[Stoves] report with dissapointing results from cleaner cookstoves-new take

[Andrew Heggie]

On 14 December 2016 at 19:15, Sluis, Paul van der
<paul.van.der.sluis at philips.com> wrote:
> Dear Stovers,
>
> I have visited this study area during the study. In the so called clean intervention villages, the air was still full of smoke.
>
> Smoke from burning trash.
> Smoke from neighbors.
> Smoke from stove stacking.
> Smoke from inappropriate use.

Thanks for the corroboration Paul. The study authors, whilst expecting
the stoves to have had a better effect, cite much the same things as
you witnessed as the reasons no improvement was seen between the
control and intervention groups.

I take it in this context stove stacking means retaining and using
traditional stoves alongside the cleaner ones provided?



>
> In general people did love to use the stove for cooking.
>
> I have pictures to proof this.
>
> Problem is that the dose-effect relation is non-linear. A 50% decrease will not show up in any way. Even a 75% decrease will be hard to show up. It is 95% or better reduction that is needed. Even with electrical cooking that will not be reached without other interventions.

and this is the nub of the problem the air quality was too bad for a
cleaner stove to have made much difference.
>
> But also do bear in mind that the circumstances in which this study was carried out are really incredibly difficult. It is easy to judge, but way more difficult to correct.
> I also assume there was pressure to publish. Still my conclusions would have been different. Less damaging for the stove work of which I believe will be one piece of the puzzle to improve situations in Malawi.


I think the slant was introduced by the BBC reporter, one cannot infer
the conclusion that the stoves weren't good from the report, simply
that the improvement they offered was overwhelmed by other deleterious
factors.

Andrew