[Stoves] New video from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan stove pilots

[Nikhil Desai]

Crispin:

"the true figures for the Models 4 and 5 coal stove are closer to 99.9%."

If sustained, or warranted, that is a stake in the heart of claims that
coal heaters are by definition dangerous. I always thought of it as an
ideological ploy, a war against the poor (countries and people).

Those PM2.5 removal rates are found in modern coal fired power plants but
with ESPs. Still, I would like some comparison of PM2.5 comparisons between
coal-fired power plants and these heating stoves without an ESP. (How much
would an ESP cost? Are there any devices that can be put out in the open to
suck in air from neighborhood and filter it, while the whole neighborhood
goes through stove replacement?)

All this is germane to analysis in a paper by Kirk Smith a year or two ago
-- arguing that, at the margin, air pollution battle in northern China had
to be directed at small coal users, not coal-fired power plants.

That makes sense, and has been my take for some 15 years -- that, failing
sharp reductions in the emission loads from solid fuel cooking (or chimneys
if found usable) by means of better stoves, penetration of electricity
(even if coal-fired, equipped with ESPs, FGDs optional) was an excellent
near-term strategy for urban air quality management.

When heating stoves become "this clean", the market question is simply,
"What are the comparative economics of capital investments in grid
electricity versus coal stoves for space heating?" The answer is
contextual, but I am pretty sure that for the Tajik-Kyrgyz geographies (if
comparable to Mongolia and northern Afghanistan that I have seen), a rapid
rollout of modern coal stoves and insulation/weatherizing is the best
strategy.

The question is not fuel fetishism but the evidence of costs and
performance. We are talking about small quantities of coal as far as
climate concerns go, and I suspect that the coal air emissions-cancer link,
supposedly well-established for rich country people, will not apply when
the emissions are nearly completely eliminated.

Nikhil
* 8*


On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 6:37 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> Dear Friends
>
> The WB has put out a new combined video showing scenes from the two
> countries and it is available here<http://www.worldbank.org/
> en/news/video/2017/06/20/clean-individual-heating-solutions-in-the-kyrgyz-
> republic-and-tajikistan>.
>
> The is a very brief shot of the gas flame at about 1:25. That is the Model
> 4 crossdraft coal gasifier flame. Note the colour. When the cover is on, it
> burns with less disturbance but that is hard to show without a glass cover.
>
> There is also a good view towards the end of a TLUD gasifier which has a
> burn time of about 9 hours. The only fuel provided to schools is a very
> poor quality 'Aine coal' which is about 50% rock. It looks like black rock
> to start and white rock after burning. That TLUD is able to burn it
> properly provided there is sufficient draft, which means a 5m chimney.
> Achieving that was quite difficult, I admit and was only solve on literally
> the last day of the trip in November.
>
> There are two videos now but I think the other one has been referenced
> here before. The new one is combined. A total of 91 homes were involved in
> the pilot in the two countries. The PM reduction numbers mentioned are
> modest, the true figures for the Models 4 and 5 coal stove are closer to
> 99.9%.
>
> Regards
> Crispin
>
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