Development of a fuel efficient cookstove through a participatory bottom-up approach

September 12, 2013 · 0 comments

Energy, Sustainability and Society 2013, 3:16.

Development of a fuel efficient cookstove through a participatory bottom-up approach.

Vijay H Honkalaskar, et al.

Background – Since 1940s, other than a few success stories, the outcomes of efforts of development and dissemination of improved cookstoves a have not been so fruitful. This paper presents a bottom-up approach that was successfully implemented to develop a fuel-efficient cookstove in a tribal village that has resulted in a substantial reduction in firewood consumption.

Method – The approach ensured people’s participation at multiple stages of the process that started from project selection by capturing people’s needs/desires and studying the existing cooking practice to understand its importance in the local context. The performance of the cookstoves was evaluated by modifying a standard Water Boiling Test to accommodate the existing cooking practice. The improvement of the cookstove was achieved by fabricating a simple twisted tape assembly that could be placed on it without changing the existing cookstove.

Results – The optimization of the twisted tape device was first carried out in the laboratory and then implemented in the field. The field-level tests resulted in reduction of firewood consumption by around 21% which is a substantial improvement for such a device. It was also found that the improvement reduced soot accumulation by around 38% and time of cooking preparations by around 18.5%.

Conclusion – Overall, a bottom-up and participatory process that not only addressed people’s perceived needs but also ensured no changes in the existing cooking practice while providing an easy, low cost (around US$1.25) c, and locally manufacturable solution led to a highly successful improvement in the local cookstove that was accepted easily by the villagers.

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