| Main wiki page |
Recent additions |
Recent changes |
What links here |
Categories |
Category cloud How-to guides | Organisation profiles | Project profiles | ||||||||
BP56: Theme Editorial - Liquid Fuels
 Theme Editorial - Liquid Fuels (146 KB) (Reviewed)Authors The Boiling Point Editorial Team This issue of Boiling Point focuses on Liquid Fuels in the household and over the following pages you’ll find some fascinating articles from authors in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on liquid fuels for domestic use as they offer the potential of reduced indoor air pollution and a more modern, user-friendly experience. Fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene (paraffin) are already extensively used in many developing countries but barriers to their wider dissemination exist, with the recent oil price fluctuations making them increasingly unaffordable to many, together with ongoing safety concerns. In his article on household energy and paraffin in South Africa, Glenn Truran highlights the work of the Paraffin Safety Association and argues that it is more prudent to address the systematic problems associated with the fuel, rather than convert households to alternative energy carriers. A more technical view of the same issue is presented in an article from Philip Lloyd where he discusses why paraffin can be so dangerous, and the changes made to appliance standards in order to combat the problem. Lately, other types of liquid fuels have risen up the agenda - namely biofuels. Headlines and policies have been dominated by their use as a transport fuel in the North, with the option of domestic consumption in developing countries rarely being mentioned. Potentially offering lower GHG emissions and greater benefits to local economies, much more information is needed on the measured impacts of fuel alcohols and plant oils - both positive and negative. An increasing number of projects and initiatives are exploring this issue in detail and we feature an interview with the project manager of one of them, Benard Muok of the PISCES research group.
In Brazil, Project Gaia have been looking at repeating the success of the country’s industrial ethanol programme, but on the domestic level. In their article, Regina Couto and James Murran make the case for micro distilleries to be used to supply fuel for the CleanCook stove. Another cook stove that has undergone recent development is the plant oil fuelled Protos stove, from the Bosch and Siemens home appliance group, and Samuel Shiroff offers an overview of the project together with details of a new model. By exploring the themes common to all liquid fuels some key lessons can be learned: from the creation of sustainable supply chains; to identifying real socio-economic impacts; through to overcoming barriers to the adoption and use of liquid fuel appliances. This edition of the journal also features a Special Supplement published by PREDAS (Programme for the Promotion of Household and Alternative Energy sources in the Sahel). In it they present a synthesis report based on a number of surveys and analyses in Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad. Crucially, the surveys present the very real perceptions of Sahelian women active in the various segments of the household energy sector. Many readers will know of the pioneering indoor air pollution work of Professor Kirk Smith of the University of California Berkeley, and you can find out more about him in an interview for our new regular ‘Viewpoints’ feature. In addition we also have the latest news from GTZ, Practical Action and GVEP International. This issue's Toolkit is ‘Fact finding for your business’ and it focuses on the information needed when developing an energy enterprise (social or for-profit). We hope you enjoy reading this edition of Boiling Point and please don’t forget to fill in the Readership Survey on the back of your address sheet enclosed with this edition, returning it to us by post or email. [top] [end]Download the original article Theme Editorial: Liquid Fuels (88 KB)[v][e][top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 56 - Liquid fuels in the household
Categories: Boiling Point 56| Liquid Fuels | ||||||||
Page created:
28 January 2009; Last edited:
02 February 2010; Version: 9 | ||||||||
Pagename: BP56:ThemeEditorial @HEDON: DXPA | ||||||||
