Smokeless Stoves: A China-India Technology Transfer

Over 2 billion people in the developing world lack access to modern energy carriers and depend on biomass fuels such as wood and dung. These households generally burn these fuels in simple, inefficient cookstoves, producing significant amounts of smoke. This indoor air pollution (IAP) is associated with a variety of health impacts including pneumonia, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the overall disease burden of IAP causes 1.6 million deaths per year.

Perhaps the most successful program to combat IAP from cookstoves took place in China. This program catalyzed the design and commercialization of millions of efficient, cleaner-burning cookstoves. Chinese manufacturers have pioneered new biomass stove technologies such as gasifier stoves which convert solid fuel into a gaseous fuel for cleaner and more efficient combustion.

Our goal is to determine whether efficient Chinese gasifier stoves can be introduced into India through a sustainable business model to effectively improve indoor air quality. Your assistance will enable follow-up on manufacturing and supply chain aspects that will compliment our August 2006 field investigation of consumer acceptance that was financed by the UC Berkeley MOT-UNIDO program.

Project mission:

Test consumer acceptance, market feasibility, manufacturing, and supply chain of cleaner-burning stoves

Potential impact:

Improvement in efficiency and indoor air quality for rural Indian households; potentially affecting up to 82 million homes

Required resources:

1. Total project needs: $10,000
2. In-kind contribution needs: Improved stoves for additional

Our sponsors:

10/19/2006 - Anonymous $2.00
11/2/2006 - Anonymous $20.00

Links to other projects by the same organization:

• http://ceihd.berkeley.edu