[Stoves] What will people pay for a stove?
Charlie Sellers
csellers42 at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 29 16:24:20 CST 2010
I changed the subject line because we were drifting, and retained Crispin's
comments below because they bring up good points. We seem to be mixing up what
people "can" pay (e.g. if they take into account their fuel expense savings due
to a new stove, or possible future income from biochar) and what they "will"
pay. Too often we seem to be assuming that all of the world follows first world
logic in making financial decisions - we all may hope to choose a new appliance
based on a careful analysis of the different models available and the potential
cost savings, but people in other circumstances often reason in other ways.
During my stove projects in Central/South America I certainly see the leaking
of cash on hand - no matter how low the local income, kids seem to have money
for a frozen chocolate covered banana, and I once saw an entire ice cream cart
hauled by truck high into the Andes to deliver treats to a distant weekly
market. Even people with low incomes want some of it to be disposable, and I
doubt that we are easily going to be able to change that by insisting that
sacrificing their little pleasures (to save and buy a stove) might be in their
best interest. We have lots of information available to us when making such
decisions, and we value what we read and hear, but what if in a different
culture they are used to only believing what they experience for themselves?
Another leakage I see often is for alcohol - women in some areas know that they
must spend all of their money by the weekend, or it will be spent by someone on
whatever the local alcoholic beverage is. It is likely that they don't see that
they have another option for now - saving money in banks has not been something
that people in their situation do, and until we change that then leakage will be
all too common and improved stoves mostly too expensive. Microfinance
(experiencing problems right now in India) is one approach, but micro-savings is
something I expect we'll be seeing more of:
http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/gates-foundation-to-give-500-million.html
And as we know, making such financial services options available to women is
particularly important - they tend to gather the fuel and get the most exposure
to smoke. But they don't necessarily make spending (or savings) decisions for
the family, and that situation is hard to change.
The western stoving community still too often seems fixated on technical aspects
of getting improved stoves into the marketplace, when we need to spend a little
more time trying to think like our potential customers. For example, before we
push biochar from stoves, shouldn't we be soliciting reports from the field on
efforts to determine if people are willing to divert potential cooking fuel to
their fields - based on the scanty evidence that we can provide to them on
potential agricultural benefits? We may have published papers that support our
point of view - certainly we are learning more every day - but can we presently
offer a persuasive explanation that low income families will accept? Thinking
like a single mother who is probably already overwhelmed with responsibilities,
it is hard for me to justify paying more for a char producing stove when no one
has yet demonstrated to me more of the vegetables my family eats from the soil
type in my own backyard with the amount of char I will produce. TLUDs of course
have other benefits - low emissions, cleaner pots, possibilities for cheaper
fuels, etc. - and those we can easily demonstrate to people, so we should start
with these.
The only ICS that is successful is one that people will buy and keep using in an
efficient manner (and recommend to their neighbors) - how can we design stoves
and stove programs so that this happens? I suggest that it is by spending a
little more time being realistic about sociocultural issues within our target
communities, instead of imagining that they think just like we do. What choices
to people have, and how do they make them?
Charlie
________________________________
From: CrispinPemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at gmail.com>
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 10:36:48 AM
Subject: Re: [Stoves] K Smith Article in Energy for Sustainable Development
Dear Boston
In Zambia, a charcoal stove that costs more than $3.50 won’t sell. The standard
one is $1.50.
The reason is the inability to accumulate that much cash. I have seen work by
Cecil Cooking showing that ten days income is the maximum cash people can
generally accumulate (about 1/3 of a month’s income). Above that is starts to
leak out of the pocket.
$10 is above the cost people can usually pay for a stove. $5 has a chance
without finance (like two payments).
Here in Ulaanbaatar people can afford to pay $75 if it is financed, no problem.
The Xas Bank is doing exactly that. The stoves are subsidised by $50 as well (it
is actually a $125 stove). It saves about $300 per heating season so it is a
no-brainer if financing is offered.
Regards
Crispin
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