Day 13: Cookstoves in Kayonza

Sunday, August 11th - Kayonza, Rwanda

Written by Professor Sangwon Suh & Ilayda Dinc of UCSB Bren School of Environmental Studies and Management

It was Sunday afternoon. We went to Kayonza district and met twenty representatives from four co-ops for the first demonstration of new high-efficiency cookstoves.  Since our first day in Rwanda, we have been interviewing with the people in the cooperatives about their cooking method, fuel consumption, and cost. Those twenty representatives were the people we have already met a couple of days ago. As soon as we got there, we could tell from their eyes that they were happy to see us.

This is a project we have been working on since April, so we had an idea about the severity of the situation. According to our research, every year, 3.8 million people die prematurely from the use of inefficient cookstoves [1] Globally, as many as 3 billion people, mainly in rural Africa and Asia, are relying on inefficient cooking technologies such as three-stone wood fire and charcoal stoves for daily cooking needs [2]. The bystanders of these primitive stoves, mainly women and children, are exposed to a large quantity of hazardous substances equivalent to that from smoking 2 packs of cigarettes every day [3]. They also generate large quantities of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accelerate deforestation.

But the things we witnessed were even more serious than we anticipated, partly because the communities that we visited were composed of underprivileged families and individuals even in Rwandan standard. We learned that most of the families that we visited spend almost half of their income on buying cooking fuels such as firewood and charcoal. They told us that they spend on average about 20,000 Rwandan Franc (RF) per month per household for cooking fuels such as firewood and charcoal. The efficiency of the conventional stoves that run on these fuels goes only about 5-10%, so much of the cooking fuels are wasted. The high-efficiency gasification cookstove that we demonstrated, however, reaches about 50% thermal efficiency. Also, some of them were experiencing respiratory problems such as coughing. So, our interviews and observations proved that efficient and cleaner cooking technology is urgently needed in Rwanda. 

On the day of the demonstration, we were not entirely sure how receptive the co-op members would be. It was an important first test for us.  We started to assemble the cookstoves while co-op members were watching us with curious eyes. After a couple, they started to help us and assemble the cookstoves themselves.

Then, we were ready to cook. We started to cook rice using a conventional three-stone fire stove and a Mimi Moto gasification stove side-by-side. The idea was to let the co-op members discover and experience the differences on their own so that they see the value of high-efficiency cookstove by themselves in the absence of our preaching. “What’s the difference that you see?” Sangwon asked. 

The co-op members responded immediately. Multiple members pointed out that the three-stone fire stove was smoky while the high-efficiency gasification stove wasn’t. They also noticed that the flame from the three-stone stove wasn’t well contained, whereas that from the gasification stove was concentrated only to the center. The moment that we heard those two responses, we knew that these co-op members would readily adopt the new technology, and they indeed did.

From the beginning of the demonstration, they attentively watched and took notes on their notebooks. After we were done with cooking, they started to ask very thoughtful questions. One of them asked about what happens if water touches the circuit area.  That question made us even happier because it was obvious that they want to take good care of their new cookstoves. Another one asked about the sustainability of wood pellet supply. This was very exciting to hear because in the long run, supply security of wood pellets should be addressed and they are already advancing their thoughts to the future. Hearing them coming up with these questions made us even more hopeful about the uptake of the new cooking technology.

Recognizing the benefits of the new cooking technology by themselves, by the end of the session, these co-op representatives became eager to enroll in our experimental program. Each participant of the program receives a cookstove, and, in return, they report to us the amount of fuel consumption before and after receiving the new cookstove. One of the co-op leaders, Eugene, volunteered to take the responsibility of collecting and reporting data for us. 

By the end of the day, we were able to demonstrate the new cookstove, trained 20 co-op representatives, distributed our first batch of high-efficiency cookstoves, and successfully launched our data collection program.

And the best part? Seeing how happy the people are as they walk away with new cookstoves. These stoves will help save money and improve the health of their family members. As we approach the end of our trip, this day proved us it was only the beginning.

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* The text of this blog has been adapted from existing writings by Adopt a Cookstove team members.

[1] “Global Health Observatory (GHO) data,” World Health Organization (WHO),https://www.who.int/gho/phe/indoor_air_pollution/burden/en/

[2] “Household air pollution and health,” WHO, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health

[3] “Fuel for life: household energy and health,” WHO, https://www.who.int/airpollution/publications/fuelforlife.pdf?ua=1