[Stoves] Is LPG all that bad?

[Philip Lloyd]

Yes, indeed LPG is a wonderful fuel.  It is very clean, fast, and can be made quite affordable.  You have to teach people how to use it effectively, but they soon learn.  In Cape Town there is a major roll-out, with some 200 000 households now being serviced with supply points within 500m of the homes.  Most use 5kg cylinders which is sufficient for 1 month’s cooking. It is not subsidized in any way, yet it competes well with electricity which is subsidized to the tune of 50kWh free a month. Some use cheap single burners, but most prefer 2-, 3- or 4-burner cookstoves which cost less than $200.

 

Part of the driver for this was the finding some years ago that replacing 100 000 electric cookers with LPG trimmed 40MW off the peak power demand.  It was the most successful intervention during a power supply crisis.  However, the LPG supply logistics at the time were poor. Soon LPG supplies ran out, and people reverted to other fuels.

 

Prof Philip Lloyd

Energy Institute

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

PO Box 652, Cape Town 8000

Tel:021 460 4216

Fax:021 460 3828

Cell: 083 441 5247

 

From: Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
Sent: 01 December 2014 03:49
To: stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Is LPG all that bad?

 

Dear AD





LPG is a wonderful fuel for those who can get it and pay for it. Because of cost, kerosene was heavily subsidised in Indonesia. It became so expensive when the price of oil was run up that the subsidy  was literally bankrupting‎ the country. They tried to raise the price and there were riots. 





So they embarked on the only other viable plan: to switch their subsidy to LPG but at a lower level. 





This was accomplished in a total of 4 ye‎ars, I believe. Some 40 million stoves were given away. Recently Cecil Cook and the WB social science team led by Helen Carlsson discovered that 70% of the poor people 'cooking with wood' also used LPG at least part of the time. 





Cecil found it is used for very particular tasks which fit the description you gave below - largely for quick cooking and reheating of food, making tea and when the pots should remain clean. 





Problems emerged last year when the budget allocation ‎for LPG and gasoline (which sells for $0.66 a litre) ran out long before year end. Same problem as before : rising energy prices. 





Now that there is a determined effort to drive the international price of oil down, perhaps they get a reprieve for a while, but the fact remains, to give access to LPG it has to be subsidised. Otherwise they will use more wood. 





It is not a matter of one of the other, people use both, but the switch to wood is immediate if the price rises. 





Globally there is a shortage of LPG. Thus pressure on the price will remain. Part of the price is a relatively expensive delivery ‎cost as every aspect of it is regulated and has to be very safe. I say that with kerosene in mind which is far cheaper to distribute. It can also be loaned or sold to a neighbour on a small scale. 





Both can be burned extremely cleanly so it is a disappointment to see the WHO refer to kerosene as a 'dirty fuel' in need of being removed from all homes. A stove that cannot burn it properly is the guilty party, not 'a fuel'. 





Regards 

Crispin 









Dear List,

I saw recently a lot of criticism against LPG. As cooking fuel, it is
really superb, giving a blue flame without smoke or soot,
instantaneous ignition, finger-tip control of flame intensity, no ash,
etc. Being liquifiable, relatively large quantities of it can be
filled into cylinders which occupy very little space in the kitchen.
One can carry the cylinder around if the gas is needed elsewhere. I
understand that LPG is a by product of petroleum refining and that one
cannot avoid the production of LPG as long as we are using petroleum
and refining it. So, if we stopped using it as cooking fuel, we shall
have to find an alternative use for it.
Yours
A.D.Karve
***
Dr. A.D. Karve

Chairman, Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd (www.samuchit.com)

Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

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