[Stoves] Tour of Manufacturers and otehr to Ulaanbaatar

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Stovers

 

The success of the stove programme in Mongolia over the past 4 years has
been on two fronts: the development of lab testing methods that predict
performance in use, and the development or products (including operating
techniques) that will meet the rigorous emissions and performance standards
of the Ulaanbaatar City Clean Air Project (UB-CAP) which is funded by the
WB.

 

Starting today we are hosting a tour by major manufacturers from China with
a view to asking them to produce stoves 'at scale' which will meet the
performance requirements of the city.

 

At the moment there are three approved stoves which reduce PM2.5 by >95%
which are being subsidised to the low income communities. It is possible the
90% minimum reduction (80% two years ago) can again be tightened.

 

The poor air quality in the city in winter is caused in part by weather
conditions (inversions and low wind speeds) and is strongly affected by the
temperature. When the temperature drops below a certain threshold, people
start lighting their stoves for heating. They let the fires go out several
times a day.  When it gets really cold, the number of ignitions drops
significantly and the air quality is much better - for example late January
and February when it is bitterly cold. 

 

It is quite obvious from the data collected around the city that the number
of ignitions is the predictor of air quality, not the tonnage of fuel
burned, or even its type. These are important observations for northern
China and other cold countries in the region to consider.

 

It may be technically possible (always holding out hope) that it will be
possible to build PM-negative stoves which clean the air while continuing to
burn local coals. That is the new 'aspirational' target.  Some stoves are PM
negative for more than 50% of the burn cycle already.  The approved stoves
are deep into 'Tier 4' territory though are not plotted on the Stove
Inventory yet (because they burn coal, according to the into).

 

The metrics used are mass of emissions per MJ of heat delivered to the home.
The cooking efficiency is typically 20-25% but varies with power - it is not
an issue as the stoves are powerful. It is possible to build stoves to meet
an 80% target thermal efficiency but that has not been a major consideration
yet. It is still 70% which is the same as China's national standard.

 

More news and analysis will be contained in forthcoming papers.

 

Regards
Crispin in Nomad-land

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