of the energy supply is cheaper, the cost of the technology may be too great for many people in poor communities.

Lack of baseline data on environment and socio-economic conditions: Lack of evidence or data on environmental problems will often delay action from governments or concerned organizations to mitigate the problems.

Economic conditions of target group: While the affected group may be fully aware of the erosion of their environment, and the increasing difficulties in accessing fuels, many are not in a position to address the problem due to lack of economic stability.

Possible solutions

Below is a brief list of some possible solutions to the environmental dilemmas of household energy:

· Reforestation and forest management creating renewable forestry resources

· Increased efficiency of combustion technologies

· Optimum use of waste materials as a fuel, while ensuring higher combustion efficiency

· Implementation of renewable technologies, such as biogas for cooking or solar power for water heating and lighting

· Appropriate financing options, to help poor communities access improved and renewable technologies and fuels

· Appropriate government policies, which take a win-win approach to both the environment and the provision of household energy. 6

Environmental implications of the energy ladder in rural India

by Preeti Malhotra, Tata Energy Research Institute, Darbari Seth Block, Habitat Place, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India

The rural population in India depends on traditional biomass fuels (wood, animal dung and crop residues) for meeting their energy needs. Though nationally there has been a decrease in the share of traditional fuels, as biomass is being increasingly substituted by commercial fuels, the shift to commercial fuels has been negligible in rural areas. In these areas, the monthly consumption of fuelwood has increased per person from 16.24 kg in 1987-88 to 17.27 kg in 1993-94 (NSSO 1997).

Energy consumption in rural areas is determined by: the availability and accessibility of local biomass resources; the competing uses for biomass; availability of commercial energy sources; the cost of commercial fuels such as LPG and kerosene (NCAER 1985); absence of an effective supply especially in the rural areas (TERI 1998); and inadequate production and refining capacity of LPG (Ravindranath and Ramakrishna 1997).

One reason is the range of policies on supply and pricing of commercial fuels, which discriminates between urban and rural areas. The Government of India gives a subsidy on kerosene and LPG, which mainly benefits the urban population, where these fuels are easily available. The price paid by the consumer for kerosene is 69% of the production and supply cost, for LPG it is 61% and for electricity it is 48% (TERI 1992). For commercial fuels, the supply and distribution, as well as the prices, are regulated by government agencies. Kerosene is supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS) - a network of fair price government shops. On the other hand, fuel-wood is neither subsidized nor is its distribution and supply controlled by the government. As a result, rural consumers often end up paying much more than the controlled rates fixed by the government (TERI 1996, Sharma and Bhatia 1986).

Figure 1 gives the energy ladder in rural India, and barriers inhibiting transition to commercial fuels for cooking. Factors that can bring about transition to commercial fuels are highlighted in the boxes, and described in detail in the following sections.

Echelle rgque et consences environnementales en Inde rurale L'auteur souligne que la rarete l'rgie de la biomasse et l'impact ntif sur l'environnement vont conduire ne monrisation croissante de cette forme d'rgie. Cela devrait entrar une plus grande demande des rgies modernes et l'amoration des raux de distribution. Cependant les technologies utilisant plus efficacement l'rgie dvde la biomasse (biogaz, foyers amor doivent e encourag afin de permettre une utilisation durable des ressources naturelles et l'amoration de la qualite vie des populations rurales.

Figure 1: Energy ladder in rural India

Environmental impacts of increased biomass usage

Biomass resources are at present being over-exploited. There is evidence that where the land is already degraded, fuelwood extraction can make things worse (TERI 1996). Deforestation and burning of biomass significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. In India it is estimated that of the 68.3 million tonnes of carbon released annually due to biomass burning, fuelwood accounts for 82.3% (Kaul 1993). In addition to carbon dioxide emissions, wood burning also creates the products of incomplete combustion (PICs) which have a global warming potential as great as carbon dioxide itself (Smith 1992).

Using agricultural residues and dung as energy sources instead of using them as fertilizers can reduce the soil nutrient level. Out of the total nitrogen content of dung production of 1.35 million tonnes annually, 0.4 million tonnes is lost through the burning of dung as fuel (Ravindranath and Hall 1995). This can have economic implications for local communities as they are forced to buy food if their food requirements are not met from the household plots, due to decrease in productivity of the land (Agarwal et al 1997). Over 136 million tonnes of crop residues are burnt as a fuel in the domestic sector (TIFAC 1992). This results in a significant loss of nutrients to the soil. The water retention of the soil is also reduced increasing the need for irrigation. Crop residues not only maintain the organic content and humus of the soil, but also provide surface protection. Thus a reduction in crop residues makes the soil vulnerable to erosion and drought.

Health impacts

At the local level, receding forests add to the drudgery of women who have to travel longer distances in search of fuel or, in extreme situations, are forced to switch to inferior fuels such as roots, weeds, leaves, etc. An estimated 84% of rural women aged 10-59 years are affected by fuel-wood scarcity in India (UN 1995). Inefficient combustion of biofuels in traditional cookstoves produces smoke which can cause a variety of health problems such as conjunctivitis, acute respiratory infections, upper respiratory irritation, etc. (Batliwala 1995).

Household rural renewable energy programmes

The Government of India has launched a number of household energy programmes to check deforestation, provide a clean and cheap source of energy, improve soil quality, reduce indoor air pollution, and reduce the drudgery of women, especially in rural areas. Among these, the National Project on Biogas Development (NPBD) is the largest investment programme and the National Program on Improved Chulhas (NPIC) has disseminated the largest number of stoves (Figure 2). The programmes were launched in the early 1980s and so far about 2.7 million family size biogas plants (capacity of 2cu.m) and 28 million improved cookstoves have been installed in the country (MNES 1998). Wherever the programmes have been successful, local people have benefited from savings in fuel and time, reduced smoke levels, health improvements, cleanliness and hygiene, etc.

Benefits of household energy programmes

Fuelwood conservation

In areas where fuelwood is scarce and commercial fuels unavailable, technologies have made a significant impact on the local biomass resource base. In the western Ghat (hilly) region of Karnatka in south India an annual saving of 588 tonnes of wood was achieved from the 2000 stoves installed, making a significant impact on local biomass resources (Ravindranath and Hall 1995).

Biogas has reduced the dependence of local communities on protected areas for meeting their fuelwood requirements. In the village of Dedikayal, in Junagadh district of Gujarat, a successful biogas programme has reduced the annual inflow of 300 cartloads of wood from the forests to 15-20 cartloads (Dutta et al 1997).

Improvement in soil quality

The use of biogas slurry as organic manure can lead to substantial improvements in soil quality. At the national level, the plants are estimated to be generating about 41 million tonnes of enriched organic manure per annum (MNES 1998). The loss of nitrogen in aerobic decomposition from conventional composting is avoided for the 10 million tonnes of dung used in biogas plants (Ravindranath and Hall 1995). In village of Pingot in Gujarat, the use of wet biogas slurry reduced the weed intensity, and the crop yield was further increased by using a mixture of chemical fertilizer and slurry compost (TERI 1995).

Reduction in indoor air pollution levels

Reductions in smoke, and in the incidence of eye and lung diseases are perceived as major benefits by over 35% of the total chulha (stove) owners in the country (NCAER 1993). Likewise, in an assessment of impact of biogas, 38% of women felt that its use has reduced the level of smoke, and contributed towards cleaner and more comfortable kitchens (Dutta et al 1997).

Figure 2: Cooking on an improved stove provides a cleaner kitchen environment

Other benefits

Studies show that in households using biogas for cooking (Figure 3), the time spent by women in cooking, making cow dung cakes, collecting fuelwood and washing blackened utensils has come down, giving them more time to attend to their childrens' needs (Bilgi 1997). Economic benefits in terms of reduction of labour input, diversion of female labour to productive activities, fuel purchased, etc. have also been reported (Mittal 1997, Ravindranth and Hall 1995).

Conclusions

The transition to commercial fuels is difficult because of a weak distribution system, inequities in distribution and high costs, especially when traditional fuels are available at zero cost. There is a need to strengthen the Public Distribution System to prevent pilferage and diversion of kerosene for other uses. However, the household sector must compete with other sectors for commercial fuels, and given the large import bill that the country pays for petroleum products, the rural sector is unlikely to be given preference (TERI 1996).

As biomass becomes increasing scarce and the environmental effects become more obvious, people will have to start paying for it in rural areas (Leach 1992). This may well increase the demand for commercial fuels, leading to in improvements in the distribution network. National level surveys have indicated that people will move to commercial fuels as they become more wealthy (NSSO 1997). On the other hand, some case studies have found that as household income goes up, the quantity of biofuels used also increases (Singh 1993). Household energy technologies such as improved chulhas and biogas need to be promoted more strongly to ensure a sustainable use of the local resources and an improved quality of life for the rural people.

Figure 3: Biogas stove and improved stove being used in the same kitchen

References

Agarwal et al. (1997) Coping with Biomass scarcity: a village case study, Biomass Energy Systems Ramana P Venkata, S. N. Srinivas (eds) Proceedings of the International Conference 26-27 February 1996. Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi

Batliwala S. (1995) Bearing the brunt of labour The Hindu Survey of the Environment Kasturi & Sons Ltd. Madras

Bilgi M. (1997) The biogas programme: AKRSP (I) experiences Biomass Energy Systems Venkata Ramana P, Srinivas SN (eds). Proceedings of the International Conference 26-27 February 1996. Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

Dutta S, Rehman IH, Malhotra P, Ramana PV. (1997) Biogas: the Indian NGO Experience, Tata Energy Research Institute, New-Delhi.

Kaul O N.(1993) Forest biomass burning in India The Climate Change Agenda: An Indian Perspective Achanta N Amrita (ed) Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

Leach G. (1992) The Energy Transition, Energy Policy, 20:116-123.

Mittal KM. (1997) Non-conventional Energy Systems: Principles, Progress and Prospects AH Wheeler & Co. Ltd., New Delhi.

MNES (1998): Ministry of Non conventional Energy Sources; Annual report. New Delhi

NCAER (1985) Domestic fuel survey with special reference to Kerosene (1978/79). Volume II. National Council for Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.

NCAER (1993) Evaluation survey of National Program on Improved Chulha, National Council for Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.

NSSO (March 1997) Energy Used by Indian Households. Report No. 410/2 National Sample Survey Organisation, Department of Statistics. Government of India, New Delhi

Ravindranath N.H. & Hall D.O. (1995) Biomass Energy and Environment: A developing country perspective from India. Oxford publications, New York.

Ravindranath N.H. & Ramakrishna J. (1997) Energy options for cooking in India. Energy Policy. 25 (I): 63-75.

Singh D. V. (1993) Energy use pattern of rural households in Himalayas: case of Himachal Pradesh. Energy Environment monitor. 9(1): 11-14.

Sharma R, Bhatia R. 1986. Meeting basic energy needs of the poor. Regional energy Development Programme (REDP), New Delhi.

Smith K.R. (1992) Biomass cookstoves in global perspectives: energy, health, and global warming, Indoor Air Pollution from Biomass Fuel Working Papers from a World Health Organisation Consultation, WHO/PEP/92 3B, WHO, Geneva.

TERI (1992) Integrated energy pricing. Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

TERI (1995) Impact assessment of biogas technology Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

TERI (1996) Rural energy sector in India. Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

TERI (1998) TERI Energy Data Directory & Yearbook (TEDDY). Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

TIFAC (1992) Biomass generation and Utilisation Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi.

UN (1995) World's Women 1995: Trends & Statistics. New York: United Nations.

Household energy and environmental rehabilitation; opportunities and challenges

by Muiruri J Kimani, GTZ/UNHCR Environmental Rehabilitation Programme, PO Box 41607, Nairobi, Kenya.

Introduction

When a country agrees to host refugees, it becomes responsible for the environmental changes that occur because of their stay. Environmental degradation has always been associated with refugee situations, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, but although some degradation is inevitable, planning and developing appropriate ways of dealing with the problems can yield real benefits.

Although there has been considerable experience with environmental issues in refugee situations worldwide, lessons are ignored and the same problems seem to be confronted whenever there is a new refugee situation. Also, there is a tendency to separate environmental aspects from other parts of refugee assistance, such as food and shelter, and experiences gained in other assistance fields is lost.

The supply of fuels, promotion of energy saving devices and energy saving methods, are the main strategies adopted in many refugee situations. Other possibilities include introducing regulations to control fuelwood collection, training and public awareness on fuel use, always within the context of the social cultural, economic, political considerations on the ground.

It is now clear that refugee situations are not temporary, so plans should involve the mid-term to long-term effects, but nevertheless be able to adapt to rapidly changing refugee situations.

For example, a project set up to look at local deforestation may find complications such as:

· both the refugees and the local population may be living in extreme poverty;

· the host government might not be able to support a development or poverty alleviation project

· There could be general insecurity in the areas in question.

In such circumstances, offering relief may not be enough and agencies may need to act as mediators and try to alleviate local poverty, to ensure that:

· the impact of the displaced community on the local environment is minimal;

· work undertaken will cope with possible future environmental problems;

· the security and well being of the displaced community is not put at risk.

The idea that refugee communities should receive free aid without responsibilities must be replaced by the concept that refugee communities are like any other rural, poor population, except they have fewer resources and opportunities.

Energie domestique et rbilitation de l'environnement: opportunitet ds. Cet article concerne des pays accueillant des rgi Le probl des rgin'est pas temporaire, aussi une planification ourt, moyen et long terme de l'rgie domestique et de l'environnement est-elle nssaire. Les approches doivent e adapt aux changements de la situation des rgi Les mesures ettre en oeuvre doivent prendre en considtion le rapatriement ainsi que la rbilitation de l'environnement. Un personnel qualifit ayant la connaissance du terrain est une condition importante du succde ces programmes.

The role of GTZ in emergency situations

Although GTZ is traditionally a development agency, it is increasing involved in relief and emergency programmes including environmental interventions e.g. natural resources protection, afforestation, supply of firewood, firewood substitution, energy conservation and education measures. By bridging relief and development concepts, it has been possible to reduce the impact on the environment caused by refugee situations.

The problems

· The traditional approach has been to focus on quick and massive dissemination and adoption of improved cooking stoves and techniques.

· The issue of land-ownership; for example, in tree planting, having control over the ownership of trees, power to decide which trees to plant, which tree products to harvest and sell etc. is vital.

· Household energy programmes have also, in the past, been mistakenly approached from a purely technical perspective, forgetting that every situation has its own peculiar characteristics.

· It is vital for those organizing household energy programmes to have adequate technical awareness to evaluate the benefits of various interventions.

· High staff turnover, prevalent in refugee situations, has meant that unless there is proper documentation, in-depth knowledge of project interventions and experiences is lost.

· Integrating household energy activities into the general refugee operation has often been neglected.

· Lack of participation and adequate representation of those involved in household energy programmes has often occurred because the lack of time and the emergency nature of the situations.

Principles that should be adopted

The following guiding principles need to be taken into account when formulating household energy programmes. Any interventions should:

· recognize the emergency nature of the situations but appreciate that when the emergency phase is over, the displaced communities will remain;

· contain an element of development, where the displaced communities and the local community share the benefits resulting from the interventions.

· interventions should aim to offer 'wider' and 'longer term' solutions e.g. contribute to incomes, improve personal security, reduce workloads etc

· be fairly simple and adaptable; any cash or material inputs should be minimal. Emphasis should be given to the use of locally available resources

· be flexible and easily replicable taking advantage of existing skills; they need to be exportable and useable in most places

· should not be considered 'free hand-outs' similar to the food and non-food items freely issued to the community.

Figure 1: Bridging relief and development, a tree-planting nursery

Figure 2: A shielded fireplace

Conventional versus Improved (firewood) stoves If wet or green firewood or small twigs are more available than dry wood, they perform better with three stone fires unless improved stoves are specifically designed for them. which in most cases they are not. The reason is that green and/or wet firewood need more air, and emit more smoke than dry firewood. In such situations, a shielded open fire might be more appropriate. On the other hand, when small twigs and brush are used as fuel it is necessary to lower the pot to the fire and/or reduce the amount of air going into the fire. Incidentally, improved stoves have fixed or semi-fixed designs and are not as flexible as the three stones fireplaces. That is why it is common to find a household cooking on a three stone fire next to a functional improved stove.

Appropriate interventions

A comprehensive 'package' covering all aspects of household energy should be considered. For example, stove adoption increased when the household was supplied with firewood only if it constructed and used an improved stove.

Until recently, programmes have mistakenly based their success on the number of units given out rather than the number used. Technological solutions should be arrived at by consulting the community and should be part of the general refugee assistance programme. Furthermore, technological interventions should encourage and support the community to look at their lives as dynamic and progressive and contribute to (self)-confidence building.

Factors to consider when developing technologies in household energy programmes:

Familiarity - technologies should be based on what the community have and are used to;

Simplicity - they should not add extra burdens to the community in terms of time, labour or education and should take into account the prevailing gender considerations;

affordability - the basic models should not necessarily require cash investments;

durability - they should be strong e.g. not be destroyed by rain and should be built and repaired with minimal outside help

sustainability - they should be built, maintained and reproduced without depending on agencies to provide external inputs like clay, metal etc.

flexibility - it should be possible for them to be dismantled, built up again and modified without outside help

Adaptability - they should encourage users to further improve them e.g. with mud/clay lining, additional wind breaks, lower pot rests, etc.

Ensuring continuity of skills

In many displaced communities situations, the big international agencies leave after the initial emergency phase is over. It is important for the original agencies to ensure that they pass on their skills to smaller NGOs during their stay to enable them to carry out the programmes, through secondment of trainers, or through exchange visits to similar projects elsewhere.

A major goal for agencies should be to train skilled people among the displaced and local community to carry out household energy conservation programmes once the outside agency goes away.

Community (stakeholder) participation in household energy programmes

Communities should be actively involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of household energy programmes. This is because the communities have the greatest interest in the well being of their immediate environment. Lack of participation results in hostilities, suspicions and indifference. It is important that the stakeholders themselves decide on their level of involvement.

Commercialization and Income Generation

For household energy programmes to be sustainable, they need to be commercialized. Initial subsidies are necessary in the research, development and awareness creation phases but have to be carefully applied and phased out as soon as possible. Opportunities for the majority of displaced communities to earn incomes are usually limited. The argument that the people do not need money because their needs are catered for is incorrect. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a situation where even the basic needs of such communities are adequately met.

The recommended strategy for on-site technology production is to support private entrepreneurs or well-organized groups. External support should be limited to initial support covering:

· technical training;
· marketing and book-keeping;
· skills development;
· provision of working tools on a credit or revolving fund basis.

Improved Cooking System Promotion in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) This approach was developed by GTZ for the Kahindo Refugee Camp (DRC) with a population of approximately 600 000 people comprising 10 000 households. · Some days beforehand, a trainer together with the community leader identified three small groups to be trained on a particular day. In every group, one household preferably belonging to a vulnerable family or the community leader was selected as the 'model household'. · Five families around this household were asked to report to the model household for a two hour training session. Unless the household was seriously handicapped, it was asked to provide the necessary materials for the stove construction demonstration. · During the demonstration, participating households were required to take part (hands-on) in the actual construction. The trainers re-visited trained households three days after the training to check on how the households were getting on. · Key trainers were identified from every block representing several groups. A regular follow-up schedule to the various households was developed, which was easy and cheap since the trainers were refugees and lived among the community.

Fuelwood Distribution and Substitution

It is being increasingly debated whether providing at least the 'minimum' fuel needed in refugee situations should be considered alongside health, food, water, shelter etc.

Fuelwood Distribution of an organized supply

Trucking of fuelwood is a very expensive, especially where road networks are not well developed. The fuel should not be harvested and trucked from within walking distances from camps or settlements. Ideally, the fuel should be bought from private, government plantations or individual farmers and be accompanied by a programme of replanting.

Figure 3: Improved biomass stove

Fuelwood Collection Support It is likely that some fuel will need to be collected. The communities need to be supported to fetch fuel from distant places in order to preserve their immediate environment. There are several strategies for supporting fuel collection:

· In situations where security is a problem, trucks can be provided to take people to fuel collection points. The truck can then transport back small quantities of fuel for the households unable to collect it, whilst the collectors return in small groups. Security should be provided along the route;

· Alternatively, the community could be asked to organize fuel collection groups. Escorts, either armed police or groups of men could then accompany the collection groups

· If women and children are responsible for collecting the fuel and if they are exposed to physical assault, the community should be asked to consider ways of involving men in the exercise.

Figure 4: Trucking in fuelwood

Fuelwood distribution

Problems are caused by:

· distribution sites that are located far away;
· lack of information about where and when the distribution is taking place;
· physically disabled preventing people from reaching collection points

It is necessary for agencies to get together with the communities to develop fair fuel distribution strategies which will reach everyone. They should also agree on penalties for those who do not keep to the agreed strategies.

Types of food

The type of the available food basket should be a key consideration in household energy programmes. For example, it is better to supply milled rather than whole grains because the former requires less energy to cook if the society finds them acceptable. Agencies involved in the food supply should be fully linked with household energy programmes.

Ensuring continuity

Documentation

It is important to document achievements, setbacks and other experiences in household energy interventions. Once this is properly done, the impact, for example, of the frequent staff turn over and short term funding of projects is minimized and sustainability ensured particularly after the major agencies go away.

Integrating environmental issues into other sectors

To maintain the contribution to the security and well-being of the assisted communities, it is important to integrate household energy interventions into other activities. This can be done through the training of the extension workers e.g. community health and development workers. Through their daily interaction with the communities, these extension staff have established rapport, confidence and understand with the community.

Community Participation - The Environmental Working Groups (EWG) In the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya, there is an Environmental Working Group (EWG) which provides a forum for discussing local natural resources. This working group is chaired by UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) and has representatives from refugees, local communities, government and other agencies working in the region. As refugees outnumber local people by a ratio of about ten to one in Dadaab, this method of solving problems is especially important as a channel for airing local views and concerns. Because everyone feels fairly represented, it has become the main way for getting things done. Similar working groups have been adopted in other refugee situations under different names.

Conclusion

Refugee situations are not temporary, and the planning for household energy and environmental mitigation programmes in general should be considered in the short, medium and long-term.

Most household energy approaches have been tried and refined in one situation or another. It is cheaper to borrow and adapt experiences from such projects in new situations. Exchange visits and secondment of staff to similar projects should be actively encouraged.

Conventional development approaches can be successfully adapted and applied to refugee situations. The approaches need to be flexible, dynamic and adapt to changing situations, and even look further into repatriation, rehabilitation and re-integration phases.

It is important that qualified and experienced staff be entrusted with the implementation of these approaches. Sound and objective decisions on and from the ground are necessary not only to ensure overall programme success but also to influence thinking at the different levels of decision making.

Reference

Damme, Wim Van (1995) Do Refugees Belong in Camps? Experiences from Goma and Guinea, Lancet 1995; 346:360-362, Antewerpen, Belgium

ECHO (1995) Policy issues on the environmental impact of displacement of populations during the emergency phase: Expert consultation, 23-24 September 1995, Brussels, Belgium

GTZ-RESCUE (1994) Monthly Project Activity Reports from October 1993 to April 1998, Dadaab, Kenya

GTZ-Goma (1995) Monthly Activity reports of the Household and Institutional Energy Programme in Goma and Bukavu from October 1994 to June 1996, Goma, Zaire

Hoerz, T. (1995) Household and Institutional Energy Interventions: Goma Refugee Affected Areas, a Review of Past, On-going Projects and Projections for 1996 and 1997, Goma, Zaire

Ketel, H. J. (1994) Environmental Assessment Report of the Rwandese Refugee Camps and the Immediate Surroundings in North and South Kivu (21. 11. - 16. 12. 1995), UNHCR/PTSS, Geneva, Switzerland

Kimani, M. J. (1994) Household and Institutional Energy Conservation Programme - Final Report 1994, GTZ Goma, Zaire

Kimani, M. J. (1995) Meeting Energy Requirements in Refugee Situations, A Case Study in Household and Institutional Energy Interventions in Goma, Zaire and Dadaab, Kenya: The Challenge of Linking Relief Interventions to Development Concepts, GTZ-Goma, Nairobi, Kenya

Kimani, M. J. (1998) Building Sustainable Environmental Interventions in Rwanda: Opportunities and Challenges -Household Energy Programmes, UNHCR Workshop June 2-5, Kigali, Rwanda

Leusch, M. (1995) HCR Goma Programme Environment 1996 - Description des Actions a Entreprendre, Goma, Zaire

Owen, Matthew et al (1997) Towards Sustainable Environment Management Practices in Refugee Affected Areas: Country Report for Kenya (Draft Report), UNHCR Geneva, Switzerland

Owen, Matthew et al (1998) Baseline Data Collection and Project planning, GTZ/UNHCR Energy Management and Environmental Rehabilitation Programme, Kenya (Final Report), GTZ Nairobi, Kenya

Tengn Bo. (1994) Report from Visit to Refugee Camps in Dadaab and Former Refugee Camp in Liboi 8-12.12.94, SIDA Nairobi, Kenya

UNHCR, IOM, RPG (1996) Environmentally-Induced Population Displacements and Environmental Impacts Resulting from Mass Migrations, International Symposium, Geneva, 21-24 1996, Switzerland

UNHCR (1996) Refugee and the Environment in Africa, Proceedings of a workshop at Bahari Beach, 1-5 July 1996, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

UNHCR (1996) Partnership Workshop: Environmental management of Refugee Operations, Proceedings of a workshop held at the Palais Des Nations, 20-22 October, 1997, Geneva, Switzerland

UNHCR (1996) UNHCR Environmental Guidelines, July 1996, Geneva, Switzerland Walubengo, D., Kimani, M. J. (1993) Whose Technologies? The Development and Dissemination of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETS) in sub-Sahara Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

Figure 5: Fuelwood distribution

Deforestation and forest degradation by commercial harvesting for firewood and charcoal in the Pacific region of Nicaragua

by Rogo Carneiro de Miranda, Main Technical Advisor, and Serafim Filomeno Alves-Milho, Associate Forester, PROLE/Nicaragua, Apartado Postal C-321, Managua, Nicaragua. Fax: 505 2705448; e-mail rmiranda@sdnnic.org.ni andprolena@sdnnic.org.ni

Introduction

In Nicaragua, the Pacific region is home to a forest ecosystem adapted to low rainfall (800-1200 mm/year) distributed over a period of six months (May to November) which is followed by a six months dry period (December to April). As a consequence of the dry season, most trees are deciduous, losing their leaves during this time. The appearance of this forest during the dry season is similar to that of a temperate forest during winter, trees without leaves, in contrast to the evergreen tropical rain forest.

Since colonial times, the tropical dry forest of Nicaragua has been gradually diminishing (Table 1). In the last fifty years, with the development of commercial agriculture (cotton, sugar cane and coffee), a major change in the use of land has occurred; the needs for firewood and construction (roads and cities) has further increased the pressure over the tropical dry forest.

Impact from firewood and charcoal production

In 1998 PROLE, an NGO whose aims are to promote the development and modernization of bioenergy in Nicaragua and Honduras, carried out a preliminary survey in five traditional fuelwood production sites in the Pacific region, to highlight the negative impacts on the environment, particularly forest degradation and deforestation. It did this study with the support of ESMAP (the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program), a joint World Bank-UNDP programme.

Eight square kilometres of land, located in five sites in the region, were analyzed for both deforestation and forest degradation from 1986 to 1996. Particular importance was given to observe the linkages between changes of land use and fuelwood harvesting. It was found that deforestation appears to be more associated with the changes of use of land from forest to agriculture and cattle ranching whilst forest degradation appears to be directly associated with fuelwood harvesting for both household and industrial firewood and charcoal production.

Table 1: Difference between annual rate of wood harvesting and natural wood regeneration for two types of forest in San Pablo community, Nicaragua

Type of forest	Harvesting cycle (years)	Amount of wood harvested (m3/ha)	Rate of harvesting (m3/ha/yr)	Reduction per year (m3/ha/yr)
Savannah	3	15.08	5.02	1.5
Secondary dry forest	3	30.16	10.05	2.5

Exploitation commerciale du bois et du charbon de bois et impact sur la drestation et la dadation des for dans la ron Pacifique du Nicaragua L'auteur fait remarquer que l'exploitation commerciale du charbon de bois et du bois de feu ne sont pas les seules causes de la drestation. L'auteur met en relief les actions pour une gestion commerciale et durable des for denses. Au niveau des industries, la reforestation gr es esps a forte croissance peut considblement atter la pression sur les for. L'auteur met en relief le niveau important de l'emploi lie a l'exploitation commerciale du bois de feu.

Figure 1: Commercial harvesting in areas already degraded

Figure 2: Sustainable production can be achieved if forest regulations are upheld

Also, in a more recent unpublished survey implemented by PROLE within EMOLEP (Sustainable Fuelwood Supply and Efficient Demand Project Strategy for the Pacific region), there were again indications that firewood is not necessarily the main cause for either deforestation or forest degradation in the Pacific region. In areas in which primary or very dense tropical dry forest are being harvested for commercial firewood according to a management plan, the harvesting levels were found to be below the forest production capacity, e.g. not jeopardizing the sustainability of the forest ecosystems. However, these primary or very dense tropical dry forests are today the exception rather than the rule. There are indications that if this very dense forest has already being harvested and degraded non-sustainably by timber harvesters, continuously harvesting for firewood contributes a great deal to the further degradation and eventual deforestation of the site.

Forest Regulations

Although there are forest regulations in Nicaragua which define the legal and technical procedures needed to obtain a permit to harvest fuelwood, enforcement is not a general rule. These regulations, if well understood and applied in the field, provide an excellent tool to guide landowners towards the sustainable management of forest resources, guaranteeing a maximum productivity over a longer period of time, and with little or no negative impact over the forest ecosystem.

In the case of the Pacific region of Nicaragua, lack of planning has contributed to a degradation of the forest resources resulting in a significant reduction in forest productivity, loss of biodiversity (including many tree species, other plants and wildlife), loss or reduced watershed capability, and soil erosion.

Causes of deforestation and forest degradation

The causes for a non-sustainable management of the dry forest are many, but the main ones are:

· Lack of technical knowledge in how to manage the dry forest: unfortunately, at present, the appropriate knowledge to manage the dry forest effectively is not well known among landowners and most of the foresters.

· Lack of long term security over the forest resource: The National Constitution defines that all forest resources belong to the nation, creating uncertainty over the government rights to confiscate trees in private lands. Further, too many landowners do not have proper land titles (either due to the high cost of the paperwork, or because of land property rights disputes), creating uncertainty over the legal rights for future land ownership.

· Lack of information about forest products: Landowners usually do not have adequate knowledge about the broad range of products and services that his or her forest can provide to society, they also have insufficient information about markets and prices.

· Lack of awareness: Environmental awareness is not yet well established among landowners in Nicaragua, although there is a small but growing awareness.

· Lack of economical incentives: There are no economic incentives for landowners to manage or protect the natural dry forests properly. Fuelwood prices are very low, around US$ 6/tonne, which does not provide any incentive for landowners to reinvest in management of the forest; fuelwood prices do not reflect the cost of replanting. There are no government-funded incentive schemes for natural forest management, such as tax exemptions, and no resources are committed to forest protection or even reforestation.

· Lack of adequate control: The governmental regulating agencies such as the National Forest Institute and municipal governments have insufficient resources, such as personnel and transport, to control and monitor the use of the natural forests effectively.

· Lack of a positive government attitude: In general, the government agencies do not have a positive attitude toward the fuelwood sector, seeing them as depredators and difficult to control. The fuelwood sector comprises people with little environmental and technical awareness, who receive the lowest pay in the forestry sector. Government policies and attitudes restrict the sector with many regulations and excessive taxes. They do not understand the need to provide the fuelwood sector with economic incentives, less bureaucracy and general assistance towards increased profitability.

Hopes for Sustainability

In spite of the above, there are signs that the deforestation and degradation of the tropical dry forest of Nicaragua by the fuel-wood sector is about to be stopped. In the most recent surveys in the region, there are a few examples of landowners, with financial support from fuel-wood merchants, that are implementing successful sustainable forest management plans. This indicates that it is possible to achieve rational use of the forest and that a partnership with those most interested in sustaining the fuelwood business, such as fuel merchants, is possible. The challenge will be disseminating these examples so that they become the norm. Also, a few of the largest fuelwood consuming industries are now establishing or seriously considering how to establish fast-growing fuelwood plantations, and this will definitely reduce pressure over the natural forest.

PROLE is helping to modernize the fuelwood sector of Nicaragua. It is attracting the attention of international donors through its work, including The World Bank, The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). A proposed course of action being negotiated with such donors, includes a mechanism for providing technical and financial incentives to landowners to achieve sustainable forest management, establishing multiple purpose plantations, developing a new less bureaucratic and effective legislation, and reducing household fuelwood demand by promoting improved woodstoves and fuelwood substitution. This last action may prove very important for Nicaragua, since the latest PROLE household survey indicates that over 50% of the Nicaraguan population uses fuel-wood for cooking, and within this group the majority uses traditional woodstoves such as open fires (three stones) or semi-closed (U-shaped) stoves.

With technical support from PROLE, the National Energy Commission, a governmental executive agency, is developing the EMOLEP project. The strategic plan will include supporting management of the natural forests, fuelwood plantations, improved woodstoves and even fuelwood substitution. This plan will be implemented by coordinating public and private organizations, and will be presented to the international donors for financial and technical support.

The information in this article indicates that Nicaragua is perhaps at a turning point in its history of the use of fuelwood: from a history of unsustainable and wasteful use of the fuelwood, toward a future of more sustainable and efficient use of the fuel-wood.

Figure 3: Commercial fuelwood harvesting generates substantial employment in rural areas

Conclusions:

Fuelwood harvesting for firewood and charcoal is not the main factor causing the deforestation in the tropical dry forest of the Pacific region of Nicaragua. The usual causes of deforestation are clearing of land for agriculture and pastures. Timber harvesting, cattle ranching or even fuelwood collection in forests already degraded by other forms of fuelwood production can contribute to further forest degradation.

Fuelwood harvested in primary or dense forest under a management plan can be done commercially within sustainable levels. Reforestation with fast-growing multiple-purpose trees by larger fuelwood consuming industries can reduce, by a significant level, the pressure on the natural dry forest of Nicaragua.

The laws on forestry and the government agencies in Nicaragua will neither control the fuelwood sector effectively nor provide incentives to achieve sustainability. However, there are signs that management of the natural forest for fuelwood is possible and that the fuelwood sector is concerned about its future and is taking initiatives to modernize it.

Effect of expanding sugar-cane farming on community woodfuel collecting areas. Case study in Masindi, Uganda

by Wim Klunne¹ and Charles Mugisha M.Sc.²

¹ Biomass and rural energy modelling specialist, Forest Science Division of the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), Enschede, ITC, PO Box 6, 7500 AA Enschede, The Netherlands. e-mail: <klunne@itc.nl> Website: http://www.itc.nl/~klunne/(Main contact for further information)

² Nyabyeya Forestry College in Masindi, Uganda.

Introduction

In most developing countries, dependence on biomass fuel as a source of energy is very high, especially in rural areas; Uganda is no exception. Over 87% of the population in Uganda live in rural areas (1) and are reliant for nearly all their energy needs on biomass (2). The availability of biomass fuel depends largely on how land is being utilized. Land use changes are therefore a crucial factor in determining the availability of fuel-wood at household level. Commercial agriculture expansion has a large impact on the locations from which local people collect their woodfuel.

Masindi district

Over the last couple of years dramatic changes in land use have occurred in rural areas in Uganda. In 1972, the dictator Idi Amin forced the Asians to leave Uganda at short notice, leaving behind all their possessions. Particularly in rural areas, large estates were left fallow and, to some extent, were occupied by the local population. The current Museveni regime welcomes ousted Asians to reclaim their land.

Two sub-counties of the Masindi district were regions of severe fighting in the 1970s. Besides the land left behind by ousted Asians, the state-owned Kinyara sugar estate was abandoned. Large areas were left unattended and were also a major source of woodfuel for the local population.

With the return of peace in Uganda, a start was made to reactivate the Kinyara sugar estate. At present, the estate is managed by an international consortium, Kinyara Sugar Works, which reclaimed the land and planted sugar-cane. Besides the Kinyara-owned land (the so-called nucleus estate), the factory has now started to work with out-growers. Outgrowers are local farmers growing sugar-cane on their land aided by the estate, which clears bushes and trees from the land, ploughs it, plants young cane and harvests the yield. Farmers assisted in this way live within a 10 km radius of the nucleus sugar estate. Recently the area in which Kinyara has facilitated outgrowers was extended to a 15 km radius. An increase to 20 km can be expected in the near future (3).

Dloppement des fermes commerciales et impact sur les zones de collecte de bois de feu. Etude de cas du dloppement de la canne & sucre dans le district de Masindi, Ouganda Cet article montre que les populations proches des zones de production de canne ucre sont contraintes d'abandonner leurs zones traditionnelles de collecte de bois de feu et rechercher de nouveaux endroits. Afin d'atter ces probls, l'auteur recommande des plantations orte croissance destin a production de bois de feu et servant de zones tampon entre villages et for. L'auteur sugg la mise en place de petites aires plant en eucalyptus dans les rons impropres a culture de la canne ucre.

Responses of the local population

The area under study lies between the protected Budongo Forest Reserve and the current sugar estate. Villages in this area can be grouped into three different groups:

1) the area next to the sugar-cane fields
2) the area adjacent to the protected forest
3) the area in between areas 1 and 2.

From each region, one village was selected in which household interviews were conducted to investigate the current and past situation regarding the source of biomass energy used. The villages of Kabango, Nyabyeya and Nyantonzi were selected respectively. Table 1 gives an overview of the results of the household interview conducted in July 1998.

Table 1 Percentage of total number of respondents collecting woodfuel from certain land uses now and in the past

Region	Village	Year	Natural woodlands	Private farms	Private fallow land	Protected riverine forest	Sugar-cane cleared area	Average distance
1	Kabango	1998	12	46	19	19	12	1.5
		1960	46	31	23	0	-	1.0
2	Nyabyeya	1998	4	0	15	89	0	1.1
		1960	41	4	0	30	-	0.6
3	Nyantonzi	1998	48	48	0	44	0	1.9
		1960	56	36	16	4	-	1.6

The village in the first region (Kabango) showed very clear evidence of wood scarcity. As shown in Table 1, villagers used to collect their fuel wood mainly from natural woodlands, which are now converted into sugar-cane growing areas. At present, nearly 50% of the households in Region 1 buy charcoal from traders who use wood from land being cleared for sugar-cane growing. This source is temporary and will cease to exist when all the potential sugar-cane growing area has been cleared.

The village near to the protected forest (Nyabyeya) shows a shift in collecting fuel from natural woodlands to protected forest resources. Analysis indicates that the original fuel wood collecting area of woodland is now in used for subsistence farming, leaving the protected forest as the only nearby source. Access to this resource is still permitted, but government policies might alter this situation.

The third village (Nyantonzi), in the intermediate area, also shows a much higher dependence on the protected forest reserve but, unexpectedly, no reliance on the cleared sugar-cane area.

Figure 1: Land use in 1960

Land use change analysis

Land cover maps were produced for the situation in I960 and in 1998. The I960 land use map (Figure 1) was based on an existing map of I960. Classification of land use in the table was based on any information provided on the map. Although incomplete, it clearly shows the sugar-cane growing area as well as forested areas.

The 1998 land-use map (Figure 2) was based on the available land use map of 1996, as produced by the National Biomass Study, updated by mapping new sugar-cane growing areas with a handheld GPS satellite receiver. Newly cleared wooded areas were mapped in the same way. The results are shown in Table 2. It can be seen that the land lost in the woodland and grassland categories nearly equal the increase in commercial and subsistence farming.

An intermediate map for the year 1987 was also produced by estimates based on the answers received from the interviews. The purpose of this map is to determine the expansion of sugar-cane growing fields (see figure 3). The three maps together clearly show that the major land use changes took place in the last decade only.

Concluding remarks

The data collected in this study show clear evidence of a rapid expansion of the sugar-cane growing area. As a result, local people near the sugar-cane estates have had to go to different areas from those they were using previously to collect their wood. In the current situation, local woodfuel demand can be met by using wood from land cleared in preparation for sugar-cane growing. This supply is not sustain-able. In order to facilitate local wood energy planning, more research will be needed to quantify the demand of wood by the local people and the available biomass in the area.

Table 2: Area of land cover changes from year 1960 to 1998. (Area figures x 1000 ha)

Land Cover	Land cover type	Area	Area	Area and nature of change	% change
1	Fully stocked dense tropical high forest	27.6	26.4	Decreased by 1.2	-4.3
2	Degraded tropical high forest/woodland	0.0	0.7	tropical high forest degraded by 0.7	2.51
3	Plantation (mixed Forest)	0.0	0.3	New cover type 0.3	-
4	Woodland	21.0	14.7	Decreased by 6.3	-30.0
5	Grassland	10.0	6.2	Decreased by 3.8	-38,0
6	Commercial Farmland (sugarcane)	0.7	6.2	Increased by 5.5	78.0
7	Subsistence Farmland	14.0	18.4	Increased by 4.4	31.4
8	Wetlands	0.4	0.4	Remained the same	0.0
9	Built up area	0.1	0.3	Increased by 0.2	200.0
	Total area	73.8	73.8
1 as percentage of original area of land cover class 1

Possible interventions may be triggered by increasing scarcity of woodfuels and by the re-activation of improved stoves programmes in the area. The Nyabyeya Forestry College in Masindi might play a pivotal role in this by integrating the promotion and utilization of their pekope stove as part of their educational programme.

To solve future fuelwood problems and to conserve the protected Budongo forest it is recommended that fuel-wood plantations are established as a buffer between the forest and villages. Indigenous fast growing species which can be coppiced, as already planted by farmers around their homesteads, might be planted in participatory forest management projects on the degraded areas around Budongo forest.

A rapidly accessible new source of wood fuel for local people could be formed by the small patches of eucalyptus that are planted by Kinyara on their estate in areas not suitable for sugar-cane. Originally these trees were planted to discourage illegal homes being built on the land. Using the trees as woodfuel will give them a more positive function.

Furthermore, government policies have to be formulated that compel companies involved in wood depletion to contribute directly to the replenishment of wood resources.

This article is based on Mugisha, C.H. (1999) Impact of land use change on fuel wood collecting areas: application of remote sensing and GIS. A case study for Budongo and Biiso sub-counties Masindi district Uganda. MSc thesis ITC Forest Science Division, Enschede, the Netherlands.

1. Uganda Government Statistical Department Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, (1991). The 1991 Population and Housing Census Analytical Report on Household and Housing characteristics.

2. ESD Final Report to Forest Department Ministry of Natural Resources (July 1996). A Study of Woody Biomass Derived Energy Supplies in Uganda

3. Personal communications with Kinyara plant manager

Figure 2: Land use in 1998

Figure 3: Land use in 1987

Workshop report on urban waste and energy in developing countries, February 24, 1998

S. Dunnett, ITDG

This workshop was organized by Intermediate Technology' in the UK as part of a project 'Energy' Provision to the Urban Poor', funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). Further information can be obtained from Simon Dunnet or Alison Doig, ITDG, Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire CV23 9QZ, UK

Introduction

Energy supply and demand in urban areas of developing countries is not understood as thoroughly as energy systems in rural areas, despite the fact that the rural economy in areas close to towns and especially in periurban areas, is often dependent on the sale of wood and charcoal. In the case of large cities, the economy up to 100 km away or more may be affected. The poorest in urban areas continue using traditional fuels because their access to modern energy, such as kerosene, LPG and electricity is limited. Price and supply fluctuations of these modern fuels also mean that households will switch back to using biomass-derived fuels when it is more convenient or cheaper to do so.

The generation of waste in towns and cities could provide a source of fuel to which the urban poor have access. At present, large numbers are employed in both the so-called 'formal' and 'informal' sectors, recycling useful materials that have been discarded by others. The purpose of the workshop was to investigate the possibility of using some of this material as a fuel, and/or those elements that would not otherwise be recycled.

Atelier sur les dets urbains et l'rgie dans les pays en voie de dloppement. Le th prminant fut que la production d'rgie artir de dets urbains doit e inse dans le cadre de la probltique de la lutte contre la pauvretLes mesures prises doivent e profitables aux acteurs dvorisde cette fili. L'impact ntif sur la sant mis en exergue. II a soulignue les dets vtaux non collectpourraient e mis en valeur gr aux technologies utilisant ces dets comme sources d'rgie.

Presentations

Informal Sector Recycling, Dr Mansoor Ali, WEDC, University of Loughborough, UK.

Dr Ali described the contribution that the informal sector makes in the recycling of waste, specifically in Karachi. It is estimated that 50000 people earn their livelihood from this activity, two fifths of them engaged in waste picking. Some key issues were raised during the presentation:

· Why do people separate waste?

· What is being separated?

· What improvements could be made?

· What role should institutions like municipal corporations take?

· What is the role for NGOs?

· How could micro-enterprises be developed around 'Waste-to-energy'?

· Is there a need to look at the whole concept under the social, institutional and financial framework or do we need the most appropriate technology?

· Who will do the operation and maintenance?

· The issue of sustainability.

Urban municipal waste containing high proportion of vegetable matter.

Experience of Urban Waste and Energy in Sri Lanka, Sanjeewani Munasinghe, IT Sri Lanka

IT Sri Lanka's recent experience in utilizing waste from urban and periurban areas for the production of energy was outlined in the next presentation. It is estimated that there is the potential to generate 101 MW using urban waste in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka office has been involved in the energy sector, and particularly biogas, for twenty years. There are three main biogas projects:

The Kirullapone pilot project uses waste provided by the municipal council to fuel five 60 cubic meter digesters.

The Maharangama pilot project uses waste that has been sorted at the household level to remove most inorganic material (or items that may have some value).

The Anuradhapura pilot project supplies gas to a school hostel for cooking, using partially sorted waste.

Energy for Urban Poor in Developing Countries-Potential Solutions from Waste Materials, Professor B. Sudhakara Ready, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.

The nature of the energy flows within Bangalore, the fastest growing metropolis in India, with reference to the potential for the use of waste, was outlined by Professor Reddy. In this city, the poor use biomass fuels such as fuelwood, charcoal and agriculture wastes (with efficiencies as low as 10%) and the rich use Liquefied Petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity (with efficiencies greater than 60%). The percentage income a household spends on its energy needs reveals that low-income households who use biomass spend as much as 17% while those with high income only spend 0.4%.

Studies on providing energy in Bangalore shows that the municipal waste could not only produce energy but also nitrogen-rich manure. It is estimated that there is 690 tons per day of garbage available in Bangalore of which 50% is manure. Using the fermentable matter there is a potential for 512 MWh of thermal energy or 114 MWh of electrical energy and 340 tons of fertiliser.

The benefits of the adoption of waste energy technologies would be conservation of resources and protection of the global environment. To government, capital investment would be reduced with a corresponding reduction in foreign exchange outflows. The customer gains by being able to satisfy basic needs, reduce costs, and have an improved quality of service.

Building Materials and Energy: Possibilities and Alternatives for Developing Countries, Dr Fernando Martirena Hernandez, Centro de Investigacie Estructuras y Materiales (CIDEM), Universidad Central de las Villas, Cuba.

The use of ash from waste materials combustion for the production of lime-pozzolana binders was the initial reason that Dr Martirena was interested in the energy aspects of building material production. The main sources of waste for this purpose are agro-industrial waste and solid municipal waste. Biomass is processed and densified with simple hardware into a solid fuel block. Heat from its combustion can be used for drying, for the production of steam and for quicklime burning. Flue gases can be filtered to produce gypsum, which, along with the ashes, can be used to manufacture the lime-pozzolana binders.

The main product is a lime-pozzolana binder produced at a very small scale. The technology has been under development for the last 8 years, and it is just at the stage of transferring from pilot scale applications into commercial applications (The EU has recently approved a project to spread lime-pozzolana workshops around Central America). There are a few of these workshops in commercial operation.

Key Issues for Sorting Waste for Energy.

Following the presentations, the participants were asked to discuss the question 'what are the key issues for waste management in the informal sector of developing countries, with emphasis on sorting wastes for energy recovery? Key areas were identified as:

· research into how linkages between the formal/informal, private/public sectors could be established,

· collaboration should be encouraged between workshop participants,

· lesson-learning and south/south exchanges should be encouraged,

· urban waste-to-energy technologies need investigation,

· suggestions to benefit the poor should be made to policy makers

· knowledge transfer within the informal sector regarding technologies needs further understanding.

Conclusions

One overriding theme of the workshop was that the production of energy from urban waste should form part of a wider poverty alleviation process, rather than the development of technology for its own sake. If the shortage of, or limited access to, sources of energy for the urban poor are taken as the starting point, then the development or adaptation of structures and technologies to utilize waste could occur in a sustainable way.

Concern was expressed about the fragile nature of this informal livelihood from waste picking, in particular that any intervention should benefit these groups, and not remove their access to the waste. There is a great need to understand and to support the informal waste-recycling sector.

Environmental health was a key issue raised throughout the workshop. Hazards from uncollected, often putrefied wastes were highlighted. The health risks to the people involved with handling and sorting of waste was also raised.

The workshop identified both a need and opportunities for further activities in this field. The first steps will be to:

· increase understanding of the informal waste sorting systems,

· address the environmental health risks of informal waste management,

· undertake research into appropriate waste-to-energy technologies for household, community and small-scale industrial uses, keeping energy and livelihood needs of the urban poor as a focus.

GTZ pages editor

Household Energy Programme (HEP)
Postfach 5180, 65726 Eschborn, Germany
Tel: +49 6196-79 1618/6354

Editor: Cornelia Sepp

News from Headquarters

Staff Announcement

The composition of the HEP team changed significantly on January 1, since Agnes Klingshirn left the HEP-team. In 1989 she took over HEP as project manager and, since then, has made a strong impact. With great enthusiasm she managed to keep the discussion on household energy alive within GTZ, the BMZ (Bundesministerium fur Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwidklung)and other institutions, to find co-operative partners and to acquire financial resources. Luckily, Mrs. Klingshirn will continue to support the HEP-Team as a consultant. From this position she will focus on the Southern Africa Regional Programme (ProBEC, see article overleaf) as well as perform her duties as the general HEP advisor. In a shared-job post within the new team, Anke Weymann and Karin Roeske have taken over the position of team leader from Agnes Klingshirn while retaining their respective previous duties as backstoppers for the HEPs and components in French-speaking Africa (Mrs. Weymann) and English-speaking Africa (Mrs. Roeske).

Figure 1: Participants of the ProBEC workshop in Harare

Ruth Ambrosch will remain head of the secretariat. She will concentrate further on the establishment and maintenance of an information and communication network for HEP and the regional or country programmes. All project-specific technical and conceptual tasks, as well as all financial activities, will still be carried out by Birgit Starkenberg.

Workshop on community forestry

An international workshop on community forestry entitled "Participatory Forest Management as a Strategy for Sustainable Use of Forests in Africa" took place at Banjul from 26th to 30th of April. The workshop focused on the institutional framework and the processes which are paramount in fostering community forestry. Banjul, Gambia hosted the workshop. Gambia has begun to put into practice community forestry and has been supported in these activities by GTZ since 1988. As many as 400 villages are now actively involved in these measures. The relevant political and legal foundations have been laid and these have translated into definite property rights and land use regulations for communities.

The event was targeted at policy makers in the field of natural resource management, and staff of governmental organizations, NGOs, and donor organisations were invited to attend. For more information on outputs from the workshop, please contact:

Mrs Katherine Warner, Community Forestry Unit, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 0100 Rome, Italy, Tel.: 003906570533256; Fax: 00390657055514; e-mail: Katherine. Warner@fao.org

The MESAP Planning System

The Modular Energy System Analysis and Planning Environment (MESAP) is a tool for integrated energy and environmental planning. It was developed at the Institute for Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy (IER), University of Stuttgart. It is used, for example in the GTZ-supported project 'Combustibles Domestiques' in Senegal. MESAP integrates different modular energy planning models through a central database system called NetWork. Figure 1 shows the diagram of the MESAP architecture. MESAP is being developed for PC's with a 'Windows' based graphical user interface.

The MESAP system was designed to support every phase of integrated energy planning and thus assists the decision-making process in a pragmatic way, from the problem definition phase up to finding the right decisions. Several components assist the decision making process. These include features for:

· the documentation of strategic issues within the case study,

· the set-up and documentation of the network structure of the energy system,

· the set-up and documentation of the equation system for model calculation,

· the assistance in the development, management and documentation of cases,

· the data entry, management and documentation,

· the tabular and graphical analysis of the results,

· the creation of standard reports,

· the evaluation of the results based on the analytical hierarchy process,

· setting up a monitoring system.

Figure 1: The MESAP-III modeling concept

The Concept of the Reference Energy System (RES)

The MESAP philosophy is based on a process-engineering representation of real energy systems. The energy system is represented as a network of commodities and processes, the Reference Energy System (RES). The RES is a portrayal of the energy system in network form, in which the production, the transformation and utilization of energy is portrayed as network links. Each path through the energy systems network indicates a possible route for the flow of energy from an energy resource to a given demand category. In all cases the basic procedure is to:

· identify processes or sectors into which the new resource or technology will be substituted,

· establish feasible rates of introduction of the resource/technology and levels of introduction in future reference years,

· produce a new system description reflecting the changes for the appropriate years,

· calculate the change in resource consumption, cost, and other objective functions.

NetWork: the Common Database Management System of MESAP

NetWork is a model independent database management system at the core of MESAP that fulfills two functions: it serves as a case study information system that offers retrieval features like current information management tools and it can be used as a standardized database for process-engineering oriented planning models.

Besides being a database for planning models, NetWork is at the same time an information system for the case study. NetWork allows the storage of any information related to objects in the RES. This includes technical, regional and sectoral data, modeling parameters, assumptions and results.

Contact: Institute for Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy (IER), University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany, Contact Person: Christoph Schlenzig Tel: +49 (711) 685-7558; Fax: +49 (721) 685-7567; E-Mail: CS@ier. uni-stuttgart. de

ProBEC

The implementation phase of the 'Programme for Biomass Energy Conservation' (ProBEC) in the south of Africa (Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) started with the employment of the programme co-ordinator on 01.09.1998.

ProBEC is a joint supra-regional programme between SADC, the European Commission (EC) and the German Government. Most of the financial support comes from the Forestry Sector of the EC. The German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) is commissioned to implement ProBEC.

ProBEC started in January 1997 with an orientation phase carrying out first inception missions to six potential countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and introducing various stakeholders to the concept, objectives and range of activities that can be supported by ProBEC. During the orientation phase till June 1998 national workshops were conducted in the partner countries.

In the meantime National ProBEC steering committees have been established in several partner countries in order to co-ordinate the countries' activities. A regional ProBEC office has been opened up in Harare in January 1999, consisting of the programme co-ordinator, a regional energy adviser and a secretary (address see below).

A regional workshop took place in Harare in October 1998. Together with representatives of the partner countries the ProBEC plan was discussed in detail, roles and responsibilities of the different partners involved were defined and the plans for action for the participating countries as well as for the regional ProBEC office were developed.

The first demonstration project has started in Malawi. It aims at the introduction of integrated energy saving measures for households and small business into interested projects/programmes. The decision on the project site, the border area of the Nyika National Park (Rumphi district) was taken on the base of baseline survey on biomass use and demand, including the identification of interest of organisations and projects for energy saving measures. In a community based planning workshop in February 1999, the targeted population as well as the extension services in the area planned in detail the project concept and workplan. Commitments to the project will come mostly from the Border Zone Development Project (BZDP) which is supported by GTZ.

GTZ Office, 1 Orange Grove Drive/Highlands, PO Box 2406, Harare. Tel: 00263-4-496 723 or 496 724. Fax: 00263-4-495 628.

Gender and Household Energy

The roles and responsibilities of men and women in managing household energies are taken into account by the approach of the PED (Household Energy Programme Sahel, HEP/GTZ). The problems associated with household energy do not exist in isolation, but need to be seen in the context of all areas of life, such as energy, environment, health, education, securing food, the creation of enterprises, programmes for the improvement in the living conditions of women, etc.

The role of men and women in the management of Household energy

Demand for HE (wood, charcoal) The roles and responsibilities which men and women assume in the management of the environment are very unbalanced in the Sahel countries. The use of HE is generally considered as a 'women's affair'. In effect, women and children collect 91% of the firewood in rural areas. The duty of supplying wood is rendered more difficult by the scarcity of natural resources and thus by the exceedingly long time needed to search for it.

In urban surroundings, an important share of the family budget (generated by the women) is devoted to HE. It is the women who cook the meals mostly with an inefficient use of energy from wood and charcoal. Traditional stoves are not very efficient and improved technologies are not used on a large scale. The consequences of this situation particularly affect women and children, for instance, the smoke which arises in the kitchen damages their health.

Men are rarely found working at the household energy level. In the urban setting, they participate in the transport of wood for its commercialisation. They are supposed to purchase combustibles and cooking utensils for the households.

Supply of household energy The first interventions by forest projects were mainly oriented towards the training of male village groups for the creation of nurseries and the propagation of reforestation techniques.

The application of methods of sensitisation, developed with the support of GRAAP (Group of Research and Support for the Self-promotion of Farmers), in the 1980s has started the process of a more intensive participation of women.

The 'improved stoves' initiative, above all, was the most important step in the process of mobilising women for environmental protection.

The female village representatives have profited from courses on plant production techniques, plant establishment and even the construction of raised seed beds. The impact of this training has taken effect in the establishment of forest nurseries in association with the market gardens which are looked after by female groups. Generally, some of the seedlings are used for family and collective plantations. The remainder is destined for sale. This share represents an important income source in the villages which have been mobilised for reforestation.

Female groups use their plantation to satisfy their need for firewood and for sale. Women participate to a great extent in the management of forests - production of firewood, agriculture, extraction of shea butter, milk production, honey production, etc..

As active members of mixed forest management groups women carry out a number of activities, such as:

· the collection of dead wood, the arrangement and sale of bundles to the wholesale transporters news

· the selected cutting of trees for sale to the wholesale transporters

· the harvest of seeds and seedlings on a large scale with a view to reforest large areas which have been cleared by immigrant groups.

According to a study conducted by APRET (Association for the Protection and Restoration of the Environment) when assessing who does the most important tasks, 67% of the forest farmers are women.

Women are also involved in the retail sale of wood and charcoal (70% of retailers of the city of Ouagadougou are women).

In the field of supply, men are the active members of mixed forest management groups. Men make charcoal from wood and they are wholesale transporters of the charcoal. 30% of forest farmers are men (APRET study).

Production of Household energy equipment

Craftsmen were trained and completed refresher courses during the 1980s on making and selling improved metal stoves, and potters were trained in the construction of improved clay and other stoves. These represent a potential source of income. Reasons for explaining the limited number of women participating in the training are:

· tradition in the trades of artisans and potters

· features of the trade, which demands a lot of independence (mobility)

· women have limited access to credit facilities (despite efforts to correct this situation)

Figure 1: Household energy is the base for many income-generating activities of women

PED Sahel, gender and household energy

PED Sahel gives special attention to women in the sense that the advocated measures aim to improve their well-being at home and in the kitchen: health, education, food security, etc.

The 'women and energy' sub-regional workshop, organized in December 1997 at Ouagadougou, has, among other issues, underlined the necessity to improve certain political and legal conditions which will allow woman to participate in an adequate way in the generation of national income. It will look also at the necessity for women to acquire expertise in energy issues (land ownership, participation in political decisions) for sustainable development at all levels.

In this way PED Sahel strongly supports the technological improvements which increase the efficiency and the choice of solutions appropriate for the demands of women, households and small and medium sized enterprises.

The programme gives support to institutions, projects, NGOs and women's associations with the objective of creating more equilibrium in the management of resources and in the capacities of participating in development. Over the next few years PED Sahel will commit itself to training women and girls and will work to support their participation in the design, production, execution and post-evaluation of HE programmes.

HEP on Internet

You can also get in touch with the Household Energy Programme (HEP) via INTERNET: http://www.gtz.de/HEP - there you will find basic information on its activities and direct e-mail access for recommendations, inquiries, etc.

At the moment the web-page 'links' is under construction. For suggestions please contact Ruth Ambrosch (see address above) who is responsible for the HEP-INTERNET editing.

Publications

Project and Stove Design for Large Scale Cooking in Developing Countries

The HEP publication 'Project and Stove Design for Large Scale Cooking in Developing Countries' has been reviewed and will be re-edited in May.

The booklet aims to give support for planning, organising and implementing energy efficient kitchen technologies for institutions and community facilities. It introduces different types of large scale cooking stoves for various uses, e.g. boarding schools, hospitals, prisons and gives an overview of the technical and economic data including design drawings. Furthermore it describes important aspects of marketing, maintenance and safety, as well as the implications of the social, cultural and economic settings which are likely to determine the aspects of acceptance for innovations.

'Project and Stove Design for Large Scale Cooking in Developing Countries' has been produced in co-operation with the Foundation for Woodstove Dissemination (FWD) an African NGO based in Nairobi.

Haushaltsenergie und Umwelt - Leitfaden zur Erfassung und Bewertung der ogischen Wirkungen von Haushaltsenergieprojekten

Energie Domestique et Environnement - Un manual pour analyser et luer les impacts logiques de projets d'rgie domestique.

A handbook to analyse and evaluate the ecological impacts of household energy projects has been elaborated by Environmental Concept on behalf of HEP/GTZ. This handbook will be edited within the next weeks and will be available in German and French. An English version will follow within the next months.

The handbook conveys methods in measuring the ecological effects of improved stoves at the household level. It is dedicated to project staff and focuses on biochemical and physical parameters as indicators for environmental pollution, with a view to environmental protection. These guidelines are an indispensable tool in the fieldwork within the context of household energy measures and related areas such as health, environmental and resource protection as well as their social and economic, local and global implications.

Both publications are available from:

Gesellschaft fhnische Zusammenarbeit mbH (GTZ), Household Energy Programme (HEP), Attn. Ruth Ambrosch, Postfach 5180, 65726 Eschborn, Germany E-mail: Ruth.Ambrosch@gtz.de

Films on household energy issues available now

The film project which was jointly implemented by HEP/GTZ and the "Deutschen Welthungerhilfe" has come to an end. Two films have been produced. One is a 20 minutes documentary which aims at sensitising national decision-makers and policy planners to the importance of the rational use of biomass. The second film is directly targeted to households and small-scale enterprises promoting the use of energy saving technologies.

The two films are available in German, English and French. Whenever possible, a HEP-team-member will give an introduction to the film.

Is urban forestry a solution to the energy crisis of Sahelian cities?

by Cornelia Sepp, ECO - Consult, An der Aula 2, 36280 Oberaula, Germany

The term 'urban forestry' indicates the simple fact that people purposefully plant and maintain trees amid their urban surroundings. However, urban forestry is by no means unique to developing countries; in fact, it is common for most regions of the world. The reasons for planting trees along roads, in public squares and private gardens are many:

· tangible reasons; such as food-production and fuelwood supplies

· intangible reasons; for recreation, to improve the quality of air, and to look attractive.

This article limits its scope to the Sahel region in the northern half of the African continent, so the role of urban forestry in industrialized Western countries has not been considered.

Urbanization as a characteristic trait of developing countries

There is no doubt that increasing urbanization is a characteristic for most developing countries.

La "foresterie" urbaine est-elle une solution a crise de l'rgie dans les pays Sahens? Dans cet article, l'auteur souligne que l'augmentation des revenus des populations pauvres n'entra pas immatement une substitution significative en faveur des rgies modernes. La diffusion des technologies utilisant efficacement l'rgie semble e la meilleure option. Il est aussi recommend'extension du couvert forestier. L'auteur souligne le manque d'information sur la foresterie urbaine et mentionne comme principale contrainte la raretes terres destin et effet. Une approche d'ensemble doit e conside incluant notamment la diffusion des technologies amor, la substitution, ainsi que les mesures institutionnelles et politiques.

Growth rate in the amount of urbanized land in Africa (4.4 ) is almost twice as high as it is world wide (Figure 1).

People who abandon their rural lives in order to move to fast-growing cities, normally have high hopes for a better life; food, employment opportunities and higher wages, energy etc. In most cases, though, this remains a dream, and a considerable number of people have insufficient access to these goods, services and advanced energy supplies such as gas, kerosene, and electricity. A large number of people remain dependent on subsistence food supplies, fuelwood or charcoal, and traditional cooking devices. Urban forestry can help to solve some of these problems.

An urban population's demand for urban forestry's tangible and intangible benefits varies in relation to the degree of development. Less developed urban societies are more dependent on individual, tangible benefits for their everyday existence, than are more highly developed urban communities. The latter in turn prefer social, intangible benefits.

This way, the consumption of fuelwood and/or charcoal by private urban households is closely linked with the level of development. This leads us to the question of which factors determine specific patterns of urban households' energy consumption.

Benefits of urban forestry in society

Factors which determine urban household energy consumption patterns in Sahelian countries

Several factors, both physical and socio-economic, have been examined to determine private households' energy consumption patterns. Among these factors are

· the availability of different energy sources,
· different household sizes and cooking habits
· the available cooking technology
· energy prices in relation to the households' mean income.

Figure 1: Urban population growth predictions (WRI 1996)

As a general rule it can be stated that - not very surprisingly - the consumption of fuelwood and charcoal is directly related to its availability. Therefore forest energy consumption per person in cities is normally lower than it is in rural areas. Outside urban areas, wood in most cases is available as a 'free' supply. Forest growth, which determines the availability of fuelwood in Sahelian Countries, is directly related to the mean annual rainfall. Since fuelwood consumption is related to fuelwood availability, it too is directly related to the mean annual rainfall. Other factors have an influence on wood production: different land use patterns (e.g. settlement structures, agriculture, agro-forestry etc.); the type of forests (with respect to their growth); the steepness of the landscape etc.

An important factor for urban citizens' preference for one energy source or another certainly is the price they have to pay on the market. Figure 2 compares the prices for electricity, kerosene, butane, fuelwood, and charcoal in Senegal. Not surprisingly, the latter two are by far the cheapest energy sources, while electricity is the most expensive.

While electricity may be most people's choice as a convenient source of energy, it requires a considerably developed and properly maintained public infrastructure, which - in most cases -is either not available, or too expensive for the average household. Many people have to rely on kerosene, and butane as alternatives to fuelwood and charcoal.

Since energy consumption patterns are closely linked to the level of development, one should expect that with the average household's income rising, the use of fuelwood and charcoal would be immediately reduced. In reality, this is usually not true as initially most people do not shift to more convenient (though more expensive) sources of energy; instead, they simply use more energy.

This behaviour becomes more evident where large price differences exist between 'modern' expensive energy sources and traditionally cheap energy sources, such as fuel-wood and charcoal. Besides, no new equipment has to be bought. Exploitation of forest resources will be the inevitable consequence.

Only when the average household's income increases so far that buying a new stove, gas burner or electric installation becomes a realistic option, people will shift to gas or electricity. The use of fuelwood and charcoal will then drop quite sharply, and will remain stabilized at a comparatively low level afterwards.

Figure 2: Relative costs of fuels

Urban forestry's contribution to the solution of Sahelian energy problems

Having addressed some of the prime reasons for urban households' energy consumption, we have to ask what conclusions may be drawn and how urban forestry's future role in Sahelian cities may be defined.

Figure 3: Potential of forest energy production as a function of rainfall

As urbanization continues, the demand for energy will continue to increases rapidly, due to the sheer number of inhabitants, especially if their standards of living improve. Successful development will - in the long run -induce energy substitution and will thus reduce the pressure on forests, not only in the vicinity of cities but also in rural supply areas.

However, many poverty-stricken people are likely to remain dependent on fuelwood and charcoal as a prime source of energy over the next decade. As has been stated in the previous section, the process of changing the energy consumption pattern will start with a significantly increased demand for traditional, 'cheap' energy sources. Exploitation of urban forests and of woodlands in the vicinity of major Sahelian cities, as well as in some rural supplier areas, is a likely outcome and may aggravate the already grave erosion and desertification problems, besides jeopardizing urban forestry's intangible benefits.

Strategies to limit this energy and environmental crisis comprise an increase in forest production as well as a reduction of fuel-wood/charcoal consumption. Looked at in the short term, dissemination of energy-saving technology might be the best bet, as it helps people to use forest energy both effectively and efficiently and has an immediate impact. However, it is also clear that increasing the Sahelian forest production will remain an important and justified effort. This has been tried with varying success through large-scale afforestation, social/community forestry measures, and natural forests management. In the field of urban forestry very little information on its potential for fuelwood supply is available. However, one limiting factor is certainly the availability of suitable land. A rough estimate of the magnitude of a possible impact is made on the basis of the potential for forest production: Figure 3 shows the wood production of the fast growing eucalyptus tree compared with natural tree savannah for different amounts of rainfall.

If we take eucalyptus as the more productive alternative (although in reality certain species which respond better in urban areas would be chosen) it is possible to compare the theoretical wood production with the energy consumption in different Sahelian cities. For each of the five major Sahelian cities noted in Figure 4, if they have at their - disposal an urban plantation of 300 hectares (corresponding to 187,500 trees), it can be seen that for the rainfall available in those regions, only 200 to 1500 citizens could be sustainably supplied with fuelwood.

Figure 4: Area of trees necessary to supply one person with forest energy sustainably

These findings lead to the following conclusions:

Urban forestry is important if one considers the many positive impacts, but alone it cannot significantly contribute to mitigate the energy crises in Sahelian cities. The only possible option to improve the situation is to apply a holistic approach. This comprises such elements as support of different forest production systems, dissemination of fuelwood saving devices, fuelwood substitution, awareness creation and a favourable political and institutional framework. Such an approach has to include social, cultural, economic and technical aspects. It has to be flexible and adapted to local conditions. As part of such an approach, urban forestry can play an important role.

Electricity for low-power applications Micro Solar Lanterns for rural communities in Kenya

by Kieron Crawley, IT Consultants, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire CV23 9QZ, Tel: 44 (0)1788 661100, Fax: 44 (0)1788 661101

A solar lantern has been developed for use in rural Kenyan homes using sunlight to charge a battery during the day, which then powers a lamp after dark. This project has been developed by IT Consultants, together with project partners International Development Enterprises, in Kenya. Using a combination of highly technical production methods and participatory market surveys, IT Consultants hope to come up with a product that is tailor-made for Kenyan customers.

Market research

In order to develop the lantern effectively, the project team decided to carry out market research in two stages:

· The first stage (already complete) set out to determine which aspects of existing solar lantern designs were favourable to potential customers.

· The second stage will use working prototypes (designed with the results of the first survey clearly in mind) to gauge customers' reactions to the new design.

Market research, which is being carried out in several countries in the South is geared towards peoples' lifestyles and cultural backgrounds. Bearing this in mind, a number of studies have been carried out in Kenya by project partners Energy Alternatives Africa, which have attempted to identify which aspects of existing solar lantern designs are favoured by potential customers.

During the lantern survey, focus groups were used to measure reactions to particular design details. The ideas generated by these focus groups were recorded on paper and were also used to stimulate more general discussions where participants could air their viewpoints, and which often contained interesting and unexpected information.

· Survey groups yielded more accurate results when they were not dominated by a few knowledgeable individuals. Under these circumstances, everyone felt comfortable about having their say.

· The location and time of day for group surveys was important. Holding a survey after dark might at first seem to be the best way of demonstrating lanterns and their important characteristics to customers. In practice the team found that in rural areas with no street lighting, finding participants (women in particular) who were willing to travel from home at that time was more difficult!

· The team discovered that although participants drawn from slightly higher income groups are easier to access and interview, their spending patterns can differ from those of customers from the lower income households at whom the new products might be targetted.

· It is often difficult to collect accurate information about how much a customer is willing to pay for a new product, especially in communities where bargaining is part of everyday business. The question 'how much would you pay?' when asked directly is more likely to lead to bargaining rather than to yield any useful information! Asking instead how much the participants friend or relative might pay helps to depersonalize the question and avoids a temptation to haggle.

Figure 1: A solar lantern in use

As a result of the initial focus group study the project team were able to come up with a concise description of the 'ideal lantern'. The most important features were identified were as follows:

Service characteristics

· the maximum price of the lantern should be no more than $75

· the lantern should provide light for up to 4 hours each evening

· customers should have access to affordable and readily available spares

· customers expect an overall lifetime of the lantern of 6 years

· customers expect a 12 months warranty for the product

Design characteristics

· the lantern should give a 360 degree spread of light

· the bulb enclosure should allow maximum transmission of light with minimum dispersion

· the carry handle should be sturdy and comfortable

· the preferred choice of bulb was (5w cfl type)

· the lamp should be portable and weigh no more than 2.5 kg

· the lantern should be stable with a good base

Extra features for which potential customers expressed a need were:

· an indicator to show that lamp is charging

· a warning light to show that the lamp is about to switch off when the battery is low

· a power socket to allow a small radio to be connected to the unit.

The findings of this initial survey were used to produce a design, and as a result, the team have produced a new design for an injection moulded lamp which incorporates all of these features.

Rapid Prototyping

It is vital during the development of any new product to show customers a sample and to listen to their ideas about it. This is especially important if producing large quantities involves a lot of money to set up tooling and machinery. Until a few years ago designers could only produce 'block models' of new products of this type. These were constructed by hand from wood and plastic, and although they had the appearance of the final product they could not normally demonstrate how the new product would work. Today, computer-aided design (CAD), combined with rapid prototyping techniques and soft-tooling allows the designer to make a single copy of their new design in a matter of hours. This technique allows the designer to find out very quickly how his design will work, and more importantly, allows potential customers to give their opinions, all before any significant costs have been incurred.

In developing the solar lantern, the project team have been able to use facilities at Coventry University, UK, to produce a rapid prototype of the new lantern. This will in turn be used to produce a small batch of sample lanterns that will be tested in sample households in Kenya. This phase of research, used to measure customers' reactions to the new lantern design, has been designed by IT Consultants' project partners International Development Enterprises, working closely with ITDG staff in Kenya. Fully working test lanterns will be distributed to sample households where they will be used for a period of one week. Project researchers will then visit households and use a simple questionnaire to measure customers reactions.

If all goes well and the sample households feel positive about the lanterns, the next stage will be to pay for someone to make the tools for the injection-moulded components. It is likely that these will be produced in UK and then shipped to Kenya where the moulding and assembly of the lanterns will be carried out by locally appointed companies.

The ultimate success of any new product can be measured through sales figures. The first estimates show a potential market for over one million units in Kenya alone, if cost can be kept low. IT Consultants expect to use the experience gained in Kenya to assess the size of the demand for solar lanterns in other countries of the South. It will also be assessing the success of the international technological collaboration between IT Consultants in the UK and International Development Enterprises in Kenya.

The bicycle wheel water powered battery charger

by Elsen Karstad, PO Box 2437, Nairobi, Kenya

Throughout East Africa, old car batteries find a second home as a source of electric power for those living off the grid. Radios and small black & white television sets are the most common appliances powered by the battery, though some domestic electric lighting competes with the more popular kerosene lamp.

Batteries typically last ten days to two weeks in between charges, and it can cost as much as US$ 1.50 to be recharged by a village-based entrepreneur operating a charging station off the national grid. This regular top-up can entail a trek of many kilometres over rugged countryside, often carrying the heavy battery by bicycle or even balanced on a person's head. Some of the roughest and most inaccessible terrain is in mountainous regions, where plentiful sources of water are available which can be tapped to drive this simple battery charger.

A Chinese-made bicycle headlamp generator, of a type widely available throughout Africa, has an output of 12 Volts and 5.5 watts. It struck me that this was just under one amp, which was sufficient to trickle charge a car battery to full power over a ten to twelve hour period.

The unit cost breakdown (in US$ equivalent):
One almost-scrap bicycle:	11.30
Chinese-made bicycle headlamp and generator set:	6.55
Scrap iron, wires, clips and diodes:	7.40
Total Materials Cost:	25.5

Upon testing the brush-less 'generator' against the rotating tyre of my bicycle, I found that it produced an alternating current. A diode bridge was required to rectify the current to direct current in order to charge a car battery (Figure 1). Soldering four diodes together in the right direction is simple enough and works well, though at the expense of about 0.6 of a volt due to resistance within the diode; this can be compensated by increasing the speed of the waterwheel slightly.

Figure 1

An old, well-used bicycle was purchased from a willing vendor and the two wheels, complete with threadbare tyres, were mounted on a shared axle separated by six inches. The axle and wheels are supported by a simple double A-frame, with a two foot pipe extending up from one side acting as a mount for the generator which runs (as it should) on the side-wall of the tyre (not the rim). The frame is made of welded scrap angle iron (Figure 2)

Figure 2

The 16 paddles are made of thin galvanized iron salvaged from old roofing sheets. They are cut to bridge the gap between the two bicycle wheels, which are parallel and six inches (15 cm) apart at their hubs, and are simply folded over spokes on each wheel. If you can visualize a bicycle wheel's spoke arrangement, you will know that each spoke crosses another at about midpoint, forming an 'X'. The paddles are folded along a single spoke on either side of this cross-spoke which acts to centralize the paddles- preventing movement towards either the rim or the hub. Each paddle is eight inches (20 cm) long and extends to within four inches (10 cm) of the 21 inch (52 cm) diameter bicycle rim (Figure 3).

Figure 3

A stream of water from a two-inch pipe placed three to four feet above the paddlewheel serves to drive the unit. The paddlewheel must rotate at close to 100 rpm in order to spin the generator on the side wall of one tyre with enough speed to generate 13.5 volts. The battery is simply connected to the appropriate terminals and left to charge. A voltmeter or a hygrometer can be used to measure the state of charge of the battery.

An in-line voltmeter (optional) is mounted in the lid of a wooden box designed to hold the battery being charged. Large alligator clips connect the charging wires to the battery. The wiring is illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4

At time of writing, the water-wheel generator has been used on an almost daily basis for six months without a problem. It can be left unattended for the 8 to 10 hours charging period, and has not yet required maintenance.

Community participation in the development of an improved stove in a cold region of North India

by Rakesh Prasad TERI, Darbari Seth Block. Habitat Place, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India. e-mail: rakesbp@ten.res.in

Introduction

In rural India, the domestic sector accounts for nearly 75% of the total energy consumed; with cooking accounting for almost 90% of household energy use. Annually, the present level of consumption of fuelwood is around 200 million tonnes (Sinha C. S. et. al.), whilst it is estimated that the annual sustainable yield of fuelwood is only about 86 million tonnes. Thus, a wide gap exists between demand and sustainable supply. At the same time, traditional stoves have serious effects on the environment and lead to high levels of indoor air pollution, which affect the health of women and children.

This paper deals with the strategies adopted in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh for introducing an improved mud cooking stove, which has an embedded water tank. The altitude of Himachal Pradesh rises from 900m, its most prominent landmark is the perennial white snow-line on various peaks. The winters are quite severe with temperature sometimes dropping to -400C in the cold desert zone of Lahaul and Spiti districts. Thus, water and space heating are major requirements, apart from cooking (Aggarwal R, Chandel S S, 1997). The most commonly used stoves are traditional wood-burning mud stoves with efficiencies ranging from 8% to 10%. The common fuel species are pinus roxburghii, and Banj (Quercus), as well as a few other less common shrubs.

The traditional cooking stove was modified to meet the need for hot water expressed by the local community.

Community inputs

Initial results were obtained from a water-heating tank attached to a stove, which had been developed by a local housewife. An inbuilt water tank was -placed at the bottom of the firebox with connections to the bathroom. This design was modified to develop the TERI model of improved stove for the village. The new model was installed in a test household and monitored for one month. The design was modified several times after discussions with the households. The shape and design of the kitchen, and user preferences were considered, so that the stove design could be modified slightly to suit individual households.

Stove characteristics Two embedded water tanks (combined capacity 15 litres) one on each side of the fire box. These two tanks are connected to each other, they get their cold water supply from an overhead tank and the hot water can be drawn from a tap provided in the kitchen or the bathroom. Heat is conducted to the water tanks from the firebox, and hot water is available after igniting the stove. The tanks are covered with mud on the outside to reduce heat loss. Usually, a steam pipe is fitted to the overhead tank to vent the system. A chimney channels the smoke outside. A front damper maintains the temperature in the stove and water pipes. Figure 1: Schematic drawing of improved stove

Community Co-operation

Important factors in this project were:

· the involvement of the test household in the project

· their willingness to cope with repeated instructions and construction

· the co-operation of household members in providing valuable ideas for modification

The next step was to install the stove in five sample households, who were enthusiastic to adopt the system and were willing to pay for it. Further performance tests were carried out during this phase. Again, the willingness of households to adopt a test technology was important in this demonstration and dissemination phase.

Figure 3 Cooking time results (traditional and improved cooking stoves)

Stove performance tests

Two days were spent in making and installing the stove in each of the five households. During this time, household members were given detailed information on how the stove worked. A second visit was made after 4-5 days to show households how to use the stove. Ten to twenty days after installation, tests were carried out using improved and traditional models to compare fuel consumption and cooking time (tests were repeated); results showed that households saved both fuel (Figure 2) and cooking time (Figure 3); on average, about 45%. At the same time, users were asked what they thought about the improved model compared to their traditional stoves.

Technology Promotion

The improved stove models installed in the five households were used to demonstrate the technology to the local communities, and to provide data for technical performance assessment. To convince the village community about the benefits of the technology, the Mahila Mandal was asked to disseminate information as it was believed to have closer contact and more credibility with the community. (The Mahila Mandal is a social group, organized by women at village level for various social, economic and religious activities.)

At the same time, awareness programmes for village women were created dealing with: fuel-wood consumption; over-exploitation of resources, deforestation, health hazards from indoor pollution, and the benefits of improved cooking stove technology.

The test results from the performance surveys of the improved cooking stoves were shared with communities in neighbouring villages, who were invited to see the installed models themselves. The objective was to promote the technology in several villages and create a wider demand for the devices.

Figure 2: Fuel consumption results for five test households

Dissemination strategies

The dissemination strategy used in this project was successful because of the approach it adopted. Demand for the stove was generated by successive rounds of demonstration. After the first test model was installed, households in the village were approached, and a ranked list was prepared of volunteer households who wanted to adopt the stove in the first phase. Demonstrations of these stoves generated acceptance in surrounding households, who were able to see the stoves working before they made their decision.

Test results were shared with neighbouring villages, and Mahila Mandal groups were engaged to inform villagers of the benefits. Awareness programmes were held to promote the technology in terms of environmental and health benefits.

Figure 4 Improved stove in use

Assessing the demand for stoves

A demand assessment survey was conducted in several villages. The residents of nearby villages could visit the households and inspect the stoves for themselves and talk to the test households before making up their minds. About 20 households adopted the technology at this stage. When more stoves were installed, additional demand was generated.

Flexibility in stove design

Another aspect of acceptance was the flexibility of the improved cooking stove. Households could have extra features installed or the system modified according to their choice if they were willing to pay the additional cost.

In all 86 rural families from the 15 small villages benefited, improving their kitchens by giving them efficient and user-friendly cooking and water-heating devices. The most visible benefit was the availability of hot water without making extra work, and there were other gains, including fuel and time saved, and reduced smoke emissions during the cooking. The technology was well received, leading to demand from other households. It was noticed that households using the improved stove benefited by having more free time and being less tired. This has a direct impact on the time and care they can devote to their children, and the quality of their kitchen environment. It is also expected to provide an annual saving of 260 tonnes of biomass in the region.

Future Plans

The project has now ended and the programme has been handed on to a local NGO. Stoves are now being installed by local entrepreneurs, who have found that the design is well-accepted and considered desirable by the local community. Consequently, no further modifications are planned for the stove, although increasing its overall efficiency might be possible. It is currently priced at Rs 500-600 (Rs70 = £1UK) depending on the amount of pipe-work required, and compares favourably with the cost of an equivalent metal stove.

Figure 5 A lady drawing hot water from the tap connected to the stove

References:

1 Sinha C. S, Joshi V. 1997. Biofuel demand estimation in the rural domestic energy sector of India Rural and renewable energy: perspective from developing countries, Ramana P.V.(ed.), 128-140 pp. Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi.

2 Aggarwal R, Chandel S S. 1997. 'Thermal performance comparison of metal stove for snow bound area of Himachal Pradesh' SESI Journal, 7(1): 21-26

Commercialization of the Sewa Stove in Mali

by Brian Dotson¹ and Dr Eric Hyman²

¹ Appropriate Technology International (ATI)/Mali, s/c USAID, BP 34. Bamako, Mali. E- brian@ati.malinet.ml
² EnterpriseWorks Worldwide*, 1828 L Suite 1000, Washington DC, 20036, USA.
E-mail hymane@enterpriseworks.org
*(ATI/Mali's parent organization)

Following our article in BP41 entitled 'The household energy market in urban Mali', we received this information on the commercialization of the Sewa stove in which the authors clarify the position of their organization regarding subsidies and commercialization.

The role of ATI/Mali

ATI/Mali trains local, private entrepreneurs in the production of the Sewa stove, a modified stove design based on the Kenyan Jiko, and these entrepreneurs make and sell them on a commercial, profit-making basis. ATI/Mali provides support in the form of initial production research and tooling, training and quality control, and marketing campaigns (Figure 1). Through the latter, consumers are informed of the product's existence and performance and are then free to decide whether or not to contact a retailer or producer to purchase a Sewa stove. When they do, they pay the true retail cost, without price subsidies. ATI/Mali does not fix prices, pay a salary to producers, or pay consumers to purchase stoves.

The market determines which stoves are manufactured and sold

Except for small orders of promotional or test stoves, ATI/Mali does not contract for stove production or directly disseminate stoves. The entrepreneurs trained by ATI/Mali use their own working capital and sell directly to retailers and consumers; if they wish, they may, at the same time, produce competing stove models. Successful entrepreneurs make what they can sell at a profit. The artisans in question cite two principal reasons for producing the Sewa stove

· because there is no price set by ATI/Mali for their stoves, the price they charge depends on what the market will permit, and

· manufacturing the Sewa stove requires less physical effort and is more profitable; thus, market forces make them choose this stove

The Sewa stove is adapted to local conditions

Some important changes were made in the Sewa (Diambar in Senegal) before commercial production began in April 1997. The diameters of the four sizes of stoves promoted by ATI/Mali were specifically adapted to work with the pot sizes and larger household sizes found in Mali (Figure 2). The pot rests were bent slightly to increase the stove's efficiency with the rounded bottom of Malian pots. It was necessary to substitute wood ash for the vermiculite in the cement lining, since this was unavailable locally. The height was increased from 26.5 cm to 29.5 cm in response to consumer comments. Small, metal hinges to hold the liner in place were added as well as curved handles to make the stove easier to carry. Production improvements were also made to reduce costs and improve quality. The Sewa does not require any changes in the cooking methods used in Mali or the use of special types or sizes of pots unlike improved stove designs that require placement of the pot inside a metal chamber. The ceramic liner has particular benefits in preparing Malian cuisine, which is simmered for long periods.

Figure 1: Salesman selling stoves to motorist in Bamako, aided by ATI/Mali radio truck

Price subsidies artificially inflate demand and damage sustainability

Contrary to the belief that a ceramic-lined stove could not be produced and marketed in Mali, this stove has proved a success. As for removing the subsidy, there never was one. ATI/Mali feels that subsidies should not be an integral part of any project. Price subsidies artificially inflate demand for stoves and put the sustainability of any programme in doubt.

Efficiency of the Sewa stove

Boiling tests commissioned independently in May 1996 at the Centre National de L'Energie Solaire et des Energies Renouvelables (CNESOLER), a Malian government laboratory, showed virtually no efficiency difference between Jiko-type stoves imported from ATI/Senegal and the Nafacaman, a popular model promoted by SED. When CNESOLER ranked the top five stoves, there was little performance difference between the Jiko and the Nafacaman in terms of percentage output efficiency (28.97% vs. 28.11%); speed in bringing water to a boil (39.2 minutes vs. 37.8 minutes); and power (3.975 Kw vs. 4.276 Kw).

Figure 2: Larger-sized Sewa, developed in response to consumer demand

Further, the principal advantage of a ceramic liner is that it retains heat and thus reduces consumption at the end or simmering phase of cooking and this advantage is not measured by boiling tests. Cooking tests, where a typical Malian meal is prepared and the charcoal consumption of the different stove models is measured, more closely approximate actual conditions of stove use and give a truer measure of stove performance. In January 1999, ATI/Mali commissioned comparative cooking tests by CNESOLER; the high efficiency of the Sewa stove can be seen in the bar chart (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Charcoal consumption for CNESOLER cooking tests

In February and March 1999, ATI/Mali undertook a study in 130 Malian households to further confirm the Sewa's performance relative to other models under real use conditions. Measurements of actual charcoal consumption under real cooking conditions were taken over a three-week period for the Malagache, Nafacaman, and Sewa stoves. Survey work was completed on March l4th 1999, and although final data on relative consumption rates among the various stove models are not yet available, preliminary indications are that the final results will be similar to those presented above. At the end of the survey, of the 99 households which were offered the choice of keeping one of the test stoves; 65% chose to keep the Sewa, most people citing its greater efficiency as the primary reason for their preference.

Competition benefits consumers and the environment

For ATI/Mali, in the end it is the Malian consumer and environment that benefit from competition and a wider range of improved stove technologies on the commercial market. Over 8,200 Sewa stoves have been sold in Bamako since April 1997. In Senegal, over 50,000 ceramic-lined Diambar stoves have been sold since late 1991. Although this is a small number as compared to Dr. Massing's goal of 100,000 stoves (see BP41, p. 11), it represents true, unsubsidized, sustain-able stove distribution. Although the Sewa stove is more expensive, it has captured a growing share of the Bamako market following the launch of an aggressive television advertising campaign and the reduction of subsidies for the other stoves. This leads ATI/Mali to believe that stove sales continue to be limited by demand, and not by the supply and price of scrap metal.

'We need it indeed': results of the Boiling Point impact assessment review

Val Rea, Development Education Consultant, c/o Intermediate Technology, Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire CV23 9QZ, UK

In the spring of 1998 the Boiling Point team decided that they needed evidence from you, the reader, about how you use BP and how valuable it is to you and the people with whom you work. It is important to have this information so that the team can be sure that BP is doing a good job, so that it can be improved and so that there is evidence to let donors know that they are funding something worthwhile.

As a consultant, and one-time education officer for ITDG, I was asked to ensure that the assessment review was done properly and to document all the things that we discovered. Mindful of the costs involved, we decided to contact just 100 of the 1200 subscribers with a questionnaire. Many of this 100 readers had been receiving BP for several years and had also contacted Boiling Point already in various ways, so we knew we had a good chance of getting back the information we needed. Furthermore, the 100 were chosen to represent a good geographical spread and a wide variety of organizations and occupations (1). This was therefore what is called a purposive sample that enabled us to satisfy the specific needs of this project (2). The danger with such a sample is, of course, that it can make the results look better than they really are.

The questionnaires were sent out in July and by September we had had an excellent response of 35 replies. The questionnaire itself included boxes, with answers one could tick, as well as space for longer answers. It addressed the three key research questions:

· How do readers use the information in BP?

· What impact does BP have on its readers?

· What impact does BP have on communities living in the developing world - our target group?

How do readers use the information in BP?

The overwhelming impression we gained from reading the returned questionnaires was how highly you, the reader, value BP. There were no negative responses: many readers made helpful comments (such as requesting translations) and constructive suggestions for future articles.

Figure

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that no-one throws Boiling Point away: most of you keep all back copies, or at least some of them. Many copies are read by a large number of people (we estimate 9-14 per copy) but as one reader from El Salvador remarks, 'It is very hard for me to lend a copy because of the risk of losing it is high. Sometimes I have lent copies to colleagues. No more!'

Readers come from a range of organizations, from governments, NGOs, research and education to individual consultants and enthusiasts. They work with a wide range of people from policy makers and training institutions to local community groups and artisans. All value BP as a source of technical information:

'The artisans and technicians pay particular attention to the photographs and details of drawings' (reader from the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, India).

'New knowledge in our R&D activities' (doctor from an Institute of Fuel Research and Development. Bangladesh).

Most readers also value BP as a source of social and economic information, as a way of keeping up-to-date with energy issues and of networking with others in the field:

'It informs us about a lot going on in the same field [with] up to date information [from] other countries' (Solar Network of Tanzania).

'Up to date information at international level suggests ways and means of overcoming the stumbling blocks in the field' (reader from the Gandhi Niketan Ashram, India).

Boiling Point is frequently used for training and workshops for fieldworkers and producers:

'It helps to educate rural women to use simple techniques to save the environment' (reader who works with the GIA/NABIO Agroforestry Development Organisation).

Policy makers are a very important audience for BP's messages, and it was encouraging to find out that a number of readers consider that is has a role in the education of decision makers:

'BP can contribute to solving problems by sensitising experts and policy makers through its publications', (a reader who works with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopia).

'There is a great need to turn the minds of the ordinary politician to know, realise and legislate against hewing down of trees [and consider] fuel efficient stoves. These two find common ground of redress and prompted action in some of the articles that appear in Boiling Point (reader from the Ministry of Transport and Energy, Zimbabwe).

What impact does BP have on its readers?

Asked to judge how useful BP is to their work, the overwhelming majority of readers replied that it is very or quite useful. It is readers in the South who most often find it 'very' useful. This is not perhaps a surprising finding, but it is a very important perspective on the value of the journal. As a reader and contributor to BP from China puts it, 'We need it indeed'.

It is extremely difficult to attribute an impact to one particular source of information. As one reply from Chile observes, 'BP is not our only source, so our work is a result of many contributions, besides BP'...however, some examples sent to us were quite explicit in attributing impact to specific issues of BP.

What impact does BP have on the target group?

This is by far the most difficult question, and the one with which we have made least progress so far. When we were deciding on the research strategy, we decided we would send several follow-up letters to seek further information on impact in the form of case studies. We were delighted to receive responses from several readers, and their case studies will be featured next issue. This is valuable evidence and we would like a lot more of it!

It is very difficult to decide what are the most important parts of BP unless you tell us what you really want. However, if you write to us with information about how you have used BP and how it has helped the people you work with, it would help us a great deal, and we would be most grateful. Because we only wrote to 100 readers we have missed valuable information and we would certainly like to receive it, whether you were included in the original sample or not. If you would prefer to reply by filling in a copy of the original questionnaire, please write to the editor and you will receive a copy. In the next edition of BP we intend to publish several case studies, (some of which we have already received). They may also be put into a booklet to accompany our Impact Assessment Report, which will soon be published (3).

In conclusion

Impact assessment is something that the team will continue to do, in order to keep the journal useful for you, the reader. However, in the report that concluded the first stage; these important observations were made:

As far as this purposive sample is concerned, BP is, without a doubt, doing the right things. It will continue to be effective if you, the readers, and the editor keep in contact with each other. If you feel that BP is not covering all the types of material which we should, please contact the editor who will try to include them where appropriate. Some of the requests from those who were contacted are shown in Box 1. If you know about any of these topics, or would like to make further suggestions, please consider writing an article and passing on your expertise.

The high level of satisfaction shown by the questionnaire illustrates that BP seems to be doing things right. The only question here is how far a translation service into other languages would add to the journal's efficiency in communicating its message to other readers who might like to receive it.

References

1 Judge, E. Research Assistant, Information Services Unit, ITDG, carried out initial selection

2 Robson, C. (1993) Real World Research, Blackwell, Oxford

3 Rea, V. Boiling Point Review: towards an impact assessment. ITDG Rugby 1999

Box 1 · Addresses of free resource materials and other support · Articles which improve the technical aspect without dismantling the local culture and traditions · Biogas · Book reviews, information about discussion forums, web pages etc. · Follow up of projects from ~5 years; what happened after, and why? · Fuel and environment · Funding possibilities · How to build a chimney through or around a thatched roof · Articles presented in very simple format and language use · Inbuilt cooking stoves with chimneys · Innovations in industrial countries · Kerosene, LPG and natural gas stoves · Means for household energy demand in arid lands · Pollution · Projects for funding · Renewable Energy Technologies in Africa · Rural electrification · Rural/urban interdependence · Simple technology in tree nurseries, growing and maintenance · Socio-cultural constraints · Solar energy for household water and other applications · Stoves and the environment · Successful programmes which have been introduced to a community, which has then gone on to solve outstanding problems · Where to buy/or costs to make/briquetting press

Publications

Recent publications

Books by post

This catalogue, published by ITDG, contains a comprehensive list of recommended titles on Appropriate Technology and Development issues for use by development professionals worldwide. The titles listed in Books by Post are selected from those published by a range of publishers and are available for worldwide supply by mail order from IT Publications. The catalogue is available free of charge from Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd., 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)171 436 9761; Fax: +44 (0)171 436 2031; orders@itpubs.org.uk

Energy efficiency for small and medium scale enterprises

by Elizabeth Muguti, Saskia Everts, Bob Schulte and Linda Smallegange

This book shows that the improvement of product efficiency can be in harmony with financial gains. In particular, it aims to provide basic information on energy-saving options for those involved with the economic empowerment of micro-entrepreneurs. It forms part of the Energy and Environment Technology Source Books. ISBN 85339 446 7, pp. 72, IT Published in association with UNIFEM and TOOL Consult.

The Energy Dimension: A practical guide to energy in rural development programmes

by Christopher Hurst and Andrew Barnett

Helps planners identify energy needs early on so they can be integrated into project design, Summarizes key issues, with detailed discussion of energy options and the dynamics of supply and demand; plus fact sheets and checklists for quick reference

ISBN 1 85339 074 7 pp. 160 1990

Financing Renewable Energy Projects A guide for development workers

Jenniy Gregory, Semida Silveira, Anthony Derrick, Paul Cowley, Catherine Allinson, Oliver Paish Access to affordable energy is essential for sustainable economic development and improvement in living standards. The aim of this book is to act as a guide for development workers for financing small renewable systems and a source of reference for further in-depth investigation.

This is a practical guide for use by NGOs, development workers, local communities, students, and donors who wish to start a financing scheme for small renewable energy systems in a developing region.

ISBN 1 85339 387 8 pp. 146 1997

Low-cost electrification: Affordable electricity installation for low-income households in developing countries

Nigel Smith

This Working Paper, part of a series, contains a complete review of the problems faced by poor users; high connection costs, high costs of house-wiring, houses failing to meet standard requirements, constraints faced by power utilities such as high capital costs and high costs of revenue collection. The paper suggests a number of new and practical approaches, and ways to implement them

ISBN 85339 454 8 pp. 38 1998

Rural Lighting: a guide for development workers

Jean-Paul Louineau, Modibo Dicko, Peter Fraenkel, Roy Barlow and Varis Bokalders

This book addresses the question of choosing and using 'stand-alone" lighting systems for use in rural areas. Topics covered include sizing and positioning lights and the use of reflectors, Also includes an up-to-date 'buyers guide' on lighting systems ISBN 85339 200 6 pp. 120 1993

Windpumps: A guide for development workers

Roy Barlow, Francis Crick, Peter Fraenkel, Anthony Derrick and Varis Bokalders

The wind is a renewable energy resource that can never be exhausted, and which avoids pollution, making it one of the most environmentally sound energy options available,. This book takes the reader through every aspect of wind energy in a systematic way.

ISBN 1 85339 126 3 pp. 144 1993

All the books listed above are available through 'Books by Post'

'The Bread Builders', Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens

by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott.

This book is directed at the local U.S. market but could be applied worldwide, where simplicity and low technology is either desirable or the only possibility. The author asserts that the oven efficiency is five to ten times that of a traditional oven. The Bread Builders shows you how to bake bread, initially building your own masonry oven. The first half of the book talks about grains and flours, leavens and doughs, the chemistry of bread, and the physics of baking.

The second half provides a step-by-step guide to constructing a masonry oven. The authors also profile more than a dozen small-scale bakers around the U.S. whose practice community oriented baking based on whole grains and natural leavens.

60 b&w photos, 12 colour photos, illustrations, plans, recipes.

ISBN 1-890132-05-5

Workshop reports

Regional Workshop on Women and Sustainable Energy in Africa proceedings

The Regional Workshop on Women and Sustainable Energy in Africa held a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya January 21-22, 1999. The meeting looked at the various constraints facing women in the use of energy, mainly in developing countries, and was the initiative of the Energia organization. It also looked at ways in which women can be involved in energy planning in the future. Contact: Stephen Gitonga; IT Kenya, P.O. Box 39493, Nairobi, Kenya.

Workshop on Sawmill Waste Management

This document presents the proceeding of a workshop, initiated by the Mutare City Council, convened in July 1998 by the Energy Forum for Zimbabwe, Intermedi ate Technology, and the Mutare City Environmental Forum. It brings forward the perspective of industry, the regulators, government, local communities, and environmentalists and draws on international experiences to propose options for sustainable saw-milling activities in Zimbabwe. Contact: Tobias Chipare, ITZ Energy Projects Officer, IT Zimbabwe, PO Box 1637, Mutare, Zimbabwe.

Useful journals

Wood Energy News Wood Energy News is a colourful, highly illustrated 24-page journal. It is published on a regular basis, addresses a wide variety of wood energy issues, such as woodfuel resources, woodfuel flows, wood energy planning and policies, and wood energy technologies. Its purpose is to share information on wood energy with its subscribers. Suggestions, reactions or contributions are more than welcome. Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia (GCP/RAS/154/NET), FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. Email rwedp@fao.org Website: htp//www.rwedp.org

Energia News

Energia News is the 16-page newsletter of the Energia network. Energia seeks to promote information exchange, training research, advocacy and action aimed at strengthening the role of women in sustainable energy development. Energia News, Secretariat, c/o TOOL consult, Sarphatistraat 650, 1018 AV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail toolconsult@tool.nl
Website: http://www.energia.org

Renewable Energy and Environment News:

This newsletter is published by the Tanzania Traditional Energy Development and Environment Organisation (TaTEDO). TaTEDO's mission is to develop and promote rational use of renewable energy systems. These include fuel-efficient stoves and ovens, agroforestry practices, bio-gas and solar energy technologies, through provision of relevant information, knowledge and skills geared toward the socio-economic development of Tanzanian communities and environ-mentally sound practices. TaTEDO, PO Box 327944, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Email tatedo@raha.com

Regional Energy News: A quarterly newsletter on energy in Africa

An 8-page journal published by the Forest Action Network dealing with small-scale energy provision, book review, profiles, letters. Letters and articles from readers are encouraged. The Forest Action Network, PO Box 21428, Nairobi, Kenya.

Email fankenya@africaonline.co.ke

Website: http://www.ftpp.or.ke

Forest Energy Forum

A new 28-page publication published by the FAO looking at energy issues. Short articles, plenty of reviews, news on networks, a letter page, and news from various countries. Forest Energy Forum - FOPW, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Email Forest-Energy-Forum@fao.org

Website: http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/forestry/energy/feforum.htm

What's happening in household energy?

Adoption Barriers for Efficient Domestic Energy in Refugee Sites

From the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Knowledge and Research programme:

Demonstration of a rapid assessment method which identifies the cultural barriers to the adoption of efficient domestic energy practices within communities of displaced persons. This will enable aid organisations to introduce strategies more successfully that reduce fuelwood demand. The behaviour categories being studied are: Use of alternative fuels, firewood collection, woodlot planting, cooking methods, fire management, use of improved stoves, and use of fuel-efficient cooking utensils.

Contact: Dr Simon Batchelor, Gamos Ltd, 152 Cumberland Road, Reading RG1 3JY, U.K. Tel: +44 118 926 7039, Fax: +44 118935 1374, E-mail: simon@gamos.demon.co.uk

Poverty Alleviation Aspects of Household Stoves Programmes

From the UK DFID Knowledge and Research programme:

The aim of this new project is to study in detail the poverty alleviation, employment, and SME informal sector development effects of household improved stove programmes. It will determine systematically how successful these stoves are in saving households energy, thereby reducing their expenditures. It will also determine whether the commercial success of such stoves is matched by business success in terms of financial returns for producers and suppliers. In both instances, the objective will be to determine the poverty impact of commercially successful stove programmes in the long-term. The work will also examine the knock-on effects of improved stove programmes by looking at how other stove producers have coped in the wake of these stoves' successes (e.g. whether they have shifted to producing similar new stoves, etc.) and how charcoal suppliers, particularly urban market vendors, have fared in light of the commercial success of these stoves.

Information on ITDG programmes can be found on the inside back cover, and GTZ programmes are described on the centre pages

Contact: Alastair Gill, Energy for Sustainable Development Ltd. Over-moor Farm, Neston, Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 9TZ, U.K. Tel: +44 1225 816806, Fax: +44 1225812103, E-mail: alastair@esd.co.uk

Methods for measuring exposure of women and children to indoor smoke pollution in less developed countries; request for information

The exposure of very large numbers of women and children to smoke from cooking and other uses of stoves in the home is now recognised as a major cause of ill-health in many of the world's poorest countries. The World Health Organisation's Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, with whom I am working, is looking at ways to reduce the health problems caused by this exposure. This was the subject of an article that I wrote in Boiling Point No 40 (1998) entitled 'Smoke from biomass and its effects on infants'. As part of this work, we wish to support the development of simple, low-cost, yet reasonably accurate methods of measuring exposure.

As a first step, we would like to find out more about the experience and needs of people working in the household energy field, and who are interested in this issue. This will help us determine the need for both technical assistance, and for further development of methods for assessing smoke exposure in the home. If you are carrying out this type of exposure assessment, or are thinking of doing so. I would very much like to hear from you. We are interested in your ideas and experience. whatever stage your work is at. This project is about developing methods that can be used routinely in development work, and not about laboratory-type research.

If this is at all relevant to your work, I would be grateful if you could get in contact, giving a contact name, address, and if possible, phone, fax, e-mail. Thank you.

Contact: Dr Nigel Bruce, Department of Public Health, University of Liverpool, Whelan Building, Quadrangle, Liverpool, L69 3GB, UK. Tel: +44-(0) 151-794-5576, Fax: +44-(0)151-794-5588 E-mail:ngb@liv.ac.uk

Invitation to join the HEDON network

Do you have email and wish you had more contact with others working in household energy?...then join the email list of the Household Energy Development Organisation's Network (HEDON)!

HEDON is an informal consultative forum dedicated to improving social, economic, and environmental conditions in the south, through promotion of local, national, regional and international initiatives in the household energy sector. It does this in two ways: By encouraging appreciation of, and support for, household energy programmes among decision-makers and the general public in developing and developed countries, and by enhancing the professional knowledge of individuals and organisational workers in the household energy sector.

In order to join you should be:

· working in the field of household energy (with interest in environment, health, technical development, dissemination, etc.)

· involved with less developed countries, urban and rural; and,

· involved in research, policy, or development work.

To receive details of how to join send an email to: hedon@energy. demon.nl or visit the HEDON web site at http://www.energy.demon.nl/hedon/

Indoor Air '99

Kirk Smith has let us know of this meeting, which will take place in Edinburgh, August 8-13, 1999. Further details can be found on web-site: http://www.ia99.org. Unfortunately, only a few percent of the 1000 or so papers and posters to be presented at the conference deal with developing-country household issues. Kirk will be giving a plenary speech on the study 'National Burden of Disease from Indoor Air Pollution in India'. Cost is expected to be around £500 UK

For registration details contact:

IA99, Suite 325, 36 Washington St, Glasgow G3 8AZ UK. Tel 44-141-221-5411; fax: 221-2411; ia99@concorde-uk.com

For scientific issues contact: Mrs. Claire Aizlewood, BRE, Garston, Watford, Herts, WD2 7JR, UK. Tel: 44-1923-664-123; Fax: 664-443; E-mail: IA99@bre.co.uk

Renewable Energy Development Activities at TaTEDO

The next three entries were taken from Renewable energy and environment news; the newsletter of TaTEDO (Traditional energy development and environment organization).

A new TaTEDO programme on Integrated Renewable Energy Development and Environment Conservation in Tanzania will be launched in July 1999. Contact: Mr E.N. Sawe, Executive Director, TaTEDO, PO Box 32794, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Fax: 255 (0)52-74400 E-mail<tatedo@raba.com>

ELCT-Solar Technologies Workshops

ELCT, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania has workshops in Lushoto, Lupembe and Mpwapwa for production of small solar lanterns and parabolic solar cookers of the type SKI 2 and SK14. ELCT is planning to open more of these workshops in the country in the near future. For more information contact:

ELCT, PO Box: 3033, Arusha, Tanzaniea. Tel: +255 (0)57 8855/7 Fax: +255- (0) 57-8858

World Environment Day

The Tanzanian national celebrations of this anual world-wide event will take place in Mwanza or Shinyanga on June 5th 1999. For more information contact: Director General, National Environment Management Council, PO Box 65154, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Tel: 0811 340049

Cree Industries

The amount of bio-waste available as a resource throughout the world is staggering. People continue to cut down trees, for fuel. My company Cree Industries compacts dry biomass (rice husks, shells, charcoal dust, sawdust, wood shavings, palm oil residues, peanut shells, coal dust, etc.) into small burnable logs (Sunlogs) which are burnt in an efficient inexpensive stove.

John Olsen. President. Cree Industries, 200- 100 Park Royal South, West Vancouver.B.C. V7T 1A2. CANADA. Telephone Fax (604) 533 4950 e mail; cree@dowco.com.ICQ #3209124.

Costich Company

Dale Costich builds the Goldstar compact fluorescent lights that can be seen at the website http://mem-bers.tripod.com/~costich. 'I build them with the highest quality components and they are used daily in my own off grid residence. They make great solar rechargeable lanterns, when powered by small nicad and nimh cells and are recharged from a 12vdc battery by my automatic buck charger.' For further details contact:

Costich Co. 15509 NE 129st Brush Prairie, Wa. 98606 USA

Field Research Program on Energy Technology, Health, and the Environment Integrated Risk and Decision Management The focus of our research is 'household ecology' that considers the links between human activity, human environment within and surrounding the home, cattle compounds, fuelwood resources, and public health. Our work emphasizes the role, of household energy technology (traditional and improved cook-stoves) in shaping the household environment, the impacts of the latter on human health, and the local knowledge of these issues.

Project Profile

Project Location

Mpala Ranch/Research Centre. Laikipia District, Kenya

Duration

1996-present

Households in the study group

80 (400 -500 persons)

Data collected

TSP*, CO**, health status, technology use, time-activity budget

Funding (available until the end of 1999)

Summit Foundation, Compton Foundation, ASAL Development Programme Laikipia District, SSRC, CIS, CRS. Funding needed for the coming year

* Total suspended particulates

** Carbon monoxide

Contacts: Majid Ezzati, Daniel M. Kammen, Bernard M. Mbinda, Mpala Research Centre, P.O. Box 555, Nanyuki, Laikipia, Kenya. E-mail: GMC@AfricaOnLine.co.ke.

ITDG energy news

Boiling Point

The team producing Boiling Point has been involved in an 'impact study' to see in what ways Boiling Point is being used, and what can be done to make it more useful for you, the reader. A full account of this study appears in this edition.

Two changes appear in this edition of Boiling Point: an altered section on publications; many more publications, with shorter reviews; a new section on household energy projects, workshops, and seminars. If you would like to tell others about your project or forthcoming seminar, with a view to hearing from others working in the same field, please write a few lines about your project to the editor, with a contact name and address, and we will try to publish it. We would also like to know your opinions about whether the new sections are worthwhile and relevant, and any other way in which you feel that we can improve the journal. Contact: Elizabeth Bates, Intermediate Technology, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK

Other UK projects

Urban energy

Until recently, ITDG's activities have been targeted at poor people in rural areas because of their social, economic and political marginalization. However, over the last two decades, populations in urban areas have experienced dramatic growth rates, and their needs have largely gone unnoticed. DFID has funded preliminary research on Access to Energy for the Urban Poor with direct inputs from country offices and non-IT countries. Contact: Simon Dunnett or Alison Doig, Intermediate Technology, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK

Smoke and health

This project, run jointly between IT head office and IT Kenya has been identified by both the Energy team and Shelter team in Kenya as a key project, which has benefited from the assistance of a number of experts in this field. Baseline results on particulate and carbon monoxide levels from the two communities involved in the project are ready for analysis. These levels will be measured again following the introduction of modifications such as increased ventilation and improved stoves, to assess the benefits of the various types of intervention. Contact: Alison Doig, Intermediate Technology, Schumacher Centre for Technology & Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, CV23 9QZ, UK or Stephen Gitonga, IT Kenya, P.O. Box 39493, Nairobi, Kenya

Overseas projects

The annual review for all ITDG projects has just been published; this is a brief summary of some of the projects listed in it:

Development and marketing of the Upesi stove

This project is aimed at establishing a sustainable commercial market for improved rural stoves in West Kenya. The new model of the Upesi has been shown to save up to 43% of fuel; a significant result as some 10,000 improved stoves were produced and sold last year in West Kenya. The project also aims at improving kitchen conditions, and over 150 kitchens were improved with stoves being built into them. The project is contributing to livelihoods of marginalized groups of artisans. The impact of the project is growing as Ministry of Agriculture staff, linked to the project, are slowly adopting the practices advocated by it.

Contact: Hellen Owalla; ITDG West Kenya Office, PO Box 2260, Kisumu, KENYA

Household energy regional project, East Africa

The purpose of this project is to increase access to appropriate energy-saving options to poor households in East Africa. This project is now in its final year, for which the main activities were to document the project and promote best practices among the partners. The outcome is the Training Guidelines Manual and the People Approach Manual, which have been completed and are awaiting publication. A major success is the documentation of the impact on partners' activities by the use of pre-formatted tools for monitoring activities. It has been found that this approach works when working with a wide range of partners, and as a result the project has received substantial impact information.

Contact: Stephen Gitonga; IT Kenya, P.O. Box 39493, Nairobi, KENYA

Hidrored

The purpose of this journal is to disseminate appropriate information on the most efficient use of micro-hydroelectric power.

Hidrored is produced every four months; it has more than 700 subscribers involved in micro-hydro power. In terms of influence, the magazine reaches technicians, engineers, state entities, financial organizations, universities and NGOs in developed and developing countries.

Contacts are also maintained with other networks specializing in hydro-power, such as e-NET and MHPG (micro-hydro power group), and articles are exchanged between HIDRORED and e-NET magazines. Published in Spanish.

Contact: Teodoro Sanchez, IT Peru, Casilla, Postal 18-0620, Lima 18, Peru

Back cover

Boiling Point is a technical journal for those working with stoves and household energy. It deals with technical, social, financial and environmental issues and aims to improve the quality of life for poor communities living in the developing world.

Our mission is to build the technical skills of poor people in developing countries, enabling them to improve the quality of their lives and that of future generations Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd., Patron: HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, OCB Company Reg No. 871954, England. Reg. Charity No. 247257