[Stoves] Rwanda charcoal (Was Thai Bucket Stove)

[Nikhil Desai]

Ron:

The GEF 2005 report is available under "Project Concept" at
https://www.thegef.org/project/sustainable-energy-development-project-sedp.

I quote the full two sections about charcoal-making:

"It is primarily the charcoal demand in urban areas and some pockets of
wood demand by small/medium industrial users – in addition to
charcoal-making, brick and tile-making and some agroindustry – that have
elevated concerns about accelerating deforestation. Charcoaling
efficiencies are also typically very low – about 9 kg of wood for 1 kg of
charcoal – so that an average household annual use of 1.8 tons of fuelwood,
if substituted by charcoal for the same level of final energy service
provided would imply equivalent fuelwood use of about 3.5 tons (adjusting
for efficiency in charcoaling as well as end use).

Substantial real increases in the price of charcoal, in the transport
distances, and in the use of substitute or inferior biomass fuels – e.g.
sawdust, coffee husks, and other residues in peri-urban areas – indicate
that urban charcoal supplies are not met by sustainable exploitation of
woodfuels in rural areas. A study for charcoal supply chains to Kigali,
potentials for community-based sustainable forest management, efficiency
improvements in the charcoal production and use, and promotion of
substitute fuels (including gas supplies from Lake Kivu), is warranted."


That study for charcoal supply chains to Kigali, etc. was by Robert van der
Plas later in 2004.

In terms of suggested actions, the Concept Note said (emphasis added):

"Promotion of Improved Stoves, Ovens and Kilns:

Rwanda also has an impressive history of activities to ameliorate the
environmental impacts of woodfuel use. A program of forest plantations –
many on marginal lands, some as buffer zones around the protected natural
forests – began soon after independence. It is estimated that between 1960
and 1990, area under forest plantations grew from around 24,500 hectares to
247,500 hectares. During the same period, the protected national forests –
in particular the Akagera National Park – suffered small (about 10%) loss
of their resource base, while lands designated as hunting areas and forest
galleries suffered a very heavy loss (about 75%). *The population was also
encouraged to plant trees wherever and whenever possible, at the community
as well as individual levels. However, large areas were lost during the war
and genocide – primarily for fuel needs of armies and displaced persons -
and since then for agriculture and resettlement (as well as fuel).*

In the early 1990s, a small ESMAP-funded Improved Stoves and Carbonization
program was undertaken[1]. More than 300,000 improved cookstoves were sold
and used and more than 600 professional charcoalers[2] were trained and
engaged operationally. *Nearly all of the trained charcoalers were killed
during the war and genocide, as also the GoR staff associated with the
program*. However, knowledge of the improved stove designs survived; these
stoves continue to be produced and used, and have spread from Kigali and
other cities to other locations. These stove designs promised – and are
generally thought to have achieved – about 25-35% reduction in specific
charcoal use on individual basis. Apparently the rapid increase in charcoal
prices – e.g. in Kigali, rising from around US$60/ton in around 2000 to
US$170/t currently – continues to provide ample economic justification to
the customers. The former “trade association” of charcoalers has not yet
been revived, though some charcoalers were provided training by the
MinInfra and KIST in the late 1990s.

Institutional (schools, hospitals, prisons) and commercial (restaurants and
other food processing enterprises) customers account for relatively small
but concentrated demand for charcoal. Larger institutional-size cooking
devices and other technologies have also been tested and used. For
instance, researchers at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology
(KIST) have developed and used improved ovens for bread-baking.
Biodigesters are in use at some prisons. Currently, the Government of
Netherlands is considering a program to expand the use of biodigesters for
a broader market development."


The key point here is that people grew biomass and exploited it for
charcoal-making. Young boys rode "wooden bicycles" down the hills to
deliver charcoal to the Kigali valley. With adequate wood supplies,
probably it didn't matter that charcoaling used 9 kg of wood per kg of
charcoal. Distances are short, and wooden bicycles or manual labor don't
add much to delivery cost.

During 1994 and post-genocide rehabilitation period, charcoaling may have
become less efficient due to short-term availability of waste biomass from
land clearance. (Think mass graves, residence colonies for returning exiles
and refugees, infrastructure and real estate construction.)

To my recollection, this was the first time GEF Secretariat accepted a
project proposal about improved stoves and charcoaling.

There is really no systematic data collection on the size of the charcoal
market, sources (geography, type of wood, suppliers) of wood feedstock, and
charcoal transport, inventories, prices. Fifty years after independence
from Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa biomass energy situation is still
characterized by ad hoc reports, anecdotal evidence.

We are all getting used to the term "cooking sector". There is no such
sector. There is no study of the industrial organization of biomass energy
supplies, just as there is no national study of stove emissions, residence
types, pollutant exposures and disease incidence. (WHO claims are bogus,
but on supplies, demands and prices, I would be hard-pressed to find even
bogus numbers for the major countries and sub-national areas.)

I agree with you on the employment potential. In general, modernization of
the entire biomass fuel cycle from primary production to combustion and ash
management can reduce costs and generate better, modern, jobs.

Nikhil



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[1] See “Why Better Biomass Stoves Sold in Rwanda, *World Development
Report* *1998-99*, p. 39, and Barnes et. al. *What Makes People Cook with
Improved Biomass Stoves? A Comparative International Review of Stove
Programs*. World Bank Technical Paper Number 242, p. 22, 1994.

[2] In Rwanda, much of the urban charcoal market is semi-organized and
charcoaling is carried out in small/medium rural enterprises. Charcoalers
are usually employed as laborers; i.e., they are paid for the carbonization
job by the owner of wood/charcoal.
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