[Stoves] stoves and credits again

Nikhil Desai pienergy2008 at gmail.com
Mon Sep 25 00:01:53 CDT 2017


Tom, Philip:

Energy density of charcoal is high, thus lowers the logistics costs.
However, it is the population density of urban areas that also plays a part
in the growth of charcoal consumption; the nature of housing and urban land
use is such that the logistics of wood delivery and the  the area required
for wood stoves (outside or inside each home) has a higher value for other
uses.

Imagine community of homes with individual yards compared to homes without
much yard space or the space preferred for small garden or sitting/sleeping
or for children to play.

Sociological variables perhaps dominate if the wood/charcoal price ratio is
effectively stable (adjusted for final efficiencies as perceived). Charcoal
is a positive status symbol.

IEA says
<https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/WEO2014_AfricaEnergyOutlook.pdf>
SSA production of charcoal in 2012 was 36 million tons, more than the FAO
estimate of 32.4 million tons in 2015. Considering that some charcoal is
illegally sourced, and that apart from forests, farms and community
woodlots are also used for charcoal, the "real" number may be higher.

Nikhil

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikhil Desai
(US +1) 202 568 5831
*Skype: nikhildesai888*


On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 12:40 PM, Tom Miles <tmiles at trmiles.com> wrote:

> That's probably why charcoal use is increasing 5% per year in SSA compared
> with wood fuel at 1% per year.
>
> T R Miles Technical Consultants Inc.
> tmiles at trmiles.com
> Sent from mobile.
>
> On Sep 24, 2017, at 8:50 AM, "plloyd at mweb.co.za" <plloyd at mweb.co.za>
> wrote:
>
> Just a thought on Sub Saharan charcoal use. As Africa urbanizes, so it
> needs energy to cook. Wood takes up too much volume, and the roads are
> primitive. So it makes sense to use charcoal. A bicycle load will keep ten
> homes cooking for a week.
> The use of char oal has everything to do with logistics and nothing to do
> with the environment.
> Philip
>
>
>
> Sent from my Huawei Mobile
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [Stoves] stoves and credits again
> From: Nikhil Desai
> To: Ron Larson
> CC: Andrew Heggie ,Crispin Pemberton-Pigott ,Discussion of biomass
> cooking stoves
>
>
> Ron:
>
> What makes you believe that users of biomass-fuelled stoves are
> predominantly growers (of biomass)?
>
> Saw the figures for urban charcoal markets in Sub-Saharan Africa lately?
> Or looked at non-household cooking (in my view roughly 50% of cooking
> energy consumption worldwide)?
>
> Nikhil
>
> On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 10:54 PM, Ronal W. Larson <
> rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Andrew and list:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> There appears to be a win win situation here and I gather there is
>> still a vast part of equatorial Africa where annual burning  takes
>> place. However it brings me to another reason I like the idea, though
>> not the practicalities, of a householder-subsistance farmer being paid
>> a subsidy funded by the developed world. The trouble is I have a
>> parochial view and not a good worldview of what types of persons
>> depend on biomass fuelled stoves. Are they also predominantly growers?
>>
>>
>> *[RWL9:  Yes to Andrew’s last question.  I disagree with Andrew calling
>> himself “parochial” - when he supports (as do I) the ethics of “a subsidy
>> funded by the developed world”.*
>>
>>
>> *[RWL10:   Agree totally.  And I think this is what will eventually kill
>> the geoengineering technology that is often placed ahead of biochar -
>> BECCS.  In BECCS, as with “clean coal”, the CO2 from combustion (never
>> pyrolysis) is placed, as  liquid, deep underground.   Major expenses needed
>> to protect the world’s soil are not needed for biochar.  Soil quality is
>> closely linked to carbon content - and biochar does this with no penalty -
>> while apparently being the cleanest and most efficient of all possible
>> solid-fuel stoves.*
>>
>> *`Andrew - thanks for your above rebuttal to Crispin.*
>>
>>
>> *Ron*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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