Cleaner Energy in the Côte Sud: Testing institutional stoves in schools

As part of the Côte Sud Initiative’s institutional stove program, the CSI site team requested fuel efficiency tests on stoves provided by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to area schools. These stoves were distributed starting 2007 as part of MYAP – the Multi-Year Assistance Program - run by CRS for schools in Haiti’s entire South Department, which includes the CSI area. MYAP’s school feeding program supports a total of 45,000 students and CRS’s goal is to have at least one cookstove per one hundred students by the end of 2012. Recognizing the work already done by CRS in the area, the CSI offered to provide CRS with concrete quantitative and qualitative data on the effectiveness of the stoves supplied by MYAP.

Locally-made stoves are crafted out of sheet metal 1/16in thick. They can either be bought as part of a package that contains large, 40-liter prefabricated cooking pots, or as separate stove-only units. A 40-liter cooking pot can cook a meal for 100 children.

The stoves used in CRS schools are produced locally in the South Department by Atéliers Écoles in Camp Perrin. Whereas traditional open fires take significant fuel to keep going and waste a lot of the heat produced from combustion, the improved stove design features a cylindrical combustion chamber with a rectangular opening at the bottom for inserting wood and controlling airflow. These stoves, by surrounding the fire, concentrate the energy produced in the combustion chamber better than open fires. The stoves can be covered with a metal stove cover that keeps hot air and smoke confined around the pot and potentially speeds cooking times.

Controlled Cooking Tests (CCTs) in CRS schools began Nov. 25. These tests compare the traditional open fire and the improved institutional stoves as each cooks the same quantity of beans. To begin, a quantity of wood is measured and set beside each stove. Cooks are carefully monitored to ensure that no additional wood is used unless it has been weighed. When the food is done, the quantity of unconsumed wood is measured. The quantity of cooked food is also weighed. With both values, the specific fuel consumption (SFC) for each stove is calculated. SFC refers to the amount of food each stove cooks per kilogram of wood. The complete CCT protocol can be found here.

Traditional stoves and cooking pots use scarce fuelwood uneconomically, as the heat produced by the flames as the food is cooking is lost to the open air instead of contained in a combustion chamber.

Challenges to the use of institutional improved stoves

1. Perceived performance of the improved stoves
2. Resource-rich zone has abundence of available fuel wood
3. Low incentive to continue use of improved stove
4. Inconsistent monitoring for proper usage of stove
5. Smoke resulting from improper usage
6. Stoves not seen as necessity compared to traditional methods

The CRS schools where CCTs took place vary in size, from 200 to 600 students in schools tested to date. Testing begins between 6AM and 6:30AM when the cooks arrive to begin preparing the day’s meal. In all 12 schools visited, parents pay for firewood. Most schools are supplied by vendors who bring wood on an irregular basis. The reported monthly firewood expenditure varies greatly with some figures as low as 160 HGT and others at 7500 HGT.

Schools cook beans and soy flour on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they cook beans and wheat grain. Since beans are on the menu every day of the week, they provide a reliable snapshot of fuel needs on a typical day in a typical school kitchen. 

Observations from visits to CRS schools in Port-Salut, Port-à-Piment, and Les Anglais shed some light on some of the challenges the CSI faces as it encourages cooks to exclusively use improved institutional stoves.

1.     Most cooks are simply convinced that open fires work better. Even after participating in a controlled test that demonstrates the better performance of an improved stove, they still argue for the superiority of the open fire over the improved stove.

2.     Unlike resource-scarce environments, the Cote Sud is especially lush and green during and right after the rainy season. Cooks see firewood as available and abundant and there is no sense of urgency or resource depletion.

3.     Schools have no direct incentive to conserve wood. Parents pay for firewood and can be asked to donate more if necessary.

4.     Savings and monthly wood expenditures aren’t as consistently tracked from month to month in all schools as they would need to be in order for schools with improved stoves to concretely articulate how much they have saved as a result of using these stoves. With no concrete evidence of the usefulness of the stoves, an administrator is less likely to buy another stove or replace an old one. If schools are not aware of their monthly fuel expenditures, making the case for an improved stove may be difficult.

5.     Smoke. The improved stove sometimes produces more smoke compared to the open fire. This may be as a result of the large sizes of wood pieces used or the compounded effect of burning somewhat wet wood in an enclosed combustion chamber. It may also be due to improper usage. When the combustion chamber is closed too soon, there isn’t enough air to aid combustion and this produces smoke.

Nevertheless, improved stoves will need to consistently perform better than traditional stoves in smoke reduction in order for many cooks to see their advantage.

6.     Special Item vs. Necessity. In at least two of the schools visited, stoves were kept away in storage rooms instead of being used consistently. In other cases, cooks cook beans on open fires instead of improved stoves. Improved stoves are then used when cooked beans are to be mixed with wheat or flour. This accounts for about 20% of all cooking.

The school meals program helps to provide students with the nutrients they need to be healthy and learn well while at school. Efficient use of fuel, such as with effectively-used improved cookstoves, can help parents and schools preserve precious funds while preserving the environment through reduced pressure to cut down scarce trees.

In summary, the Atéliers Écoles stoves distributed by CRS reduce fuelwood usage on average. Misconceptions about improved stoves still exist. Further training on the effective use of stoves as well as a general increase in energy literacy of communities in the CSI will ensure the endurance of gains already made by the introduction of improved institutional stoves. Based on the challenges discussed earlier, it is necessary to create incentives for school cooks to effectively use improved institutional stoves. This could be an award, monthly bonus or other type of recognition for cooks who effectively use the stoves provided to them. Another effort in encouraging the use of improved stoves will focus on engaging school administrators in the effort to use less wood. Schools with the most informed administrators often relied more heavily on their improved stoves than schools with less-involved administrators. Finally, it is important to discuss the smoke problem with Atéliers Écoles and work with them to improve design as necessary. This would not only benefit end users but also improve the quality of locally produced stoves.