[Stoves] Guatemala meeting about tests and standards

Sun Nov 23 20:23:23 CST 2014

Paul - I want to make sure that you and others have had a chance to read the overview from the Guatemala workshop that was posted on both the Alliance web page (mid October) and sent out in the October Alliance newsletter?  The link may be found here:

http://www.cleancookstoves.org/blog/progress-report-october-2014.html

Best,

Leslie

On Nov 23, 2014, at 4:16 PM, "Paul Anderson" <psanders at ilstu.edu<mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>> wrote:

Crispin and all,

Thank you for your comments.   I EXPECT that others who attended, especially those in leadership roles, will also make comments.   I make three short comments:

1.  No tears for no tiers!!!!   I am not against measurements and making comparison (which should continue), but the rigor of what was implied in the Tiers structure seemed overbearing.

2.  The possible (actual?) demise of the WBT (as a strictly defined methodology) should result in some improvements.   We will continue to boil water (thank goodness at least water is rather standardized around the world), but without the precise regulations imposed over the past years.   There will be tests with boiling of water, but not a specific Water Boiling Test (note the capital letters in the name of some specific test).   How does this impact the use of prior results and change what we will do in the future?

3.  And most important:   Why is it that only now near the end of November is there any of this information becoming available?   I am thankfully NOT on any of the testing protocol committees, so I do not have first hand information.   But I AM extremely interested in what is happening because it impacts my work and the work of so many other Stovers.

I am sure that Crispin is not making up what he wrote about the results from the Guatemala meeting.   It just seems that BIG news travels very slowly.

I assume that the issues of tests and standards will be important topics on this Listserv, and that gatherings at ETHOS and at any workshops at the Regional Testing Centers will focus on such changes / variations.

Paul

Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu<mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com<http://www.drtlud.com>

On 11/22/2014 3:19 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
Dear Paul

I asked SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) staff (who I represent) if
we are allowed to make documents like the new work item proposals and
minutes available to non-members, meaning people outside the national
committees. They said generally no, those are documents accessible to the
national standards bodies only (and their committee members).

On the other hand there is a lot of interest on what is happening. I can
report personally that several discussions were held on what 'shape' the
future standard should have (tiers or not, for example) and the decision
came down on the side of 'no tiers'. With respect to the WBT (the GACC is
presently the custodian of it) this was also turned down. The preference is
for a testing framework - first proposed in Nairobi and discussed in some
detail in Guatemala. The reasoning is that there are so many different
environments in which stoves are used, it is not possible to imagine a
single, rigid test that will helpful rate performance in all nations. What
needed, it was agreed, is a testing framework with valid sub-tests which can
be used if appropriate for the fuel, device or circumstances.

This is already widely done in other industries. Building energy efficiency
is one example, and all the social sciences. The same applies in the EU
where a single omnibus standard applies to a huge range of cooking
appliances. So it is a matter of keeping up, not reinventing the wheel.

In terms of attendance, a lot of people had trouble getting visas to
Guatemala. The total was about 65. That was for 4 Working Groups. Only two
met at a time and all were invited to attend anything of interest. As a
percentage, there were more people with some standards background than in
Nairobi. We saw some new faces.

Regard
Crispin

-----Original Message-----
From: Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of
Paul Anderson
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 7:29 PM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Subject: [Stoves] Guatemala meeting about tests and standards

Dear Stovers,

There was a meeting about tests and standards of stoves in Guatemala a
month or so ago.   Is there any summary report?  Or could those who were
there make some comments, please.

I assume there is a list somewhere of who are on the ISO / WBT / IWA /
XYZ committee.   And how many showed up?

Nothing was said about this at the GACC 2 day meeting just concluded, so I
thought I would ask.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

--
Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu<mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com<http://www.drtlud.com>

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