Chand, Rupa

Rijal, Kedar

Sapkota, Ramesh Prasad

English

The energy demand is ever increasing with the growing population with increased consumption andliving standard. In the developing country like Nepal, traditional sources of energy such as fuel-wood,dung and agriculture residues are still in use. Such a traditional energy sources and cooking practiceshave several environmental and health implications. The present study was carried out in MeghauliVillage Development Committee of Chitwan districts in which attempts have been made to assessthe status of Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) and its contribution in reducing firewood consumption,carbon dioxide (CO2) emission that help saving time and lessening women drudgery in householdwork and ultimately reducing climate change impacts. Moreover, health status of the people was alsoundertaken. For the purpose, household survey method was applied for gathering the information.The results showed that ICS to be more efficient compared to the traditional cooking stoves. Theaverage firewood consumption for household purpose prior to installation of ICS was found to be310.62 kg/month which reduced to 253 kg/month, i.e. 57.62 kg less in a month. This helped to reduceCO2 emission by an average value of 105.44 kg/month. It has also been reported that there wassubstantial (262 hours in a year) reduction in time consumption for household work. However, yethigher number of people (11.63%) was found suffering from respiratory and eye diseases probablydue to biomass burning and other labor based works

    Aalborg UniversitetImproved cooking stoves as an eco-friendly practice for reducing fuel-wood and CO2emission: A case of Meghauli, Chitwan, NepalChand, Rupa; Rijal, Kedar; Sapkota, Ramesh PrasadPublished in:Nepal Journal of Environmental SciencePublication date:2014Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication from Aalborg UniversityCitation for published version (APA):Chand, R., Rijal, K., & Sapkota, R. P. (2014). Improved cooking stoves as an eco-friendly practice for reducingfuel-wood and CO2 emission: A case of Meghauli, Chitwan, Nepal. Nepal Journal of Environmental Science, 2,57-61.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            ? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access tothe work immediately and investigate your claim.Nep J Environ Sci (2014), 2, 57-61                                                                  ISSN 2350-8647Improved cooking stoves as an eco-friendly practice for reducing fuel-woodand CO2 emission: A case of Meghauli, Chitwan, NepalR Chand1*, K Rijal2, RP Sapkota2,31GoldenGate International College, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal2Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal3Amrit Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, NepalAbstractThe energy demand is ever increasing with the growing population with increased consumption andliving standard. In the developing country like Nepal, traditional sources of energy such as fuel-wood,dung and agriculture residues are still in use. Such a traditional energy sources and cooking practiceshave several environmental and health implications. The present study was carried out in MeghauliVillage Development Committee of Chitwan districts in which attempts have been made to assessthe status of Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) and its contribution in reducing firewood consumption,carbon dioxide (CO2) emission that help saving time and lessening women drudgery in householdwork and ultimately reducing climate change impacts. Moreover, health status of the people was alsoundertaken. For the purpose, household survey method was applied for gathering the information.The results showed that ICS to be more efficient compared to the traditional cooking stoves. Theaverage firewood consumption for household purpose prior to installation of ICS was found to be310.62 kg/month which reduced to 253 kg/month, i.e. 57.62 kg less in a month. This helped to reduceCO2 emission by an average value of 105.44 kg/month. It has also been reported that there wassubstantial (262 hours in a year) reduction in time consumption for household work. However, yethigher number of people (11.63%) was found suffering from respiratory and eye diseases probablydue to biomass burning and other labor based works.Key Words: Biomass, Carbon Dioxide Emission, Climate Change, Improved Cooking Stoves,                      Respiratory ProblemsIntroductionThe energy demand in the world is steadily increasing andthe much of the demand is fulfilled with non-renewableenergy such as coal, gas and oil. However, traditional sourcesof energy are still in use for domestic (cooking and heating)purposes in developing countries. Nevertheless, having agreater role of fossil fuel bur ning in industrialized anddeveloped countries for climate change, the biomass burningparticularly for household purpose is also contributing forGreen House Gases emission and causing climate change(World Bank, 2010). Furthermore, forest degradation is anutmost result from biomass bur ning or use of traditionalenergy resource in rural areas of the developing countries,which finally deplete the sinking area for emitted CO2. Thenet global deforestation rate has been averaged 7.3 millionhectares a year, from 2000 to 2005, contributing about 5 gigatons of CO 2 per year emissions (W orld Bank, 2010).Nepal relies heavily on traditional energy resources, as nosignificant deposit of fossil fuel are available (CRT/N, 2005).Lack of fossil fuel deposition and a smaller amount of hydro-electricity generation has compelled to use biomass resourcesuch as firewood, animal dung and agricultural residue,which accounts for 87.1%. In totality , firewood occupiesabout 78% of the total energy consumption (WECS, 2010).With increasing population and fuel price of commercialenergy, there is an increase in demand for firewood in thecountry, as it is cheaper and easy to obtain.Reduction of CO2, increased carbon sequestration and carbonsubstitution are the major activities for mitigating the impactof climate change. Among others, adoption of eco-friendlypractices such as use of Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) aresupportive for reducing climate change impacts and alsobenefitted to the vulnerable r ural people and womenResearch Article*Corresponding author, email address:  1chandrupa.env@hotmail.comTU-CDES58                     Nep J Environ Sci (2014), 2, 57-61Data collection and analysisPrimary and secondar y information were collected fromfield visit, published and unpublished data resources, so asto get more qualitative output. In response to get the firsthand data field survey was conducted on 15 - 20 July, 2010.During field visit, the ICS installed houses were listed withthe help of k ey infor mant such as IC S promoter, VDCchairperson and BZ management chairperson. In totality ,900 households were found with IC S installation in theirkitchens for cooking.Household questionnaire survey was done for gathering theprimary information and simple random sampling techniquewas used to select the sampling households. In order todetermine the sample size, a simple formula given by Arkinand Colton (1963) was used; which can be represented as;NZ2 P(1-P)Nd2+Z2P(1-P)             Sample Size (n) =Where,n= Sample size (68)N= T otal number of households (900)Z= Confidence interval (at 95 % level, Z= 1.96)P= Estimated population proportion (0.05)d = Errors of limit of 5 % (0.05)household workers to adapt with climate change and reduceCO2 emission. ICS is becoming one of the widely adoptedrural technologies in some rural parts of the Nepal (Khanal& Bajracharya, 2010). Women are mainly responsible forcooking activities and collecting firewood. Hence, greaterefficiency of IC S (15-25%) and saving of fuel-wood helpreducing the women dr udgeryof women, since IC S cutsdown their cooking time and hardship in collecting firewood(CRT/N, 2000).Materials and MethodsStudy areaChitwan district covers an area of 2218 km2 and lies withinthe Siwalik belt in the W estern Development Region ofNepal. This district is rich in cultural diversity and ethnicity,having diverse geography and tropical monsoon climate.The Chitwan National Park lies toward south central Nepal,which spreads over 932 km2 and surrounded by Buffer Zone(BZ) area of 750 km2. The BZ area is bounded by Narayani-Rapti River system in North and West, between South-Easternboundary of the park and the inter national boundary ofIndia.The present study was car ried out in Meghauli VDC ofChitwan district which lies within the Buffer Zone area ofChitwan National Park (Fig. 1). In totality, it covers an areaof 30.46 km2. Its access is 26 km south from Narayanghatcity. Total number of households in this VDC is 3,086 andtotal population is 14,149 consisting male 6,341 and female7,808 (CBS, 2012).Fig. 1 Location of Meghauli VDC, ChitwanA total of 86 ICS user households were visited for the survey.The questionnaires were prepared by accompanying theissues of socio-economic behavior of the inhabitants, energyconsumption, health status and perception of local peopleTU-CDESNep J Environ Sci (2014), 2, 57-61                                                                                        59350300250200150100500Amount (kg/month)Before ICS After ICS Firewood SavingFirewood ConsumptionFig. 2 Reduction in firewood consumptiontoward climate change. The questionnaire forms were filledby the researcher interviewing with household heads or/andfemale respondents. The data obtained from the householdsurvey were analyzed by using Microsof t Excel 2010. Thereduction in CO2 emission has been calculated by using theconversion factor for 1 kg of dr y firewood emit 1.83 kg ofCO2 (IPCC, 1996).Results and DiscussionSocio­economic conditionThe most (98.84%) of the family in the study area were foundto be Hindu, followed by a few Buddhist (1.16%). Amongthe ethnic groups, Brahmin, Chhetri, Mahato, Gurung, Tharu,Rai, Magar and Newar were the major ethnic groups. Theaverage family size was found to be six, with single familytype. Water and sanitation condition was obser ved to besatisfactory where almost all family were found to have toiletfacility. The average household income was found to beabout NRs. 11,500. Furthermore, almost ever y family hascommunication facilities like mobile/telephone, television,radio and others.Energy use for cooking and lighting purposeAll the surveyed households in the study area were foundto be using firewood for cooking and heating purposes.However, preference of people was found to be graduallychanging from traditional sources of ener gy to cleanersources of ener gy like Liquefied P etroleum Gas (LPG)(22.09%), kerosene (2.32%), biogas (1.16%), and electricity(10.46%) for domestic purposes. Similarly, nearly 94.18% ofthe surveyed households were found to use electricity, while5.82% were found to be using kerosene for lighting purpose.At present, the preference for clean energy sources has beenincreasing which might be due to inconvenient availabilityof traditional fuel-wood, decreasing forest resources, as wellas increasing income level. This means the ener gyconsumption pattern is shifting from traditional to modernsources. In addition, awareness about environment friendlytechniques leads people to use more efficient and modifiedtraditional system such as IC S, biogas, bio-briquette, etc.which help in reducing firewood, saving time, effort andmoney. The Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale, high hill of eastern ruralpart of Nepal, shows that inter vention of ICS appreciablyreduced firewood consumption from a household to 4.5million ton per year from 8.14 million ton per year which is45% diminution of fuel wood. Consequently, reduced volumeof firewood has been supporting in reducing the CO 2emission. There is reduction of CO 2 emission from 14.9million ton per household per year to 8.42 million ton perhousehold per year. It has also been revealed that after usingICS technology, each household is contributing about 1.52million ton carbon to sink in the community or natural forestin study area (Khanal & Bajracharya, 2010). Likewise, in thepresent study, there is significant reduction of firewoodconsumption and CO2 reduction which support in levelingoff the CO 2 concentration in atmosphere which is majorcomponent of climate change. Furthermore, interventionof ICS technology also helps to sink carbon in forest whichhelps to mitigate climate change.Similarly, respondents agree that, ICS is one of the efficient,convenient, clean and time saving stove which help inreducing household dr udgery for cleaning the kitchen,washing utensils, collecting firewood from distant area aswell as it is good in appearance than the traditional stove.It is also one of the most likeable technologies because ofuse of firewood as means of fuel-wood can be obtainedlocally, needs low investment and is easy to install than theother alternative technologies. Despite various advantagesof using ICS, it seems to be not prefer red by few people.This might be due to some technical problem such as itsmodified structure and financial investment during installationand maintenance period which is somewhat difficult withoutprior knowledge and experience. Therefore, it requiresadequate consideration while designing and developing theICS and training for repair and maintenance.Reduction in firewood consumptionIt has been found that average firewood consumption by afamily was 310.62 kg/month prior to the application of ICS,which was reduced to 253 kg/month after adopting it  (Table1). It shows that the IC S helped to save 57.62 kg/monthfirewood (Fig. 2). This means, about 3.727 million tons offirewood consumed by each household in a year was reducedto 3.036 million ton after ICS installation which is equivalentto 0.6914 million ton saving of firewood.   Regarding thepreference of people, nearly 73.68% showed their preferencefor IC S, 25% prefer red traditional and 1.32% has nopreference.TU-CDES60                   Nep J Environ Sci (2014), 2, 57-61Table 1 Reduction of firewood and CO2 emission from ICS adoptionBefore ICS installation 310.62 568.43After ICS installation 253 462.991.265 1138.5Features Firewood requirement CO2 Emission Reduction in CO2 Reduction in CO2(kg/month/HH) (kg/month/HH) emission emission from  (million ton/HH) 900 HH (million ton/yr)Reduction of CO2 emissionPrior to the application of IC S, CO 2 emission from ahousehold was calculated about 568.43 kg/month whichhowever was found to decrease to 462.99 kg/month. Equally,this helped to reduce CO 2 by an average value of 105.44kg/month. It gives a value of 1.265 million ton of reductionin CO2 emission from an ICS installed household in a year.In totality, it helped to reduce 1143 million ton of CO2 from900 ICS installed houses in Meghauli VDC. Correspondingly,it shows about 18.55% of the CO2 emission decreased fromthese houses (Table 1).Time saving for household workFrom the present study, it has been found that in an averagea woman spent 5 hours 15 minutes per day for householdwork as cooking for family, washing pots and cleaning thekitchen prior to using IC S, which was reduced to 4 hours32 minutes per day for the same task after ICS installation.It means, about 43 minutes in a day was saved. In average,it helped to save 262 hours in a year which they could usein women empowering activities as well as taking care ofthem such as taking proper hygienic activities on daily basis.Health statusAbout 11.63% people in the study area were found to besuffering from respiratory (40% asthma, 20% bronchitis, 20%throat infection and others) and eye diseases, 6.98% stomachpain, 5.81% headache and 11.63% others. In the presentstudy, women were found to be greater in proportionsuffering from respiratory diseases than the men which maybe due to their prolonged exposure during cooking orindoor activities. Exposure to indoor air pollution, especiallyparticulate matters, from the combustion of biofuels hasbeen attributed as a causal agent of respiratory diseases indeveloping countries (Chen et al. , 1990). Likewise, a well,non-smoking women who have cooked on biomass stovesfor many years exhibit a higher prevalence of chronic lungdisease (Parikh, 2007).Perspectives of local people for climate changeIn the present study, the majority (91%) of the respondentsexpressed that they were experiencing the climate changeand its impact on their daily livelihood. They reported hightemperature range (difference in hotness), change inprecipitation pattern, more intense heat and cold wavesrespectively during summer and winter. The result showsthat 80% respondents stated change in temperature andmore than 90% respondents reported rainfall variability. Theproblems associated with rainfall variability are untimely andlate monsoon, no or less winter rainfall as well as high intenserainfall for short time. Furthermore, about 40% respondentssaid that the incidents of drought has been increasing whichhas been attributed to untimely, unusual and less rainfallover past few years. Similarly, more than 80% respondentsshared that they experienced increasing number of invasivepests and insects in compared to the previous years in theirfarmyard. The emergence of new pests and diseases madefarmer to use high dose of pesticides. Lik ewise, 18.60%respondents reported loss of their crops and livestock dueto flood and drought (Fig. 3).Fig. 3 Respondents response toward climate change1009080706050403020100ClimatechangeDon't know RainfallpatternchangeTemperaturechangeMore pest &insectsLoss of crops& livestockNumber (%)ResponseTU-CDESConclusionThe installation of ICS, an eco-friendly technology, in MeghauliVDC has positively contributed to socio-economic andenvironmental situation. The use of ICS has resulted in thesubstantial reduction in firewood consumption and CO 2emission in the household level. In addition, the reducedconsumption of firewood reduced work burden with respectto time taken for collecting fuel from distant source andprovided free time especially for women. Considerably, thestudy provides the benefits of using ICS, health status andthe peoples’ perspective toward climate change in the area.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge Central Departmentof Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University for theirsupport during entire period of the research. The authorsextend special gratitude for Gender , Energy and W aterNetwork (GEWNet) managed by Centre for Rural Technology,Nepal (CRT/N) for financial support. Similarly, the authorsare thankful to Mr. Kapil Singh and Mr. Govind Lamichhanefor their help during field visit and lab work.ReferencesArkin, H., & Colton, R.R. (1963). Tables for statisticians.New York, Barnes & Noble.CBS (2012). National Population and Housing Census 2011(National Report). Government of Nepal, NationalPlanning Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau ofStatistics, Kathmandu, Nepal.Chen, B.H., Hong, C.J., Pandey, M.R., Smith, K.R., (1990).Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries. WorldHealth Statistics Quarterly 43, 127-138.CRT/N (2000). Improved Cook Stove (ICS) Development: ACase from Nepal. Centre for Rural Technology, NepalTripureshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal.CRT/N (2005). National Energy Situation Survey ReportNepal – Focus on Renewable Energy & PovertyReduction. Submitted to International Network forSustainable Energy (INFORSE).IPCC (1996). Climate Change 1995. The Science of ClimateChange. In: J.T. Houghton et al (Editors), Contributionof Working Group I to the Second Assessment Reportof the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[Watson, R.T., et al., (eds)]. Cambridge University Press:Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA.Khanal, R.C. and Bajracharya, L. (2010). Improved CookingStove (ICS) and Its Impact on Firewood Consumptionand Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emission: A Case Studyfrom TMJ Area, Nepal.  Inter national Union forConservation of Nature, Nepal.Parikh, J. (2007). Mainstreaming Gender into EnergyPoliciess in India, Where Energy is Women’s Business. ENERGIA-the Inter national Network on Gender andSustainable Energy- in Asia, 92-95.IPCC (1996). ClimateChange 1995. The Science of Climate Change. In: J.T.Houghton et al. (Editors), Contribution of WorkingGroup I to the Second Assessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge, New York.WECS (2010). Energy Sector Synopsis Report 2010. Waterand Energy Secretariat, Kathmandu, Nepal.World Bank (2010). World Development Report:Development and Climate Change. The World Bank,Washington, DC.Nep J Environ Sci (2014), 2, 57-61                                                                                         61TU-CDES

Improved cooking stoves as an eco-friendly practice for reducing fuel-wood and CO2 emission: A case of Meghauli, Chitwan, Nepal

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Improved cooking stoves as an eco-friendly practice for reducing fuel-wood and CO2 emission: A case of Meghauli, Chitwan, Nepal

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