[Stoves] [Ethos] Mali

Tue Oct 30 14:46:10 CDT 2012

Tom,

I agree. I think that adopting a systems based way of thinking of village energy is critical to our future - in the developing world and everywhere else.

Mark

On Oct 28, 2012, at 5:02 PM, Tom Miles wrote:

Mark,

Let’s hope that you can find ways to maintain a certain level of continuity. This is important and unique work. We haven’t seen attempts t do this since 1980s.

I find that the concepts that you are working with are helpful in thinking about village energy in Alaska. I find that village energy sources and uses are poorly understood. Your work has suggested ways that we can improve heat and power generation, energy conservation and food production. While heating and electrical energy consumption in rural households are partially subsidized by the state, businesses in those same communities do not receive subsidies. High energy costs constrain education, health and business. Most studies of energy consumption are partial at best (e.g. medical facilities, schools, public buildings, household) and rarely integrated. I was pleased to discover this month that a school Superintendent for remote villages is working fresh vegetable production in greenhouses into plans for school heating. We installed the wood boilers, now he is finding creative ways to use them to benefit the health of his communities who can’t afford expensive imported fresh vegetables. We just installed a couple of small, 10-20 kWe gasifiers in a small village. The challenge is figuring out the best use of them. Nate’s Homer software also suggests ways that we can integrate renewable energy with diesel and wind generators.

Tom

From: ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu<mailto:ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu> [mailto:ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu] On Behalf Of Bryden, Kenneth [M E]
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2012 2:30 PM
To: <ethos at vrac.iastate.edu<mailto:ethos at vrac.iastate.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Ethos] Mali

Hi Tom,

Yes the field work discussed here was completed just barely before the violence started.

Mali is a bit of puzzle right now. There is a good deal of violence in Bamako (the capital city) and some of the people we work with have experienced this first hand (shooting death of a near relative on the street). On the other hand we can still get money into Mali and I am maintaining our research efforts. That said based on the reports we hear I wouldn't put a an undergrad student on the ground in Mali and would be very reluctant to allow  a grad student to go - but for the moment I'm looking for a break in my schedule so I can go. I'd like to build this study into a 10 - 20 year study of how village energy use and solutions evolve.

Mark

On Oct 28, 2012, at 1:30 PM, Nancy Sanford Hughes wrote:

Tom,
My friend Leslie is still having good luck importing goods from Mali.  It depends upon the part of the country as to whether it's dangerous or not.
Nancy

Nancy Sanford Hughes, President

StoveTeam International
PO Box 51025
Eugene, OR 97405 USA
(541) 729-9223
www.stoveteam.org<http://www.stoveteam.org/>

On Oct 28, 2012, at 11:04 AM, Tom Miles wrote:

Mark,

Please send me a copy.

I assume that it is probably too dangerous for American students to be in Mali at this time.  Were you able to complete your work in Mali before the recent political events?

Thank you,

Tom

T R Miles Technical Consultants, Inc.
tmiles at trmiles.com<mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
www.trmiles.com<http://www.trmiles.com/>

From: ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu<mailto:ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu> [mailto:ethos-bounces at vrac.iastate.edu] On Behalf Of Bryden, Kenneth [M E]
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2012 10:24 AM
To: ETHOS - Listserve
Subject: [Ethos] Journal article on household cookstove wood consumption

All,

I wanted to bring to your attention our (Nathan Johnson and I) most recent journal article on cookstoves, "Factors affecting fuelwood consumption in household cookstoves in an isolated rural West African village" which was published this month in the journal Energy. Here is the abstract

----------
Abstract -- This study examines the factors that affect fuelwood consumption in cookstoves and estimates fuelwood consumption associated with the use of cookstoves in a rural isolated West African village with a population of 770. Five primary applications of cookstoves were identified: cooking meals, heating water for washing, roasting peanuts, making medicine, and steeping tea. Six factors were identified that significantly impacted cooking energy use: the type of cookstove application, family size, total mass of wet and dry ingredients, mass of dry ingredients, the use of burning embers as an igniter, and the number of fires used during a cooking event. Annual village fuelwood use for all cookstove applications was 234 metric tons; cooking meals and heating water accounted for 65% and 27% of this fuelwood use, respectively. Fuelwood consumption per person was strongly linked with family size. As family size increased from five to twenty members, fuelwood consumption decreased from 20.6 MJ cap-1 day-1 to 10.5 MJ cap-1 day-1.
----------

To my knowledge this is one of the few studies to look at a single village for a period of a year, ask the question "what factors affect wood consumption?" and then develop an estimation methodology for household energy use for domestic cookstove applications. Two of the more interesting conclusions were (1) that stove stacking was very common and as a result improved stoves did displace traditional stoves but rather supplemented them and (2) as a result improved stoves did not reduce wood usage at a statistically significant level. I would note that the number of improved cookstoves was small and so a larger sample may find statistical significance, nonetheless the results are interesting and indicate that stove stacking should be considered in our stove programs.

Do to the publisher's copyright restrictions I cannot post the full paper for open download. If you have no cost access to Elsevier journals, the full paper is available at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212006317
Alternately, if you do not have no cost access to Elsevier journals and would like a copy I would be happy to send you an electronic copy of the full paper at no charge, just drop me an email.

And of course if you comments or questions, just let me know.

Best regards
Mark
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_______________________________________________
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