[Stoves] End of an era, start of a new?

[Cookswell Jikos]

It was quite sad to read about the end of the Hedon Boiling Point
publication (http://hedon.info/BP:Latest+Issue) I have thoroughly enjoyed
reading them for many years. Hats off to all of the Boiling Point team for
all your hard work over years and thank you very much. I hope it is indeed
the start to a new era though and someone can find a way to keep it going.


One section caught my eye given some of the recent topics on this listserve;

*''In regards to the stove itself, there continues to be a somewhat
unresolved trade-off between the technical quality of cookstoves and their
acceptance and usability by cooks. As Crewe (1997:67) has previously
argued, “cooks have not usually been involved in the development of the
stove, except to test its ‘acceptability’ after a bout of technical work
was complete” suggesting that there is still an unequal focus on the
technocratic elements of ICS.*

*At the same time, the technical concerns (such as efficiency, emissions
and safety) prioritised by donors and implementers of stove programmes are
not necessarily shared by intended beneficiaries (Tronsco et al. 2007).
Indeed, this continues to fuel the one-size fits all approach and in fact
what you end up with is a technology that tries to do everything and is
stripped of the functions that matter most to the cooks that use it (Figure
3).*


*However, there is growing acceptance in the literature to explore the
‘why’ questions that ultimately lend themselves back to end-user
preferences (Beyene and Koch 2013; Kohlin et al. 2011). One such example
can be taken from the Ashden Award winner: Greenway Grameen in India
whereby they compromised on aspects of the technology that would have given
lower emissions as it was not compatible with user’s needs. (Ray et al.
n.d.).*

*At the same time, the market based approach prides itself on growing
technological sophistication and as a result there is emphasis on testing
ICS in order to harmonise quality standards and regulation in the sector''*
There is an excellent cartoon next to it as well (link here
<https://www.facebook.com/EastAfricanBiomassEnergyPortal/videos/1884080061921173/>
)


I will miss reading this publication as I have learned much from it over
the years but I wish the best to all who were involved.


Teddy





Teddy Kinyanjui
Sustainability Director



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