[Stoves] The price of bottled gas

[Paul Olivier]

Philip,

Here in Vietnam bottled gas costs more than $21.00 US per bottle. There is
no distribution problem here at all. Some households use up a bottle in
less than one month. When the monthly wage is not more than $120 US per
month, the situation is extremely dire.

In many parts of Vietnam, rice hulls and coffee husks are often dumped in
rivers and valleys. Sometimes they are uselessly burned as a means of
disposal. With the right type of stove, these agricultural residues put out
a beautiful blue flame that rivals that of bottled gas.

When we derive energy from fossil fuels, there is nothing of value left
behind. But when we gasify or pyrolyze biomass, a valuable biochar remains.
When incorporated into the soil, biochar promotes plant growth and
sequesters carbon.

Why derive energy from fossil fuels when we can get it from renewable
biomass?
Are you not, in any way, concerned about global warming?

Thanks.
Paul


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:56 PM, Philip Lloyd <plloyd at mweb.co.za> wrote:

> Paul Oliver commented " The price of bottled gas is a huge problem
> throughout most of the
> developing world."
>
> Part of the problem is poor models of distribution.  Locally, we are seeing
> the entry of a supplier who a) has found a way of filling 5kg bottles
> rapidly at a central plant and b) distributing them directly to the
> retailer
> at minimal cost, with a growing chain of retailers chosen so that the
> householder can resupply within 500m.  The net result is a halving of the
> street price of bottle gas, and it is now the cheapest way to cook.
>
> The advantage of filling at a central plant is that safety is greatly
> enhanced; and the discovery of a way of filling small cylinders rapidly
> means high throughput and low costs.  Most big bottlers of gas don't like
> the really small cylinders because they couldn't fill them rapidly enough
> to
> get throughput - it was cheaper (and far less safe) to refill them at the
> retailers.
>
> Regards to all
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Stoves mailing list
>
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
>
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> for more Biomass Cooking Stoves,  News and Information see our web site:
> http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/
>
>


-- 
Paul A. Olivier PhD
26/5 Phu Dong Thien Vuong
Dalat
Vietnam

Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)
Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)
Skype address: Xpolivier
http://www.esrla.com/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20130504/726893d9/attachment.html>