Assessment of Haiti Alternative Cooking Technologies Program
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Short Term Task Order – Fast Response Technical Expertise to EGAT/I&E Final Report: Assessment of Haiti Alternative Cooking Technologies Program NOVEMBER 2010 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Nexant, Inc. under Contract No. EPP-I-03-03-00007-00 Sub Activity 14 Short Term Task Order – Fast Response Technical Expertise to EGAT/I&E Final Report: Assessment of Haiti Alternative Cooking Technologies Program November 2010 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Nexant, Inc. under Contract No. EPP-I-03-03-00007-00 Sub Activity 14 DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ - 1 - 2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... - 7 - 3 Market Assessment ........................................................................................................... - 12 - 4 Technology ....................................................................................................................... - 26 - 5 Finance Options ................................................................................................................ - 31 - 6 Key Success Factors and Target Audience ....................................................................... - 34 - 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 BACKGROUND Every day, 500 million cooks in the developing world use biomass to prepare food for 3 billion people in developing countries around the world, including in Haiti. Smoke-filled kitchens from the use of high intensity carbon fuels such as charcoal and firewood represent a serious threat to human health and the natural environment. A growing awareness and interest in tackling the health and environmental problems associated with inefficient biomass-based cooking technologies has led to an increasing number of donor-funded programs throughout the world. The U.S. Government has played a leadership role in this effort, including in Haiti. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a major new public-private partnership “to save lives, improves livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.” The goal of the Alliance is for 100 million homes worldwide to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. Many other donor nations and multi-lateral institutions, such as USAID, the World Bank, the United Nations and the InterAmerican Development Bank have been working on this issue in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. In Haiti over the past decade, urban and wealthier households have started to shift away from the exclusive use of charcoal and firewood for cooking and have begun using cleaner liquid fuels such as kerosene or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Rural populations have less access to cleaner fuels and continue to depend on traditional three stone open fires and/or inefficient biomass (charcoal or wood) cookstoves. In addition to significant financial barriers to adopting cleaner cooking technologies, socio-cultural issues associated with changing from fuel wood and charcoal as feedstocks to liquid fuels range from the taste obtained from food cooked with smoky biomass fuels to fear about safety issues. The ubiquitous use of charcoal in Haiti for home cooking, by food vendors, and institutions is problematic for the country and its people for many reasons, including destruction of the natural environment due to gathering wood (including felling or pruning live trees) to produce charcoal, leading to a shortage of wood and increased import of charcoal, increasingly higher prices of charcoal from any source, and chronic health problems caused by air pollution from charcoal burning. The denuded forests of Haiti leave the country prone to severe soil erosion and catastrophic flooding from the frequent hurricanes and other rainstorms to which Haiti is subject, and reduce the capacity of the watersheds to supply clean water to the population. This deforestation is dramatically revealed by satellite photographs wherein the contrast can be seen with Haiti’s neighbor on Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic. Decisions about fuel energy use in Haiti are influenced by many factors such as tradition, convenience, and availability of resources, accessibility to technologies, household income and the role of women in decision-making processes regarding household expenses. In some cases households that have greater flexible family income use cleaner fuel energy such as kerosene or LPG as opposed to wood or charcoal because it is a measure of affluence and prestige as well as Final Report: Assessment of Haiti Alternative Cooking Technologies Program, United States Agency for International Development Contract EPP-I-03-03-00007-00 Sub Activity 14 A| - 1 - providing real benefits in terms of ease of use and time savings. Poorer households use biomass as the main fuel due to both cultural preferences and the higher cost of other fuels. It is particularly difficult to develop an effective alternative cooking technologies program in Haiti for several reasons. First, the mix of cooking requirements (beans, rice, sauces) requires both high heat, high speed modes and lower, consistent heat simmering modes. Few existing efficient charcoal stove technologies do both well while still maintaining high efficiency levels. Secondly, fuel mixing is quite common, with people switching between charcoal, wood, kerosene and other fuels such as LPG. Sometimes this is driven by perceptions, ease of use or season (wood being harder to get and use in the rainy season). No known efficient stoves currently effectively handle a mixed fuel use scenario. They typically excel in utilizing one type of fuel, but perform poorly with others. These issues necessitate a mixed technology and fuel strategy, potentially leading to increased program costs and higher barriers to entry for the end user. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with extremely limited access to modern energy services (Annex A describes the macroeconomic condition of the country). Approximately 70% of Haitian household energy needs are met using firewood and charcoal; at least 30% of family income is spent on charcoal for cooking in Port-au-Prince. Although charcoal is produced all over the countryside, speculators and wholesalers gather the product and resell it to retailers in Port-au-Prince and provincial towns. Recent reports suggest that the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 has led to increases in charcoal prices as wood for re-construction is now in high demand. Beyond the negative economic and environmental impacts of charcoal consumption, cooking with firewood and charcoal exposes women and young children to smoke or ‘indoor air pollution’ and associated health problems, especially respiratory disease, which is the second largest killer of children under the age of five in Haiti. 1.2 STUDY OBJECTIVES The objectives of the current study are: 1) to assess the supply and use of charcoal for cooking in Haiti and the potential to use other fuels, such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and 2) to design a five-year replacement program to achieve large-scale reductions in charcoal consumption by households, food vendors, and other relevant fuel users identified (e.g., bakeries, laundries, schools, etc.). 1.3 KEY FINDINGS 1.3.1 Biomass Cookstove Findings Extensive interviews, surveys and focus groups in Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien and several other urban and rural areas over a six week period revealed the following key findings: 1. Traditional cooking practices and cultural norms are the most influential drivers of behavior with regard to the adoption and use of efficient cooking technologies and/or alternative fuels. 2. Barriers to reducing or eliminating charcoal as a primary cooking fuel are numerous and extremely high. Lack of abundant distribution channels, supply chain infrastructure and Final Report: Assessment of Haiti Alternative Cooking Technologies Program, United States Agency for International Development Contract EPP-I-03-03-00007-00 Sub Activity 14 A| - 2 - lack of consumer education are the largest barriers to alternative fuel adoption over the long-term. 3. SMEs selling food on the street are prolific and constitute a significant portion of charcoal demand and use in Haiti. An improved stoves, sustainable charcoal and/or fuel switching program targeted at this informal industry could have a significant and rapid impact on deforestation rates, user health and economic security. 4. Institutions such as schools and orphanages consume large quantities of charcoal and other biomass fuel in implementing vital feeding programs. An improved stoves and/or fuel switching program targeted at this industry could have a significant impact on deforestation rates, user health and reduce the strain on the institutions’ limited financial resources. 5. Urban SMEs such as bakeries and laundries are generally not consumers of charcoal or other biomass (many use diesel). Though rural bakeries are large