[Stoves] Africa's future lies in energy-saving jiko

Sat Dec 16 19:59:30 CST 2017

I do not agree that "the ordinary people have no responsibility for PM
issue".

If by ordinary you mean those who use solid fuels for heating and cooking,
they are responsible for the PM from poor combustion of low-quality fuels.
Combustion can be improved dramatically so as to eliminate most of PM2.5
and other pollutants.

But if they are responsible, they are also the sufferers. It's like poor
people being the victims of criminal actions of other poor people.

The poor have depended on low-cost fuels and low-cost stoves for
centuries,m as they do now. How many of them suffer the Burden of Disease
attributable to HAP is anybody's guess. It's not as if WHO has collected
any measurements of exposures and disease incidence for particular
individuals, even 0/01% of the people it kills by assumption.

Let's hope that there are biomass stoves that can compete with LPG at least
to some extent. I am not worried about dependency on LPG. People are also
dependent on electricity and phone connectivity, piped water and sanitation
and functioning hospitals. In due time PV-induction cooking will become
commercialized.

Woodstoves will too, if only the emphasis was on user preferences and
usability and not on saving the earth and selling aDALYs.

But song-and-dance go on because there are spectators who throw money to
the performers.

Nikhil

On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 8:45 PM, lh cheng <lhkind at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, XinHua is a piece of shit rather than food. it is so important to
> distinguish shit from food before eating. disaster during 1959-1961 in
> China, Xinhua is murderer. when did it start that you guys take Xinhua as
> an "international media"? it is so shocking, the western world is really
> decaying? corrupted in mind and body? or some of you is becoming the same
> evil as murderers in China or Russia?
>
> LPG technically is very good in many aspects, and far better than TLUD
> stove. but one shortcoming, it create dependency.  three-stone stove has no
> such problem. dependency can create efficiency, but dependency is expensive
> sometime for the poor.
>
> PM issue or health issue is a fake issue, false problem. I totally agree
> with Nikhil. the ordinary people have no responsibility for PM issue, just
> like thousands years ago.
>
> 2017-12-16 22:56 GMT+08:00 Nikhil Desai <pienergy2008 at gmail.com>:
>
>> Teddy: It's not an "international" opinion, just a foreign media outlet -
>> Xinhua - rather than a Kenyan one.
>>
>> The trials of "smart meters" Kinyua refers to might be something like
>> what I heard from Envirofit in an EPA/Winrock webinar a few days ago. The
>> "pay as you go" technique is applied to "pay as you cook". I didn't think
>> there is a physical token to be inserted, just that money was deducted from
>> a pre-paid account that can be recharged by phone.
>>
>> Quite interesting. Might be applicable to electical induction stove,
>> microwave, kettle, each appliance at a time rather than the usual
>> load-limiters on things like "ready boards" if you have seen in Kenya. Can
>> give imported LPG with erratic prices a good competition.
>>
>> Stacking will become more common. There is not just one use for a
>> cookstove that is best met by only one type, at least not for quite a few
>> years as behavior and economics change.
>>
>> Tom: If the news on LPG promotion seems to be contrary to the LPG price
>> increase but warranted because of the increase in charcoal prices, I
>> suspect two forces may be at work: higher costs of charcoal delivered to
>> Nairobi because of longer distances or higher labor/transport costs, AND
>> the LPG price increase itself.
>>
>> Back some 20 years ago, an agicultural economist had posed his finding in
>> Malawi -- that charcoal prices increased to the netback values (adjusted
>> for efficiency and time premium) dictated by LPG prices. When LPG prices
>> were low, charcoal makers made charcoal close by Lilongwe and reduced their
>> profit margins. When LPG prices rose, the demand for charcoal increased but
>> so did the netback value for charcoal at source. So they expanded the
>> geographical scope, hired more bicycle transporters, and increased their
>> profit margins.
>>
>> Depending on the extent of stacking, different consumer segments may
>> increase the aggregate demand for LPG in Kenya. Promises of health benefits
>> and scare of GHGs aside, modernizing the entire supply chain of charcoal
>> can give inland cities like Nairobi, Kampala, Lilongwe a competitive answer
>> to LPG and electricity.
>>
>> Nikhil
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 15, 2017 at 1:38 PM, Cookswell Jikos <
>> cookswelljikos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> And an international opinion on local cooking;
>>>
>>> http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/14/c_136826471.htm
>>>
>>> ''NAIROBI, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's energy regulator said Thursday it
>>> has embarked on initiatives aimed at reducing biomass fuel use in the
>>> country.
>>>
>>> Edward Kinyua, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Acting Director
>>> for Petroleum, said plans are underway to introduce purchase of Liquid
>>> Petroleum Gas (LPG) through mobile phones and also the introduction of 500
>>> grams gas cylinder for use by the low income earners.
>>>
>>
>>
>>> "We intend to contribute to the citizen's well-being by ensuring that
>>> they use clean energy while cooking as opposed to firewood and kerosene
>>> that contributes to deaths of many women and children," Kinyua said in
>>> Nairobi.
>>>
>>> He said that the purchase of the LPG will be effected soon once the
>>> smart meters are installed by a team of consultants that include scientists
>>> from Colorado University who are currently running trials in the informal
>>> settlements in Nairobi.
>>>
>>> Kinyua said that the technology will enable people to purchase LPG
>>> through prepaid token depending on the amount of money one has from their
>>> mobile phones at anytime as is the case with mobile shopping.
>>>
>>> "This will help increase penetration of gas cylinders and also access to
>>> clean energy to consumers and contribute to the reduction of indoor
>>> pollution that is blamed for deaths of many people in the country," he
>>> added.
>>>
>>
>>
>>> Kinyua also announced that additional gas cylinder weighing 500 grams
>>> will be introduced to cater for people in the informal settlements and far
>>> flung villages to reduce cutting of trees for fuel once approved by the
>>> Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KBS).
>>>
>>> In Kenya, LPG is sold in one, three, six and 13 kilograms unit, at a
>>> price that is far above low income earners who mainly depend on fuel wood
>>> and charcoal for cooking and heating their houses.
>>>
>>> Air pollution is a major contributor to respiratory diseases in Kenya
>>> and it kills 14,300 Kenyans annually while the number of people with
>>> respiratory diseases increased by 63 percent over a four-year period from
>>> 12.2 million in 2012 to 19.9 million in 2016.
>>>
>>
>>
>>> Kinyua said that a number of people fall victims because they use
>>> traditional fuels and kerosene for cooking and heating.
>>>
>>
>>
>>> Air pollution from indoor and outdoor sources remains a major
>>> environmental and health issue, and a policy challenge especially in Kenya
>>> that is rapidly urbanizing.''
>>> Teddy Kinyanjui
>>> Sustainability Director
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 9:13 PM, <tmiles at trmiles.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> A local opinion:
>>>>
>>>> https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001262932/africa-s-
>>>> future-lies-in-energy-saving-jiko
>>>>
>>>> Africa’s future lies in energy-saving jiko
>>>>
>>>> By David Manoa <https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/author/David-Manoa> | Published
>>>> Wed, December 13th 2017 at 00:00, Updated December 12th 2017 at 22:24 GMT +3
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Also,
>>>>
>>>> *Charcoal costs hit new record as cooking gas demand drops*
>>>>
>>>> Sunday, December 10, 2017 22:00
>>>>
>>>> By TIMOTHY ODINGA
>>>> ''Charcoal prices have hit a new record in a period that has seen
>>>> demand for cooking gas fall on rising costs.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>> Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that the
>>>> price of charcoal in a four-kilogramme tin has steadily risen to an average
>>>> of Sh81.91, the highest since the agency started making public monthly
>>>> prices of the commodity in 2007.
>>>>
>>>> Charcoal prices have more than doubled since 2008 when the tin retailed
>>>> at an average of Sh35, a blow to low-income h...ouseholds.
>>>>
>>>> But gas prices have been rising since March with the 13kg cylinder
>>>> currently retailing at Sh2,250 from slightly below Sh2,000 in March. This
>>>> has triggered a drop in consumption from 5,690 tonnes in the three months
>>>> to March to 3,790 tonnes in the quarter to July, a 33 per cent drop. ''
>>>> from the
>>>>
>>> BUSINESS DAILY AFRICA
>>>>
>>> http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/Charcoal-costs-hi
>>>> t-new-record-as-cooking-gas-demand-drops/3946234-4222584-yl3
>>>> ikrz/index.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>
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