[Stoves] What poor means?

[Anand Karve]

Dear Paul,
You may add the cooperation of the government of the targeted
recipient country as one more point to your list. Our Sarai cooking
device (a steam cooker with an inbuilt charcoal burning stove) cooks
with just 100 g charcoal, a full meal of rice, beans and vegetables
for about 4 to 5 persons. It is ideally suited for many African
countries, but all of them charge an import duty on this device. We
tried to find collaborators who would be willing to manufacture them
in Africa, but failed to find anybody having the necessary machinery.
The device is made of stainless steel. The import duty drives the
price higher. So, unless the government of the concerned country
co-operates, we cannot help the citizens of that country.
Yours
A.D.Karve

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 7:06 AM, Paul Olivier <paul.olivier at esrla.com> wrote:
> I suggest:
>
> that we collaborate in coming up with some of the best designs of cook
> stoves for particular forms of biomass;
> that we look for countries uniquely positioned to fabricate at the most
> competitive prices;
> that we use the highest quality materials in our fabrication;
> that we employ some of the most advanced mass production techniques;
> that we buy in large quantities to further reduce price;
> that we sell at cost, or perhaps below cost, to the poor;
> that we operate with total transparency in making known our fabrication
> costs;
> that we ask the rich to voluntarily pay more to subsidize the sale to the
> poor.
>
> The effort to provide good cook stoves does not have to be a money-making
> endeavor.
> It could easily become a world-wide collaborative effort involving many
> people on this stove list.
>
> Thanks.
> Paul Olivier
>
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 3:13 AM, Dean Still <deankstill at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Phil,
>>
>> I think that if we factor in the ill health and climate change caused by
>> incomplete combustion of biomass, society as a whole saves money by
>> subsidizing the 50% fuel reduction and 90% emission reduction cooking stove.
>> However, as Bryan Wilson points out in his presentations, the bottom of the
>> pyramid consumer is not motivated to pay for these improvements.
>>
>> My hope is that someone will be smart enough and stubborn enough to
>> manufacture a market driven stove that meets the 50% and 90% level of
>> performance. And, the necessary push to accomplish this difficult task would
>> be very much assisted by a firm order for 1 million stoves from some
>> motivated funder who also locates and secures the distribution network.
>>
>> Making the 50% and 90% stove is the relatively easy part. I would guess
>> that the commercial distribution side is 10 times harder. I can imagine
>> distributing 100 million stoves by selling at the market price to cooks who
>> then use the stoves and the funder makes the money back on the carbon
>> credits.
>>
>>  I hear that Envirofit is doing something along these lines?
>>
>> All Best,
>>
>> Dean
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 9:58 AM, Phil Hughes <nicafyl at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> The $2/day number can clearly mean very different things in different
>>> places. I live in rural Nicaragua and can offer some data that at least fits
>>> here. And here is a place where fuel-efficient stoves really are needed.
>>>
>>> For those with work, $2/day is the going wage. There are lots of people
>>> who seldom work so $2/day/family in this area as far as cash income is
>>> pretty high. That said, most people have enough land to grow much of what
>>> they eat and few have any debts.
>>> The cash gets spent on batteries for radios, cooking oil, salt, sugar,
>>> rice and minimally on clothing. That's really about it. But, having no
>>> savings and living day-to-day on what they have is typical. That is, if they
>>> had a good week they might buy batteries for the radio but, if not, just not
>>> listen to it.
>>> Health care and education are free so they are non-issues (for pretty low
>>> quality for each). That pretty well defines rural life here.
>>> Telling someone they can reduce fuel consumption by 50%, get rid of smoke
>>> in the house and such is not going to compute if an investment is needed.
>>> They will walk farther to cut wood for cooking and pretend the smoke is a
>>> non-issue. Thus, these people are unlikely to get excited about "something
>>> better" if an investment is needed.
>>> What will work is if they can go to a workshop showing them how to make a
>>> stove using mud and something that is available as scrap or given to them.
>>> Beyond that, good luck.
>>> --
>>> Phil Hughes
>>> nicafyl at gmail.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Paul A. Olivier PhD
> 27C Pham Hong Thai Street
> Dalat
> Vietnam
>
> Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)
> Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)
> Skype address: Xpolivier
> http://www.esrla.com/
>
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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)