[Stoves] [biochar] Re: The Akha TLUD - Biochar Project in Bangladesh.

Wed Mar 8 16:48:24 CST 2017

Hello Paul;

I appreciate your concern about keeping the TLUDs running all year long.
We will think about that.  It would be nice to have larger demonstrations.
There is also a demand for biochar from University researchers.

However, a concern I have from a research point of view, that supplying
extra wood creates an artificial condition of using wood in the dry season
when it would not ordinarily be used.  That would likely bias our
evaluation of user acceptance and impact.  One question that is important
to know is whether people who have a TLUD, and can use the biochar,
purchase more wood than they have in previous years.  If that happens to a
large extent, it raises a red flag.  It could mean that families that can
take best advantage of a TLUD and biochar will consume more wood, lowering
the supply, and driving up the price.  That could put families that can't
take full advantage of a TLUD and biochar at a disadvantage; the general
quality of their fuel would decline.  When assessing the impact of
cookstove intervention, we should look for good and bad consequences,
especially unexpected, unintended consequences.  If their are problems, we
need to find them early, so we can respond, and minimize any harm.

My preference is to put a big effort into trying to density loose biomass
such as leaves.  In the long term, we need to test the viability of
commercial compressed biomass fuel.

I will raise these points with Mahbubul.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers,
Julien.

On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 4:21 PM, Paul Anderson psanders at ilstu.edu [biochar] <
biochar at yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
>
> Julien,
>
> I raise only one variation about what you wrote:
>
> We can't use more wood or bamboo, because it doesn't exist.
>
> My comment was ONLY in regard to getting wood for the 100 initial stoves
> so that there is not a shutdown of biochar production for 6 months, and a
> stopping of use of the stoves.   I am not advocating deforestation.   Just
> the obtaining of wood fuel for the initial stoves.
>
> Analogous example:  Researchers on pot-trials of  biochar (or many
> agricultural small scale experiments) in cold-winter climates continue
> their plant growing in heated greenhouses.  Shutting down for 6 months is
> not a good use of human and infrastructure resources.  And your very few
> Akha TLUD stoves need research about longevity and many other issues, as
> well as the need for more biochar.   Using those few stoves all year round
> would seem justified.
>
> Paul
>
> Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
> Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
> Skype:   paultlud    Phone: +1-309-452-7072 <(309)%20452-7072>
> Website:  www.drtlud.com
>
> On 3/8/2017 10:41 AM, Julien Winter wrote:
>
> Thanks to Paul for the suggestions;
>
> They are wise.
>
> We can't use more wood or bamboo, because it doesn't exist.  The last
> number I saw was that the forest cover in Bangladesh is 15-17%.  Most of
> the forest is not were the people live, but in the coastal areas,
> especially the protected Sunderbans, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in
> the S.E.   The Government of Bangladesh has been putting a big effort into
> reforestation for decades, but fights an uphill battle with the demand for
> wood for building and fuel.  Interestingly, the most productive forests are
> in peoples homesteads and farms.
>
> We are exploring the possibility of commercial pelleted fuel.  Although
> commercial fuels like LPG are expensive, nobody has made biochar from LPG.
> The benefits from biochar will make a big difference to the affordability
> of commercial fuel pellets.  Where pellets are economically viable, they
> will make a huge difference to women's lives, by removing most of the
> drudgery from cooking, and exposure to smoke.  Women will have much more
> free time.  LPG is not Planet-friendly.
>
> Thanks for the suggestion for donations.  That would be helpful, if an
> account could be set up in Bangladesh to cover the cost of experimental
> materials.  At the initial stages of the Akha TLUD Biochar Project, funding
> for research on TLUD and fuels would be very helpful.  The project has
> funding for an exploratory deployment of Akha stoves, but there is no
> funding for exploratory research into other options.  What might work well
> is to identify an innovation that should be investigated, then see if some
> donations can be found to buy the necessary materials.
>
> Does anyone have experience with bitcoins?  There is a problem of getting
> money into the hands of people in distant countries without banks and
> governments taking a cut.  Usually it is about 20% of the transferred
> cash.  The last time I transferred $CND to Taka, the money had to be
> converted to $USD first, and was handled by three different banks, all
> taking a slice of the pie.  In addition, authorities in Bangladesh had to
> be convinced that the money was not being used to fund terrorism (a handful
> of religious extremists are causing some misery for a few atheists bloggers
> and secular academics).
>
> The Akha TLUD - Biochar Project has three years funding from
> ICCO-Netherlands given to the Christian Commission for Development in
> Bangladesh (Dhaka) for exploratory deployment of the Akha and biochar.
> This may get as many as 200 Akhas into homes.  We are gathering data on
> user acceptance of the technologies.  This data will be crucial evidence to
> justify the expansion of the project.  If we observe and document an
> enthusiastic reception of biochar, we can make a case for carbon-credit
> financing.  Also, we must not forget that the scientists and policy makers
> in the Government of Bangladesh must be convinced that TLUDs and biochar
> are beneficial and not harmful.
>
> At the moment, I am writing applications to the Canadian Government to
> fund research.  In the past I have been unsuccessful, but in the last year,
> we have changed from a Conservative to a Liberal government, and the
> attitude towards international development is now more favorable.  We are
> also in a stronger position now that the Akha is beginning to demonstrate
> its viability.
>
> If I am successful at getting funding from the Canadian Government, then
> private donations would be better sent to other needy cookstove development
> programs.  I have argued before on "Stoves" that there should be an
> investment in building up the capability of regional stove developers
> around the World.  Give them training on the fundamentals of combustion,
> some basic measurement tools, and funding for supplies.  Adapting
> technology to local conditions will help to maintain regional
> self-sufficiency in the basic human activity of cooking.  That would be a
> really good investment.
>
> Where we could use volunteer effort for stove programs in setting-up and
> managing crowd-source funding.
>
> Thanks again for all the suggestions.
>
> ========
> Just a side note:  Listening to CBC Radio this morning, I heard that local
> involvement vs. corporate imposition of technology makes a big difference
> to public acceptance.  Windmills to generate electricity are unpopular in
> Ontario where they are owned by large companies, but in Nova Scotia,
> windmills are popular because the local population has the opportunity to
> become share-holders.  More information can be found hear:
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/nova-scotia-ontario-wind-farms-1.4010653
> http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/news/2017/public_opinion_wind_energy_project.html
>
> In my neighborhood we have a community solar power corporation that
> installs solar panels on local buildings.
>
> The Akha TLUD - Biochar Project has similarities, in trying to develop a
> stove that maximizes local livelihoods. The closer one can get to having a
> stove made by a householder the better; then it would become a new
> 'traditional stove'.   However, a village stove-maker would be good enough.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Julien.
>
>
> --
> Julien Winter
> Cobourg, ON, CANADA
>
>
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-- 
Julien Winter
Cobourg, ON, CANADA
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