<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Christina,<div> </div><div>Did you or any of your group ever manage to get trained by one of the trainer now active in Guatemala? That makes all the difference ! These trainers are all former –and ongoing– producers by now. They have gone through all the hoops and have developed workable blends and they are selling the product now. The problem is reportedly (by our counterpart organisation, Fundacion Progressar), the need for larger capacity machines which we are co-developing with friends in Hungary, Uganda and Haiti. </div><div><br></div><div>They have trainers in Sta Maria, Quiche, Alta Verapaz, and Huehuetenango.</div><div>Anybody desiring traingin should contact us so we can pass your information on to FP. </div><div><br></div><div>Kind regards,</div><div>Richard Stanley,</div><div><a href="http://www.legacyfound.org">www.legacyfound.org</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On May 5, 2013, at 1:41 AM, Christina Espinosa wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Hi Paul,<div><br></div><div>Yes Guatemala does have a fair amount of agricultural residues. We worked on designing briquetting models and had a hard time with some of the available types of biomass. I am sure Richard could comment on this more since he started working here with some groups on designing a mix with the kinds of biomass that we have available.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Also the infrastructure requirements for LPG and natural gas are different.</div><div><br></div><div>Here is the FAO breakdown for Guatemala:</div><div><span style="font-family:Helvetica;white-space:nowrap"><a href="http://faostat.fao.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=339&lang=en&country=89">http://faostat.fao.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=339&lang=en&country=89</a></span></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">The most abundant biomass available here is with sugarcane and banana growers. When we talked with a large company growing </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">bananas they expressed that they were investigating ways to turn the flower plams (I think that is what they are called) into electricity. </span></font></div><div>
<font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">Again, the sugar cane growers I think are using the biomass for the same kinds of things. So Guatemala's two largest sources of </span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">biomass are or are in plans to be utilized for energy. Coffee husks might be one of the more available types. I remember reading </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">something a year ago about coffee husks giving of a urine smell when gasified. Is this still true? Maybe someone can comment on</span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">this. </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">Richard might be able to comment some more since he has worked here with biomass.</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span style="white-space:nowrap">You say "</span></font><font><span style="line-height:normal;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> Are we not concerned about global warming each time that we switch on a modern gas stove?</span></font>" Are you saying that poor people shouldn't be allowed to use fossil fuels?</div>
<div><br></div><div>I thought we already talked about this. I think its not fair to expect poor people to adopt ONLY biomass because we are concerned about global warming. We need to stop treating poor people with the expectation that they should shoulder the burden of adopting ONLY renewable fuels. We need to let these families have an affordable option to use what they perfer whether it be gas, biomass, etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I think the work you are doing in Vietnam is great, but I urge you to be conscious of the differences in countries. Guatemala is not Vietnam...Guatemala is not India...China is not Tanzania. </div><div>
<br></div>Best,<div><br></div><div>Christina<span></span><br><div><br></div><div>On Sunday, May 5, 2013, Paul Olivier wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Christina,<br><br></div>How available is natural gas in Guatemala? Is it not made available to the people by oil and gas companies? No doubt it takes an incredible infrastructure to make it available to them in bottled form.<br>
</div></div><br>I would imagine that Guatemala generates fairly important quantities of agricultural residues. Perhaps what you are really saying is that the infrastructure needed to make predictable biomass fuel available to the people of Guatemala is not yet in place. It is precisely such an infrastructure we should be working on.<br>
</div></div><div><br></div><div>Whenever and wherever possible, in rich or poor countries alike, we should look for every opportunity to replace bottled gas with syngas. Why burn non-renewable fossil fuels, especially when agricultural residues could be transformed into predictable fuels that are thoroughly renewable? Are we not concerned about global warming each time that we switch on a modern gas stove? <br>
</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks.<br></div><div>Paul Olivier<br></div><div><br></div><br><div><div><div><br></div></div></div></div><div><br><br><div>On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Christina Espinosa <span dir="ltr"><<a>c_espinosa1@u.pacific.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">In Guatemala, the current price to refill a 25 lb tank is $14 (no subsidy). A 10lb tank refill would cost $5.60. 5lb tanks are not permited in the market.<div>
<br></div>Every country is going to have a different market, regulations, etc....and not every country has an abundance of readily available biomass. Not every customer might want to produce char or have access to biomass. LPG is still an alternative for many families who only purchase wood. <div>
<br></div><div>Christina Espinosa<div><div><span></span><br><div><br>On Saturday, May 4, 2013, mtrevor wrote:<br><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div><font face="Arial">Just curious.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">What size bottle costs USD $21.00</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">Here in the Marshall Islands the standard US 20 lbs
bottle is $37.50 </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial">and the small pressure cans in the stores run from
$0.96 up to $2.00 plus.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial">Michael N Ttvor</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial"></font> </div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#000000 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-RIGHT:0px" dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT:10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;BACKGROUND:#e4e4e4"><b>From:</b>
<a title="paul.olivier@esrla.com">Paul
Olivier</a> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org">Discussion of biomass cooking
stoves</a> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:28
PM</div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Stoves] The price of
bottled gas</div>
<div><br></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>Philip,<br><br></div>Here in Vietnam bottled gas costs more than $21.00
US per bottle. There is no distribution problem here at all. Some households
use up a bottle in less than one month. When the monthly wage is not more than
$120 US per month, the situation is extremely dire.<br><br></div>In many parts
of Vietnam, rice hulls and coffee husks are often dumped in rivers and
valleys. Sometimes they are uselessly burned as a means of disposal. With the
right type of stove, these agricultural residues put out a beautiful blue
flame that rivals that of bottled gas. <br><br>When we derive energy from
fossil fuels, there is nothing of value left behind. But when we gasify or
pyrolyze biomass, a valuable biochar remains. When incorporated into the soil,
biochar promotes plant growth and sequesters carbon.<br><br>Why derive energy
from fossil fuels when we can get it from renewable biomass? <br>Are you not,
in any way, concerned about global warming?<br></div>
<div></div>
<div><br></div>Thanks.<br></div>Paul<br>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br><br>
<div>On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:56 PM, Philip Lloyd <span dir="ltr"><<a>plloyd@mweb.co.za</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex">Paul Oliver commented " The price of bottled gas is a huge
problem<br>throughout most of the<br>developing world."<br><br>Part of the
problem is poor models of distribution. Locally, we are seeing<br>the
entry of a supplier who a) has found a way of filling 5kg bottles<br>rapidly
at a central plant and b) distributing them directly to the retailer<br>at
minimal cost, with a growing chain of retailers chosen so that
the<br>householder can resupply within 500m. The net result is a
halving of the<br>street price of bottle gas, and it is now the cheapest way
to cook.<br><br>The advantage of filling at a central plant is that safety
is greatly<br>enhanced; and the discovery of a way of filling small
cylinders rapidly<br>means high throughput and low costs. Most big
bottlers of gas don't like<br>the really small cylinders because they
couldn't fill them rapidly enough to<br>get throughput - it was cheaper (and
far less safe) to refill them at the<br>retailers.<br><br>Regards to
all<br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Stoves
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</div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div></div><br><br>-- <br>Christina Espinosa<br>University of the Pacific '10<br>School of International Studies<br>
<a href="mailto:c_espinosa1@u.pacific.edu" target="_blank">c_espinosa1@u.pacific.edu</a><br><br>
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