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40 million cooking stoves! The Chinese way by Peter Young
In 1984 it was estimated that in rural areas the domestic fuel consumption included 200 million tonnes of straw, 100 million tonnes of wood and 50 million tonnes of coal. This highlights the importance of straw and crop residues and in the three provinces visited (Shanxi, Zhejiang and Hebie) there was ample evidence of people's dependency on crop residues as domestic fuel. The scarcity of higher grade fuels such as wood is perhaps the most severe in the world. That is not to say the people lacked efficient stoves because most stoves, even traditional models, were fitted with bellows to provide the forced draft necessary to adequately burn bulky crop residues. The increased use of crop residues for fuel has meant that less and less residues are composted and put back onto the land to enhance or even maintain its fertility. This is now perhaps the single most important aim of the Government of China - to reduce consumption of residues as fuel and to encourage composting. Although it has ample resources, China is not yet in a position to switch from residues to alternative fuels such as coal or gas because transport costs remain particularly high. Much of the north, where there are wood shortages, is too cold for even biogas production and there is also little opportunity to grow fuel crops because every piece of land is reserved for food production. The Government is, therefore, forced into promoting fuel efficient stoves as the only short to medium term solution. However, this is not a recent phenomenon. The development of stoves for the rural areas has a long history, and it appears that a major initiative to improve stoves was taken in 1960. Modest gains in improvements have occured up to 1980 and, to date, 40 million improved stoves have been disseminated in China. In 1980, the 6th 5-year plan began and research and development was expanded resulting in a second generation type of stove which is regarded as being very efficient and is generally reported to save up to 50% of fuel compared to the traditional models. To date, there are perhaps 2-4 million households fitted with these newer types of stove. By the end of the 7th 5-year plan, the Government hopes that 60% of all rural households will be using fuel saving stoves. The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering Research and Planning has had the central task of co-ordinating stove developments resulting from research carried out by many similar institutions in the provinces. In 1984 Chinese scientists produced the State Standard for testing fuel saving stoves which has been widely accepted by all provinces. Each province is entirely responsible for stoves through decentralised Rural Energy Offices. Many designs are specific to individual provinces. However, training has been organised on a fairly central basis and so the energy engineers in the Provincial Energy Offices have been greatly influenced by the Chinese Academies. As a result, there is considerable similarity between stove designs developed by the different Provincial Energy Offices. Only those stoves that exceed the State Standard have Government approval and can be promoted through demonstrations. Most of the stove designs were for a massive construction with one or two pot holes and a chimney. The construction materials included either brick or precast cement for the supporting structure and either cast iron or precast cement for combustion chambers, connecting flues and chimneys. Most stoves were for burning wheat or rice straw and featured exceptionally large combustion chambers. The wok is the standard cooking pot and remains permanently on the stove. It is traditionally used for stir frying vegetables, boiling or steaming rice and for steaming dumplings. Most kitchens also have a second stove for boiling water to make tea, these are typically fuelled by coal briquettes or biogas. Nearly all straw burning stoves are fitted with bellows to provide forced draft through the grate. A recent trend has been to fit electric fans that are available in 3 different sizes: 25 watts, 40 watts, and 125 watts costing respectively $4, $11 and $23. These fans are particularly liked because bellows no longer have to be operated manually thus allowing the users to concentrate on cooking. For the provinces with colder climates under-floor heating is arranged for the beds by allowing the flue's gases from the stoves to pass through a series of brick channels under the bed. Not only does this keep the families warm at night but also provides space heating during the day. For provinces with warmer climates and reasonable supplies of wood, there is a semi-portable, all metal stove with a chimney. There were many other types of stove designs displayed and we hope to provide details in future issues of Boiling Point. The Symposium turned out to be a huge success at exchanging ideas and experiences between countries and their projects, but what are the lessons learnt? Clearly, neither China nor any country had a unique 'technofix' solution or miracle cure for the decreasing energy resources for its rural poor. But what perhaps emerged from the proceedings and technical visit is that the only way forward must be through a genuine commitment at the highest and lowest levels of society to research, plan and carry out development to bring about changes in users attitudes along with technological adaption. [top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 11: Successful Stove Programmes
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Page created:
29 September 2008; Last edited:
29 September 2008; Version: 0 | |||||||||
Pagename: BP11:China @HEDON: WVNA | |||||||||
