Efficient Wood-burning Stove Pilot Project Report

In the summer of 1998, the Fair Opportunities Group (FOG) built and tested a brick stove based on a Guatemalan stove design which has a track record of using half the firewood of open fires. The purpose of the pilot project was to determine the feasibility of introducing efficient wood-burning stoves into a impoverished Nicaraguan village to combat poverty in the community.

The research stage of the stove project took place in May and June and consisted of sending a FOG volunteer to Gautemala to gather all the details of the stove design (see Appendix A: The Guatemala Stove Plan). The building stage spanned July and August and saw two FOG volunteers working in a small Nicaraguan village until the successful completion of the pilot.

The results of the pilot follow. Cost analysis shows that the stoves can be constructed for 200 cordobas (less than US$20) each, which is affordable for wealthier families in the village and quite reasonable for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) sponsored subsidy program for poorer families. The physical labour involved in the stove construction is quite low, as a team of two was easily able to construct the entire stove in 6 days (excluding time taken to obtain materials). Community acceptance of the stove is high, and when tested, the heat and smoke containment property of the stove proved very popular.

In general, FOG is pleased with the results of the pilot project, and will be investigating further into possible long run effects of the stove in terms of economic betterment and community empowerment. Should the project succeed in Santa Rosa, there is some indication that the efficient wood-burning stove project will become a permanent FOG mainstay.

The Fair Opportunities Group is an NGO founded by two former University of Waterloo students. It aids in the development of community-based, self-sustainable projects in the Third World, and aims to empower disadvantaged communities to create and direct positive changes to their environment.

A current FOG project is based in Santa Rosa del Peñon, a small Nicaraguan village 2 hours north of Managua. Earlier this year, the FOG presence in the community pinpointed poverty and unemployment as crippling problems in the village, and proposed the efficient wood-burning stove project to the community as a venue through which Santa Rosans could rise above subsistence living. The proposal was readily approved.

The objectives of the proposed stove project were to be pursued through a two-tiered approach: a pilot stove was to be constructed in the summer to examine the logistics of the new stove design in terms of materials, economics, and community acceptance; and subsequent investigation was to search for opportunities for economic betterment and empowerment of the community in the long run.

This document will discuss the progress of the pilot phase of the project and its success relative to the goals it set out to achieve.

In order to showcase the stove's benefits to people in an easily accessible locale, the highly visible Child Nutrition Comedor in Santa Rosa was chosen as the site for the pilot stove. The prospect of saving firewood for the Comedor (which provides one meal a day to children with malnutrition in the community) was added incentive for the Comedor’s selection.

This location had possibilities for further development because the Comedor’s cooking needs necessitated two stoves, so it was decided that after the building of the pilot stove by FOG volunteers, the women in the Comedor would build another stove with FOG training and guidance. This would be useful in testing the feasibility of helping the women begin a community business venture dealing in stove construction. A stove building manual was developed by FOG to help in this endeavour (see Appendix B: The Stove Building Guide).

As can be expected, the building of the pilot stove was not a smooth and easy process. Some of the lessons learned through the construction phase follow.

The longest and most frustrating aspect of building the stove came in obtaining materials. The bricks in particular delayed the project a great deal, quintupling the amount of time actually required to make the stove.

Nicaraguan bricks come in a variety of sizes, but none fit the specifications of the Guatemalan plans; therefore, the Guatemalan stove plans became a rough guide only in the building of the pilot stove. One result from this is that one wall of the third level perimeter is identical to the wall mortared in above it, forfeiting the added strength that a proper "chaining" design would have given the stove structure. Another consequence is that the gap in the back perimeter wall of the third level (used for the chimney) was also forgotten, and a brick had to be chipped out of the wall when the mistake was discovered. Photos of the pilot stove are in Appendix C.

The site of the pilot (the Child Nutrition Comedor) caused a few headaches because of curious children getting in the way of the building of the stove. While they were often helpful volunteers and pleasant distractions, they were also a liability at times and responsible for at least three broken chimney tubes.

Nicaraguan dulce (brown sugar) seems to be stronger than its Guatemalan counterpart, so the dulce clay mixture in the pilot stove was too strong and caused the clay of the first two levels to turn out incorrectly. The clay dried too quickly and has large cracks in it.

The amount of dulce in the clay may have also attracted ants who decided to make the stove their home, entering through a hole in one of the outer perimeter bricks to build their nest in the clay of the stove wall. There was concern that considerable structural damage could result, so insect poison was spread on the stove to kill the ants and it was decided that future stoves would include ant repellent in their clay mixture.

Despite some delays and mistakes, the construction of the pilot stove was completed successfully and demonstrated that with a few adjustments, the Guatemalan stove design could serve the Nicaraguan environment well. Nicaraguan materials (once the brick problem was solved) were suited to the stove, and the construction itself was completed competently through only one trained builder and an inexperienced helper.

In total, the pilot stove cost C$338.50 (see Appendix D: Stove Building Materials) and 6 days to build (see Appendix E: Project Timeline). Subsequent stoves will be substantially cheaper at C$182.50 since all of the expensive initial outlay for tools will have been absorbed by the pilot and the building process can be streamlined and more efficient with practise and added expertise.

The advantages of the stove design (more efficient wood use and heat and smoke containment) have been very popular with the Comedor women, with the latter property in particular making their task of cooking for the undernournished village children more pleasant without smoke and heat billowing through the Comedor area. This news has travelled around the village, and thus the stove enjoys considerable attention and curiosity from the community. There is some concern, however, that few many members of the Santa Rosan community will be able to afford the pricetag attached to the stoves. Some of the more wealthy Santa Rosans who are currently building houses have already put in orders for stoves, but poorer families who likely need its wood conserving properties the most will be hard-pressed to afford the cost. At least two other NGOs have expressed interest in the stove project, however, and are considering active involvement in the funding of the initiative through stove building subsidies for low-income families.

The long-run implications of the introduction of this stove design into the village, particularly the possibility for job and wealth creation through the development of a stove building cooperative to fulfill construction contracts, have far-reaching implications on the Santa Rosan standard of living. FOG is investigating these possibilities further, and believes that success in this endeavour will ead to sharing the stove project technology with other projects and organizations in the future.

The pilot stove project has demonstrated that the feasibility of building efficient wood-burning stoves in the Santa Rosan community is high in terms of economics, material availability, and community acceptance. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it will be possible to generate enough community involvement and development through external organizations to make the project an enduring and sustainable success.