ethanol stove for rural areas in India - great health benefits to be gained from its use.

[JohnWxy]

http://www.nariphaltan.org/ethstove.pdf

Only 17.5 % of all Indian homes use LPG as their primary cooking fuel, with 90 % of rural
households dependent on some form of biomass. To improve the quality of life of such a large
number of people, it is imperative that clean and renewable alternatives are provided for cooking.
This paper presents one such. An ethanol stove running on 50 % ethanol-water mixture has been
developed at Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The stove allows easy flame regulation
and gives an output similar to the conventionally-used LPG and kerosene stoves. Field tests
conducted on the stove show that it is safe to use and very suitable for a typical rural household.
In addition, the cost of using the ethanol stove is comparable to those of the conventional liquid
fuel alternatives.

~~
~~

7. Policy issues
For ethanol to be used as a cooking fuel in rural households
the following policy issues need to be addressed.

1. The government of India should allow ethanol to be
used as a cooking and lighting fuel for rural areas.
Besides solving the energy crisis, the production and
use of ethanol in rural areas will provide major stimulus
to the rural economy. It is estimated that the ethanol
economy for rural areas could be worth Rs. 2
trillion (~US$ 45 billion) annually .

2. Presently the production and sale of ethanol is con-
trolled by a very rigid excise regime primarily because
of issues regarding the drinking of this ethanol. However,
there is enough chemistry known to mankind to
make ethanol non-potable and unpalatable. Use of
such chemicals will completely prevent drinking ethanol
meant for use as fuel. If the government does decide
on making such ethanol available as a cooking
and lighting fuel in rural areas then it should exempt
this ethanol from all excise duties. This will reduce
its cost and make it a viable alternative to LPG and
kerosene. Besides its use for cooking and lighting<1>,
it can also be used in internal combustion engines for
producing decentralized electricity .
Thus, all the present subsidies given in rural areas for
cooking fuels (kerosene and LPG) and electricity
should be lumped together and made available for
ethanol use in rural areas.



International Energy Initiative and its mission


Energy is of critical importance to development, economic growth, balance of payments, peace, national
and regional environmental protection and the global climate. The efficient production and use of
energy in an environmentally sound way is essential to tackling these concerns and defining a path
to sustainable development based on equity, empowerment (self-reliance), environmental harmony and
economic efficiency.
Since no international institution had as its sole objective the promotion of the efficient production and
use of energy, a new International Energy Initiative (IEI) was established in September 1991. IEI is a small, independent, international, non-governmental, public-purpose organization. It is a South-North partnership, Southern-conceived, led and located. It networks with those concerned with energy.

IEI’s mission is Information, Training, Analysis, Advocacy and Action (INTAAACT) and the systems integration of these components. IEI’s objective is to promote – initiate, strengthen and advance – the efficient production and use of energy for sustainable development.

IEI’s strategy is:

focusing on developing countries;
disseminating the new approach to energy, in which the level of energy services is taken as the
measure of development, rather than the magnitude of energy consumption and supply;

increasing energy services through a rationally determined mix of “hardware” – “cleaner” centralized/
decentralized sources of energy and end-use efficiency measures;

addressing the “software” issues – policies, institutions, financing, and management involved in
the implementation of such a “hardware” mix;

providing rigorous assessments and promoting the dissemination of emerging technologies of
end-use efficiency improvement and of decentralized renewable sources (including modern
biomass-based technologies);

initiating and strengthening technological capability in energy analysis, planning and implementation
in developing countries; and promoting the improvement of existing energy institutions and efforts and the design of new ones.

Find out more about IEI on the Internet at www.ieiglobal.org.
Energy

[elocs]

1. Got sun? I'm sure India does.

This works great:


So does this:


Text from here:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.sunoven.com/afghanistan.asp&h=300&w=400&sz=16&hl=en&start=9&sig2=vBB9h8qLUatRJ8gmtCJlvw&um=1&tbnid=xEiquKUaPpr0cM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&ei=7vuASInfOJ3GsgLTi6yXDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsun%2Boven%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Afghanistan Up Date August 1, 2002

To date 5 VILLAGER SUN OVENS® have been shipped to Afghanistan. These ovens were donated by the cooperative efforts of 142 Rotary Clubs from the U.S. and Canada. Two of the ovens are still in transit and should arrive later this month. A VILLAGER SUN OVEN® has now been set up at a girls' school for 2900 students in Aibak, and another at a school on the outskirts of Kabul.

Knightsbridge International donated half of the funds for one of the ovens and has provided the following photographs. Sir Edward Artis and Walt Ratterman, of Knightsbridge International, are currently in Afghanistan on a humanitarian mission which includes delivering and installing two VILLAGER SUN OVENS®. One of the ovens will go to Aibak, a remote spot in the foothills northwest of Kabul, accompanied by a large shipment of relief supplies. It will be used to bake bread on an ongoing basis for an orphanage, a hospital and school. The other oven will go through to Kabul, and will be deployed by Mercy Corps and the World Food Programme to a village on the outskirts of the city, where the women will bake bread daily for several hundred children in the school. This system was donated by Rotary International and is being set up with the assistance of the Greenstar Foundation. If you are interested in following the path of this mission a web site has been set up which is updated twice each week.
http://www.e-greenstar.com/Afghanistan/report6.htm.

Afghan women at the school in Kabul make the first batch of tradition "pillau" bread, to feed their children at class.

The headmaster of the Kabul school looks on as the first bread is baked.

The SUN OVEN®, using only the refracted concentrated light of the sun, reaches internal temperatures of 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit); more than enough to bake the flat, unleavened "nan" bread which is a staple of the Afghan diet.
Updated October 29, 2001

As military operations against targets in Afghanistan intensify, and with winter approaching rapidly, large numbers of Afghans are seeking refuge in neighboring countries, joining the 3.7 million refugees that have left Afghanistan in recent years. The UN estimates as many as 1 million refugees may pour into Pakistan, and another 500,000 into Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. About 2 million people are already on the move inside the country in search of food and assistance, and the 3.8 million that currently rely on UN food aid for their survival are projected to reach over 5 million by November. Civil war, and the worst drought the country has faced in 30 years, have put up to 7.5 million people at risk, out of the total population of 26 million. According to UNICEF, nearly 20 percent of those in need are children under the age of five. The situation has worsened dramatically since the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the ensuing international military action. Many relief agencies have been forced to withdraw from Afghanistan; the programs that remain have been severely constrained. Deteriorating security and mounting uncertainty for relief operations heighten the urgency of what the UN has called a humanitarian crisis of "stunning proportions".

Rotary Clubs and School Children Respond
Rotary Clubs, Districts and individual Rotarians from throughout North America have come together to assist in combating the growing humanitarian crisis at the borders of Afghanistan. VILLAGER SUN OVENS are being sent to help in the feeding of refugees. Using the sun to cook food will allow the space on planes and trucks that was used to transport cooking fuel to be used to send more food and thereby enable the feeding of more people.

These ovens are extremely well insulated to hold heat in and keep cold out. Even though the winters are very cold in this area of the world, there is still an abundance of sunshine, which is conducive to solar cooking. The ovens will be used in northern Afghanistan at the IDP camp at Dasht-i-Qala. This area is not under the control of the Taliban. As of October 25th there were 61,000 families living in this camp and cooking fuel is very scarce. This is the first war that has ever been fought with food being equal to bombs in their power to overthrow the enemy. Each oven can cook over 1,200 meals per day powered by the sun.

The are parts of the world where women spend a good part of their days searching for and collecting hard to find firewood in order to cook. The sun is right there and is free. It can be used to bake bread, cook rice, and to boil water to make it safe to drink. These should be widely used in all third world countries.

[IDemo]

2. Solar cooking is rapidly gaining popularity in India and Africa

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Rural_Kenyan_Women_On_Vanguard_Of_African_Solar_Revolution.html

Rural Kenyan Women On Vanguard Of African Solar Revolution

An African woman uses her new 'cookit' solar cooker.


by Lillian Omariba
Kajiado, Kenya (AFP) Jun 16, 2006

Elizabeth Leshom may not know it, but she is among a legion of African women at the vanguard of what many hope will be a "solar revolution" that could empower them and help save the environment.

The 25-year-old Kenyan is part of a rapidly growing programme across east and central Africa that aims to replace or at least reduce traditional wood-fired cooking with efficient energy from the sun.

Here in Kajiado, a dusty rural township about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Nairobi, she is part of a group learning how to use, then make, market and sell so-called "cookits" under the tutelage of a US-based development agency.

"I've used a cookit for three months and it's really good, smokeless and less expensive," Leshom says, marvelling at the savings of both money and time as well as new income the small contraption has brought her.

[JohnWxy]

5. interesting. sounds like the cost is low, so very pracitcal. here are some email addresses to

inform the right people of this. Maybe they are going down the wro\ng path:


President


Sribas C. Bhattacharya
164/6 Prince Anwar Shah Road
Lake Gardens
Kolkata 700 045
India

Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]


IEI Regional Offices

Asia

Antonette D’Sa
International Energy Initiative,
80-B, Spencer Road, 2nd Cross, Fraser Town,
Bangalore 560 005
India

Tel: [phone]
Fax:[phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.iei-asia.org


Latin America

Gilberto de Martino Jannuzzi
Universidade Estadual de Campinas – UNICAMP
C.P.6122 13083-970 Campinas SP BRAZIL

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
Web site: http://www.iei-la.org


By the way your article is a couple years old. I wonder how things havae been progressing. I like the idea that this device is not expensive to make.

[JohnWxy]

4. Sounds like a good idea. Here's the email of two of the researchers at (NARI), why don't you send

this info to them. Do you know how much it costs (looks pretty big)? 5 ovens sent? If it meets rural India's needs they could probably use a few hundred million.

Anil K. Rajvanshi, S.M. Patil and B. Mendonca
Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), P.O. Box 44, Phaltan-415523, Maharashtra, India
E-mail: [email protected]

[Howzit]

3. Cooking with ethanol may prevent people from drinking it.

Or does it provide a cheap source of sauce?

[NNadir]

6. Millions of people in India have died from biofuels in the last century.

You couldn't care less.

I note with contempt, that you know nothing about India at all and certainly have never looked out of the sea of hovels in Mumbai.

As it happens, the people of India can and do burn trash left over from the construction of these hovels.

The stupid car fantasies are immoral enough, but this is way too much. There is NOT ONE fundie anti-nuke who has anything but contempt for the poor.