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Project Gaia


Table of Contents

[top] [end]Organisation name

Project Gaia

[top] [end]Main contact person

Harry Stokes hstokes@...
James Murren jmurren@...
Fiona Lambe fionalambe@...

Website under construction (www.ProjectGaia.com)

[top] [end]Background, mission and goals

The goal of Project Gaia is to revolutionize the household energy economy of Africa and the Developing World by leading the way to alcohol fuels derived from currently wasted or under used resources, both biomass and hydrocarbon resources, for daily household use, including cooking, refrigeration, heating, lighting and electrical generation.

The need to affect change in household energy consumption patterns in developing countries is of the utmost importance given the adverse impact current energy demand and use patterns have on health, society, the economy and the environment. Approximately 60% of the African continent depends on traditional biomass (e.g., fuelwood and dung) to meet its energy needs, with the percentage soaring to roughly 90% for Sub-Saharan African. The majority of this demand is due to cooking. Traditional fuels, along with the highly prevalent household intermediate fuels such as kerosene, impose a heavy toll on health via smoke, emissions, and fire and burn hazards. Acute respiratory infection in children, chronic obstructive lung disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes and lung cancer in women are of epidemic proportions. Indeed, the World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution results in 1.6 million deaths worldwide per year due to indoor air pollution, 24% occurring in Africa alone, and 2.7% of the global burden of disease, over half of which arises in Africa. The impact on women and children is especially pronounced, with 56% of deaths of children under the age of five, along with 80% of the global burden of disease on children under the age of five, being caused by indoor air pollution.

Additional burdens from current household energy consumption patterns are manifold. For example, collection of firewood and other traditional biomass fuels is time-consuming-the World Bank estimates that fuel collection accounts on average for 20% of a rural woman's work time-and thus prevents time being spent in more productive ways such as education. As well, environmental impacts from traditional fuel exacerbate the rapid deforestation and desertification occurring across the developing world while also adversely impacting the broader environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Transition to the use of alcohol fuels will reduce or avoid these impacts in a number of ways, offering numerous benefits that make them perfect for use in the household energy market. Not only are they the cleanest of fuels and the safest when used in properly designed appliances, but also the use of alcohol fuels in the household results in greatly improved air quality in the kitchen and courtyard, safer handling with reduced danger of fires, burns and explosions, and reduced environmental impacts from better resource management. Likewise, as mentioned above, a market for currently wasted or underused resources, such as waste molasses currently being dumped into African rivers, will turn a no-value by-product into a high value industrial product, spurring productivity and increasing employment in industry, agriculture, manufacturing, and the service sector, the latter via stove and fuels sales and distribution. On a macroeconomic level, with most African countries dependent on petroleum imports, displacement of such imports by domestically produced alcohol fuels will result in valuable foreign exchange savings and an improvement in the balance of payments, especially if an export market is developed.

[top] [end]Approach, organisational programmes and activities:

To determine how best to create a successful household market for alcohol fuels, both in terms of commercial viability and in transforming energy consumption habits, Project Gaia is implementing test pilots in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Brazil, of an alcohol-based stove developed by Dometic AB, the world's leading alcohol stove and appliance manufacturer. The stove, called the "CleanCook," is a non-pressurized, high-performance stove, constructed entirely of stainless steal, the result of which is a product that is both durable and long lasting, the estimated life-time being a minimum of ten-years. As one of the most efficient stoves on the market today, the CleanCook, when fuelled by methanol or a methanol-ethanol blend, burns very cleanly without any odor, soot or smoke; when burned with ethanol alone, a small amount of soot will form and some odor will be detected when pots are cold, though it quickly dissipates as pots heat. Likewise, in addition to the excellent safety features of alcohol fuels, the stove holds its fuel in a manner that eliminates the risk of leakage, flare-up or explosion.

As a result of the pilot studies, the following issues are being addressed: stove final design, fuel handling, packaging and delivery, consumer safety, stove/fuel affordability strategies, cost of project development and infrastructure, the need for and extent of government buy-in and supportive public policy, design of commercial projects, and how to design and finance commercial projects so that they will address the need in the marketplace and reach the largest number of consumers possible. Integral to the studies is the need to fully understand household energy consumption and why and how energy choices are made; issues covered will include affordability, quality, convenience, safety, health, gender and social issues. Since creation of a household market for alcohol fuels is dependent on changing behaviour, it is crucial to understand household energy demand so as to ensure maximal success in affecting change via stove design and dissemination, and, eventually additional alcohol-based products.

[top] [end]Examples of past successes and experience

Project Gaia is based upon the principle that products proven and used in the developed world can and should be adapted for use in the developing world, particularly if they respond to a compelling need. Project Gaia is leading with an alcohol stove based on the popular Dometic-Origo 3000 stove. It will follow with other appliances such as the heat adsorption refrigerator. Heat adsorption refrigeration was the technology that spurred Dometic's parent company's rapid growth in the early and mid 20th Century. This was Electrolux AB. Now the alcohol appliances have been centered in a smaller, more focused company, Dometic AB. Dometic is the manufacturer of the "Cold Chain" appliances, such as medical cool boxes used by UNHCR, WHO and the International Red Cross. Dometic is able to devote attention to expanding the markets for alcohol appliances. Because these are appropriate technologies for the developing world, Dometic seeks to address this market. It wishes to do so in a careful and thoughtful manner that will truly respond to the needs and aspirations of the people who are to be served by that market. Like Electrolux, Dometic is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and seeks to conduct business in a manner that is both socially and environmentally responsible.

To date two stove "mini pilots" have been run, one in eMbalenhle (Johannesburg), South Africa and one in Delta State, Nigeria. Three grant-funded full-scale pilot studies have also been carried out: an 850-stove study in Ethiopia funded by the Shell Foundation, a 300-stove study in Delta State funded by the U.S. EPA and various Nigerian participants, and a 100 -tove study in Minas Gerais, Brazil funded by the Shell Foundation.

Project Gaia has been under development since 1995 and hopes to produce its first commercial project by 2008.

[top] [end]Other details

A crucial component of Project Gaia is partnership formation. Partnerships ensure that local needs are met in the best ways possible in terms of adapting technology to local household consumption patterns, utilizing local resources, creating local employment, and in forming goodwill within the community. Partnerships involve local investors and businesses, local, state and national governments, suppliers of alcohol fuels, local, national and international NGOs, and potential local stove manufacturers for technology transfer.

Click on the following Project Gaia reports:

[top] [end]See also

Project Gaia, Ethiopia

Categories: Ethanol


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Page created: 19 July 2004; Last edited: 01 April 2008; Version: 6
Knowledge Bank text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Pagename: ProjectGaia @HEDON: RHBA