Development of a fuel efficient cookstove through a participatory bottom-up approach

Vijay Honkalaskar1, Upendra Bhandarkar2, Milind Sohoni3
1CTARA, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India
3Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

Tóm tắt

AbstractBackground

Since 1940s, other than a few success stories, the outcomes of efforts of development and dissemination of improved cookstovesahave not been so fruitful. This paper presents a bottom-up approach that was successfully implemented to develop a fuel-efficient cookstove in a tribal village that has resulted in a substantial reduction in firewood consumption.

Method

The approach ensured people’s participation at multiple stages of the process that started from project selection by capturing people’s needs/desires and studying the existing cooking practice to understand its importance in the local context. The performance of the cookstoves was evaluated by modifying a standard Water Boiling Test to accommodate the existing cooking practice. The improvement of the cookstove was achieved by fabricating a simple twisted tape assembly that could be placed on it without changing the existing cookstove.

Results

The optimization of the twisted tape device was first carried out in the laboratory and then implemented in the field. The field-level tests resulted in reduction of firewood consumption by around 21% which is a substantial improvement for such a device. It was also found that the improvement reduced sootbaccumulation by around 38% and time of cooking preparations by around 18.5%.

Conclusion

Overall, a bottom-up and participatory process that not only addressed people’s perceived needs but also ensured no changes in the existing cooking practice while providing an easy, low cost (around US$1.25)c, and locally manufacturable solution led to a highly successful improvement in the local cookstove that was accepted easily by the villagers.

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