Main knowledge bank page | Recent additions | Recent changes | What links here | Categories | Category cloud
How-to guides | Organisation profiles | Project profiles
 

edit this page

Household energies to improve the quality of life for rural communities by Dr. Agnes Klingshirn


Table of Contents

Boiling Point
Front cover of Boiling Point issue 51
Issue 51 (2006) Sharing information and communicating knowledge
ArticleHousehold energies to improve the quality of life for rural communities in the Tibetan Highlands
AuthorDr. Agnes Klingshirn

[top] [end]Purpose of mission

This article describes a mission to the Tibetan Autonomous Region to gather information about solar cookers and improved stoves among nomads and agriculturalists, and to assess the opportunities for their further dissemination. For this purpose interviews with local authorities and villagers were conducted in two Prefectures, Shannan and Naqu. In each prefecture several villages were visited where interviews were held with partners from nomads, semi-nomads and agriculturalist communities.

The work took place within the Sino-German Technical Cooperation Programme ‘Renewable Energies in Rural Areas’. The purpose of this programme is to improve the living and working conditions of the rural population by promoting the utilization of renewable energies.

[top] [end]The need for solar cookers and improved stoves

The harsh geographic and climatic conditions in the Tibetan highlands make energy for heating and cooking one of the highest priorities. Traditionally the only fuel available was either fuel wood, in the lower regions supplemented increasingly by roots of bushes, or yak and sheep dung in the upper regions. With a growing population, this has, over time, had negative social and ecological consequences.

With current restrictions on wood collection, the costs in time and/or money, especially for poor seminomadic or agricultural families, run high, as they have to travel longer and longer distances to collect and transport the wood. If the costs are too high, this endangers the family’s budget for food. Every year the not-sowell off families have so-called ‘hunger periods’, usually in early summer, before the new crops have been harvested.

Fuel-saving cooking and heating stoves, and solar cookers, are therefore two complementary technologies, which can help to ameliorate this situation.

[top] [end]Main results

[top] [end]Dissemination of solar cookers

Solar cookers have been disseminated through government support programmes or commercially distributed in China over many years. For the most part, these technologies are robust, easy to use and well adapted to the cultural, geographic and climatic conditions of the local environment.

In the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), the government has provided solar cookers free of charge, because they can improve the life, especially of poor and middle income households, and bring important economical, social and ecological benefits.

Two versions of solar cookers are imported from mainland China.
  • the metal type (Figure 1) with a laminated foil reflecting surface, costing around RMB 450 (100 RMB ~ £7)

  • one where the parabolic shaped surface is made of cement, with mirrors glued on to the reflecting surface, costing RMB 100–150, depending on transport cost.

Figure 1: Solar cooker plate being covered with cloth to keep it clean
Figure 1: Solar cooker plate being covered with cloth to keep it clean

[top] [end]Main benefits of solar cookers

Solar cookers are well suited to Tibetan cooking traditions. Approximately 80% of the total cooking energy is needed to boil water for the whole day for their tea. In the morning people eat mostly tsampa (Tsampa is roasted barley ground into flour mixed with butter tea to make an instant meal), and in the evening noodle soup, for which they need hot water as well. They prepare hot water during the daytime and put it in vacuum flasks which they can use in the morning and evening to shorten the cooking time.

[top] [end]Economic benefits

  • Solar cookers save fuel (wood or dung) and money because if households can save some of it, they can sell it as an extra income. Using the solar cooker reduces the amount of fuel they need to buy. In Shannan Prefecture where heating is not necessary for some months, solar cookers can be used during daytime and save fuel. Even if they use the cooker only 50% of the time, after half a year, the expenses of the solar cooker are repaid. Even in Naqu, where the winter is much longer and people have to use their heating/cooking stove anyhow, the possibility to sell the yak dung saved during the short summer makes solar cooking economically interesting, especially for middle and poor households. Here it may take up to two years to pay for a cooker, but considering the lifetime of a cooker of up to ten years, this is still a good investment.

  • Solar cookers save time spent for collecting the fuel (which can take up to 10 hours daily in the three months when fuel can be collected) which can result in better care for the family and in addition women have more time to look after the animals or get some extra income by weaving blankets or sewing clothes for themselves or for sale.

[top] [end]Social benefits

  • The time and money saved usually are spent on household improvements – more time and care for the families, education of children, and even extra cultural activities.

  • The burden on women for collecting and carrying the fuel is reduced, improving their health situation.

  • CO2 emissions are reduced and the whole family benefits from a more smoke-free cooking environment and warm water being available for hygienic purposes.

  • Potential for conflict within families can be reduced, when the fuel situation is relaxed. Men can go to work and earn extra income, knowing the women have time to look after the family.

  • Younger people are not obliged to spend time collecting fuel, but can earn extra income.

[top] [end]Environmental benefits

  • In areas where wood is scarce, people tended to cause damage by cutting branches, roots, shrubs and brushes, which lead to increased soil erosion. Using solar cookers will reduce the amount of biomass fuel needed.

  • Solar cookers save dung, which could be used as fertilizer on the pastures of the nomads.

[top] [end]Recommendations

There are a number of changes that could improve the quality of the solar cookers.

[top] [end]Technical improvements

  • strengthening cooking pot holders, and solar cooker stands (to prevent distortion of plate)

  • improving gauge of aluminium foil membrane on cookers, and making replacement foil more easily available in remote locations

  • taking greater care to avoid foil damage in transit

  • making solar cooker easier to move so that older people can manage it

[top] [end]Dissemination

For long term sustainability, a more commercial approach will be necessary. In the past solar cookers were disseminated mostly free of charge. This is not only an enormous burden for government, it also brings the danger that:

  • people do not care for the solar cooker because they did not pay for it

  • others think that solar cookers are a technology for poor people only

  • people are not willing to buy a solar cooker because they are waiting for the next distribution by government

Even for the poor, therefore, it is recommended that they pay at least a small sum.

Another approach that has worked elsewhere is that interested people could be loaned a solar cooker – may be for half a year/one year and then asked if they would like to buy it for a reduced sum. This would be a real test, to see if the solar cooker is accepted and useful.

[top] [end]Dissemination of fuel saving cooking/heating stoves

Despite the advantages of solar cookers, people’s first priority is an energyefficient stove, because it can cook and heat the whole day, which is often necessary, especially in winter. The traditional Tibetan metal stove (Figure 2) is well accepted, but people would prefer one which

  • Uses less yak dung or wood
  • Produces less smoke
  • Functions well, even when the wind is turning

Figure 2: Traditional Tibetan metal stove
Figure 2: Traditional Tibetan metal stove


The ideal solution would be to improve the existing stove by integrating into the traditional stove a new system of combustion and heat transfer that saves fuel. There are several fuelefficient metal stoves which have been developed recently and are being tested right now in China and other parts of the world, including` biogasifier stoves, the Vesto stove, the rocket stove.

[top] [end]Challenges and recommendations

1). Adapt existing Tibetan cooking/ heating stoves to improve combustion and heat transfer

2). Training local entrepreneurs and industrial producers to build the improved stoves.

3). Field testing these stoves in a larger pilot project to find out the acceptance and actual fuel savings

4). Planning for a larger, integrated commercial dissemination programme, including publicity campaigns, user information and training, quality assurance, technical training and liability of producers, financing schemes and a systematic monitoring and follow-up system.

Considering the ecological problems of the region, the government should seek ways to save yak dung which could be used as fertilizer instead of burning material. Improving cooking technologies can help protect the environment, and therefore also to improve the life of the inhabitants of the Tibetan Highlands.

[top] [end]Download the original article

pdf file link HERA Household Energy Programme by Agnes Klingshirn (278 KB)

[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 51 - Sharing information and communicating knowledge

.
.
Theme Editorial - The Gift of Knowledge - The Upesi Rural Stoves Project - HEDON-The Household Energy Network - Locally-made solar panels for small appliances - Sharing knowledge and spreading information using the Internet - Promoting Solar Cookers Through The Solar Cookers International - Improved Cookstove Technology For Rural Livelihoods For Women - Improved Cookstove Dissemination - HERA Household Energy Programme? - Household energies to improve the quality of life of rural communities - Financing watermill upgrades - Who Benefits From Solar Home Systems In India - The Human And Livelihoods Cost Of Fuel-switching In Addis Ababa - Consensus Reached By Participants At The International Workshop - Monitoring The Charcoal Production Of An Area Under A Sustainable Licensing System - Whats Happening In Household Energy BP51 - Energy News From Practical Action BP51









edit this page

Page created: 12 June 2007; Last edited: 14 June 2007; Version: 1
Knowledge Bank text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Pagename: HouseholdEnergiesToImproveTheQualityOfLifeOfRuralCommunities @HEDON: VWEA