Latest USAID Development Innovation Ventures Grants | East African cookstove markets | Scaling up biochar
Dan Campbell
USAID DIV Award – Potential Energy: fueling the cookstoves markets in East Africa
OCTOBER 26, 2012 · 0 COMMENTS
Potential Energy: fueling the cookstoves markets in East Africa | Source: USAID Development Innovation Ventures | Oct 2012.
- DIV Stage 2 | $1.5 million | Darfur & Ethiopia
The Problem: Many models for high-efficiency stoves exist to replace traditional open fire methods, but few have achieved widespread use or commercial sustainability.
The Solution: Potential Energy’s high efficiency stove, developed as part of the Berkeley Darfur Stoves Project, is the product of extensive market-testing and end-user feedback. Using lessons learned from early work on cookstove adoption in Darfur,Potential Energy is pursuing a market creation strategy in Ethiopia. The organization will grow its distribution and marketing network and develop innovative pricing models and flexible financing options for consumers. With support from Development Innovation Ventures, Potential Energy and partners will assess the group’s impact and the relative effectiveness of the different marketing strategies it pursues.
Potential Cost-Effectiveness: Because the Berkeley Darfur Stove requires half as much firewood as traditional cooking methods, users save more than $300 per year in fuel costs, or half the labor time and effort gathering firewood. Over the five-year lifespan of the stove, this savings is approximately $1700 per household.
2,000,000 people die each year from illness related to breathing smoke from cooking fires. This figure is equal to that of the entire AIDS epidemic and three times as large as annual deaths from malaria. In addition, many women are exposed to violence as they travel up to 7 hours a day, 3-5 days a week in search of usable fuel wood with which to cook their food. Many models for high-efficiency stoves exist to replace traditional open fire methods, but few have achieved widespread use or commercial sustainability.
Originally the Darfur Stoves Project, Potential Energy was founded as a volunteer organization in 2005 by Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Faculty Senior Scientist and Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.Dr. Gadgil led a team of Berkeley scientists and engineers in the development of a Berkeley-Darfur stove, aggressively pursuing market-testing and end-user feedback in Darfur. With the Berkeley Darfur Stove, users require half as much firewood, saving them more than $300 per year in fuel costs. Over the five-year lifespan of the stove, this savings is approximately $1700 per household.
In 2012 Potential Energy established itself as an independent 501(c)3. The organization has thus far distributed more than 22,000 fuel-efficient stoves in Darfur; most were donated to women in IDP camps in North Darfur in the wake of the humanitarian crisis, however in the past year the organization has moved to a market-driven approach and the remaining stoves have been sold to women in urban and rural locations outside of the camps.
Through its work, Potential Energy has developed critical partnerships with organizations like Oxfam America and Plan International, increased the capacity of local organizations in Darfur, built its distribution and marketing network, and is developing innovative pricing models and flexible financing options for consumers. Based on its success in Darfur, Potential Energy will replicate its market creation strategy to develop and sell stoves in Ethiopia in 2013.
The $1.5 million, three-year grant from USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures Initiative supports Potential Energy’s transition to a social enterprise approach by supporting it to test pricing strategies and market and distribution channels via local organizations. Potential Energy is collaborating with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies for research and development, and has engaged with the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) to assess the project’s impact and relative effectiveness of different marketing strategies.
To Learn More
- See what the stove looks like
- Track Potential Energy’s progress on its website
- Learn the backstory with this video on the Darfur Stoves Project
USAID DIV Award – Scaling Biochar
OCTOBER 26, 2012 · 0 COMMENTS
Scaling Biochar: Investing in Soils, Improving Livelihoods and Sequestering Carbon | Source: USAID Development Innovation Ventures | Oct 2012.
- $99,952 | Kenya | Stage 1
The problem: As much as 65% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s soil on agricultural land is degraded, threatening the livelihoods of the 70% of Africans who are involved in agriculture. Crop yields and lower and fertilizers are less efficient under these conditions, meaning that recent calls for a new green revolution for Africa are unlikely to be successful if soil degradation is not arrested.
The solution: Biochar, a charcoal powder, can reverse soil fertility decline, improve crop yields, and improve plant response to fertilizer. Using low-cost kilns, farmers may be able to generate their own biochar to improve their soil quality.
Potential cost effectiveness: Preliminary research found that biochar adoption by farmers increased yields by approximately 23% in the first season of application, and 30% a year later. PA researchers will pilot and rigorously evaluation the livelihood benefits of a farm-level biochar production kiln that costs between $25 and $40 per unit, and study how social networks stimulate “viral” technology adoption.
Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from extensive soil degradation, threatening the livelihoods of the 70% of Africans who are involved in agriculture. Crop yields and lower and fertilizers are less efficient under these conditions, meaning that recent calls for a new green revolution for Africa are unlikely to be successful if soil degradation is not arrested. Estimates suggest that as much as 65% of agricultural land in Africa is at least somewhat degraded.
Researchers have shown that by adding charcoal dust – which can be produced from crop residues and other wastes – to soil, they can reverse soil fertility decline, improve crop yields, and improve plant response to fertilizer. Termed “biochar,” the benefits of this charcoal powder and its low production cost make it an important strategy for agricultural development and sustainable land management, and a potentially significant tool for reducing greenhouse gases by sequestering carbon in soil.
The technology has strong preliminary evidence to support its impact. Research has found that early adoption by farmers increased yields by approximately 23% in the first season of application, and 30% a year later. However, there is a need to make the technology scalable – the distribution network for biochar is diffuse and difficult to build up, so it may prove most expedient to allow farmers to produce and apply the biochar themselves, using a low-cost kiln and inputs that are readily accessible on most farms.
With Stage 1 support from DIV, IPA researchers in partnership with Re:char, a social enterprise, and the African Christians Organizations Network, a Kenyan-based NGO, will pilot and rigorously evaluate the livelihood benefits of a farm-level biochar production kiln that costs between $25 and $40 per unit. Researchers will also use a randomized control trial to study how social networks stimulate ‘viral’ technology adoption. Up to 1,000 farmers will participate in the study, which will yield greater understanding of biochar’s potential as a farm-level tool, and greater understanding of how to speed adoption of environmentally friendly technologies.
To Learn More:
- Watch a CNN video about how biochar works
- Follow the product’s development on Re:char’s blog
- Read the working paper from the preliminary research