Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Design & Innovation

Signe Pedersen s032385

Rikke Premer Petersen s032357

A Master Thesis Project

Completed at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

DTU Management

DTU Civil Engineering (ICIEE)

Project conducted from August 2008 to May 2009

Danish title: "Kampen mod Indendørs Luftforurening i Nepal"

Main supervisor: Per Boelskifte

Supplementary supervisors: Hanne Lindegaard

Geo Clausen

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal I

Preface This report tells the story of all the work we have put into our master thesis of 40 ECTS points “Challenging Indoor Air Pollution In Nepal”, as the conclusion of the MSc programme at the Design & Innovation engineering education. The project has been conducted from August 2008 to May 2009 at the Technical University of Denmark. During our entire project we have received guidance and feedback from our 3 thesis supervisors all of whom are experts in their respective fields; anthropology, product development and indoor climate. Needless to say that they come from very different worlds, which has given us a great advantage as the constellation of the 3 offers a very wide palette of guidance.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal III

Acknowledgements The completion of this master thesis has received essential support from a number of people, whom we would like to thank.

First and foremost thanks to our thesis supervisors Per Boelskifte, Hanne Linde- gaard and Geo Clausen for continuous advice, guidance and support.

Thanks to Practical Action Nepal for their help and hospitality, a special thanks to Min Bikram Malla. Also thank you to the Energy Sector Assistance Programme (ESAP) for their assistance with a special thanks to Niels Juhl Thomsen.

A special thanks also to the Pariyar family for their never-ending hospitality and for giving us a true feel of the Nepali life.

Also we would like to thank the Otto Mønsted foundation, the Oticon foundation and the DTU Principals travelling scholarship fund for making the field trips to Nepal possible.

Also thanks to Ph.d students Anders Solgaard and Kim Hansen for guidance within their respective fields.

Last but not least thanks to our families for assistance and support throughout the process.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal V

Table of Contents PREFACE I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III LIST OF FIGURES VIII LIST OF NOTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS XI ABSTRACT 1 READING GUIDE 3 PROJECT PROCESS 3 REPORT STRUCTURE 4 INTRODUCTION 7 DESIGNING FOR THE WORLD'S POOR 7 THE INDOOR AIR POLLUTION PROBLEM 8 NEPAL AS THE TARGET AREA 10 THESIS STATEMENT 11 Results 11

PART 1: THE NEPALI CONTEXT 13

STRUCTURE OF PART 1 15 INTRODUCTION TO NEPAL 16 TARGETING CHITWAN 21 PRESENT COOKING SITUATION IN CHITWAN 25 ANALYSING THE CONTEXT 28 THE CURRENT STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE 28 Solution Strategies 28 Dissemination 34 Promotion 35 WHY IS IAP STILL A PROBLEM IN NEPAL TODAY? 36 Lack of Development 36 Limited Success of Previous Interventions 37 CREATING PERSONAS 38 COOKING IN PRACTICE 43 Correlations in Practice 44 Doing Cooking 50 REQUIREMENTS TO FINAL CONCEPT 56

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PART 2: THE FINAL CONCEPT 59

STRUCTURE OF PART 2 61 INTRODUCING THE SAPANA STOVE 62 THE ELEMENTS OF THE SAPANA STOVE 63 A SPHERE-TOUR 67 Stove Sphere 67 Workspace Sphere 69 Socio Technical Sphere 71 LOOKING INSIDE 76 GETTING RID OF THE GASES 76 STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS 79 MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE STOVE BODY 82 EVALUATION & PERSPECTIVE 85 REQUIREMENT FULFILMENT 85 Design Challenges 87 NEW CONCEPT IN CONTEXT 92 Base Scenario 92 Scenario 1: The First Steps 92 Scenario 2: Taking it Further 93 Scenario 3: Festival Time 94 CHANGES IN PRACTICE 98 MARKET SHARE 101

THE PATH TO SAPANA 105

STRUCTURE OF PART 3 107 ANALYTICAL PHASE 108 DATA COLLECTION 109 Gathering Secondary Knowledge 109 Gathering Primary Knowledge in Nepal 111 ANALYSIS 116 Structuring Gathered Knowledge 116 CREATIVE PHASE 120 SYNTHESIS 120 Idea Generation 121 Structuring Ideas 124 Fuel Evaluation 126 Designing 7 Concepts 130

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal VII

User Evaluation in Nepal 135 From 7 to 3 Concepts 140 Evaluation and Selection 145 DEVELOPMENT 148 Materials and Production Considerations 152 NEXT STEP: EXECUTIVE PHASE 154 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT 154 COMMUNICATION 157 EXPERIENCES GAINED FROM ANALYTICAL PHASE 159 EXPERIENCES GAINED FROM CREATIVE PHASE 160 CONCLUSION 163 BIBLIOGRAPHY 165

VIII Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

List of Figures Figure 1 – Adapted version of Archers design process (Cross, 2000). 3 Figure 2 – The overall structure of this report with 3 main parts. 4 Figure 3 – Location of Nepal (map adapted from Wikipedia). 10 Figure 4 – Structure of Part 1. 15 Figure 5 – Map of Nepal indicating the approximate location of the 3 natural zones (modified from Wikimedia Commons). 17 Figure 6 – UN map of the Chitwan district (www.un.org). 21 Figure 7 – Primitive roads found in Chitwan. 22 Figure 8 – Political structure with DDCs and VDCs. 23 Figure 9 – Layout of a rural kitchen in Chitwan. 25 Figure 10 – Traditional three-stone-fire and U-shaped fireplace. 26 Figure 11 – Spoons stored under the roof. 27 Figure 12 – Mud-brick stove developed by ESAP. 30 Figure 13 – HELPS's ONIL plancha stove (www.onilstove.com). 31 Figure 14 – Philips Sampoorna and Saral stoves (from Philips' presentation "Designing together with users"). 32 Figure 15 – Smoke hoods seen in the Middle Hill districts Dhading and Gorkha. The chimney leads the smoke under the roof of the house. 34 Figure 16 – Correlations in a practice (Christensen & Røpke, 2008). 45 Figure 17 – The yard behind the Pariyar house. 46 Figure 18 – A festival meal with many different dishes. 49 Figure 19 – 3 sub-practices. 50 Figure 20 – Combustible wastes are arranged for next cooking session and firewood prepared. 51 Figure 21 – Traditional rice sorting with a flat tray. 51 Figure 22 – Ingredients are prepared by hand. 52 Figure 23 – Starting the fire and preparing the pot. 52 Figure 24 – Lentil soup and rice being prepared over the fire. 53 Figure 25 – Cooking the curry in a wok. 53 Figure 26 – Arranging the meal. 54 Figure 27 – Nepali tea prepared on a gas stove. 55 Figure 28 – The overlapping nature of the 3 spheres. 57 Figure 29 – Structure of Part 2. 61 Figure 30 – Isometric illustration of the simple and the full version of the Sapana Stove. 62 Figure 31 – Semi-exploded view of the full Sapana Stove. 63 Figure 32 – Chimney sections with metal collar. 64 Figure 33 – Chimney top. 65 Figure 34 – Pothole with pots of different size. 66

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal IX

Figure 35 – Water tank with tap. 66 Figure 36 – Simple version of the Sapana Stove in context. 68 Figure 37 – Height and cooking position for the simple and full version (the grey box indicates the height when elevated). 69 Figure 38 – Mirrored version of the Sapana Stove (seen from the back). 70 Figure 39 – Actor-Network revolving around the formworks of the Sapana Stove. 73 Figure 40 – Applying for micro credit loans for buying formworks. 74 Figure 41 – Basic structure of the simple version. 76 Figure 42 – Basic structure of the full version. 78 Figure 43 – The approximate heat balance in the stove. 79 Figure 44 – The simplified model used for calculations. Heat flow is estimated for every 10 cm. 81 Figure 45 – Design challenges discussed below. 87 Figure 46 – Simplified beam with the load applied. 90 Figure 47 - Cross section of the beam 90 Figure 48 – Prachi moving leftover charcoal to the charcoal drawer. 95 Figure 49 – Preparing the curry over the primary pothole. 96 Figure 50 – The curry is placed in the hay box. 97 Figure 51 – Structure of Part 3. 107 Figure 52 – The sub-phases of the Analytical Phase and some of the tools used. 108 Figure 53 – Speaker-session at the Indoor Air conference 2008. 109 Figure 54 – Observations from Lejre the Land of Legends. 110 Figure 55 – Smoke filling the kitchen space observed. 111 Figure 56 – From the left: Min Bikram Malla and Niels Juhl Thomsen 112 Figure 57 – Our hosts, the Pariyar family. 113 Figure 58 - Conducting measurements in Nepal. 114 Figure 59 – Kishor in relaxed settings. 115 Figure 60 – Our own personal workspace at DTU, Denmark. 116 Figure 61 – Visual impressions from West Rampur, Chitwan. 117 Figure 62 – Actor-Network for the current cooking practice in Chitwan. 118 Figure 63 – The sub-phases of the Creative Phase and some of the tools used 120 Figure 64 – Workshop setup and result. 122 Figure 65 – Mood-board brainstorms. 124 Figure 66 – Function-mean diagram. 125 Figure 67 – Examples of quantified structures. 125 Figure 68 – Result of fuel evaluation, the fuels scoring above the line are all considered. 129 Figure 69 – Performing a 3D brainstorm with clay. 130 Figure 70 – Interviewees in Nepal. 136 Figure 71 – Sumi and her husband looking at the 7 concepts. 136 Figure 72 – Min and Sanu Babu in the hills of Gorkha. 138 Figure 73 – Local smoke hood manufacturer in Dadhing. 139 Figure 74 – Stakeholder comments on post-it notes. 141

X Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Figure 75 – Moving from 7 to 3 concepts. 142 Figure 76 – Set-up for the mock-up tests. 150 Figure 77 – The sub-phases to be focussed on in the further development. 154

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal XI

List of Notions and Abbreviations

AEPC Alternative Energy Promotion Centre. Working under the Nepali government.

ALRI Acute Lower Respiratory Infection.

Blow-pipe Typically a pipe-fragment used to ventilate the fire.

BoP Base of the Pyramid. Overall term for the largest, but poorest socio-economic population group in the world, that is the around four billion people living for less than $2 per day.

Cooking stove An actual stove, which is much more developed than a simple fireplace.

COPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Dal Bhat Traditional Nepali meal consisting of lentils (Dal) and rice (Bhat).

Danida The part of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is directed towards development policies and the activities funded by the Danish government in order to fight the poverty in the Worlds developing countries.

DDC District Development Committee.

Developed countries Notion here used for the countries having a high level of development and industrialisation. The Human Develop- ment Index (HDI) is one way of assessing which countries may be classified as part of the developed world.

Developing countries Notion for countries having low standards of democratic governments, industrialisation, social programs, and human rights guarantees.

DTU Technical University of Denmark ESAP Energy Sector Assistance Programme of Nepal. Working under AEPC and is supported by Danish Danida

XII Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Fireplace Simple existing mud stoves.

Flue gases Smoke gases, typically constituted by hundreds of dangerous chemicals, including small particles, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene, nitrogen dioxide etc.

GO Governmental Organisation.

HDI Human Development Index. An attempt to assess the relative position of countries with regard to three main dimensions of development, namely: longevity (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (literacy rate) and standard of living (GDP per capita). The HDI is an un-weighted average of these three measures ranging from 0 to 1.

IAP Indoor Air Pollution.

ICIEE International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy. Located at DTU.

ISIAQ International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate.

LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas also called LP-gas or LPG. A mixture of hydrocarbon gases.

Mud stove Here used as a term for the primitive stove consisting of a U-shaped mud-bank surrounding the firewood.

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation.

NPR Nepali rupees. In Mai 2009 100 NRP is worth 7.16 DKK or 1.27 US$.

PA Practical Action Nepal.

Three-stone-fire Primitive fireplace consisting of 3 stones, supporting the pot, with a bonfire in the middle.

UNDP United Nations Development Programme.

USEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency.

VDC Village Development Committee.

WHO World Health Organization.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal XIII

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 1

Abstract According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year 1.6 million people worldwide dies from being exposed to indoor air pollution (IAP). This indoor air pollution stems from the harmful smoke that fills the kitchens in the world’s developing countries. The smoke is a product of the incomplete combustion of biomass fuels such as, dung, crop residues, wood, and coal used for cooking and heating inside the rural kitchens. Especially the women and children suffer, as they spend many hours inside the smoke-filled kitchens every day.

Despite of the large number of deaths associated with the exposure to indoor air pollution, not much attention has been given this problem from the media and the politicians around the world. However, there are international initiatives from organisations like WHO and UNDP giving more attention to the problem.

Our contribution to the fight against indoor air pollution in the developing countries is the Sapana Stove, designed by means of a user-centred approach, for the people living in the Terai region in the southern Nepal. Being amongst the 50 poorest countries in the world with a population where a large percentage is currently using biomass fuels for cooking and heating, this particular country was the focus of this master thesis. The development of the Sapana Stove is conducted on the basis of two field trips to Nepal, hence investigating and analysing the specific context has been of vital importance for the project as user involve- ments has been possible. This resulted in feedback on early concepts in the development phase and ideas from very important stakeholders such as the local Nepalese and the people working in GOs and NGOs respectively.

The Sapana Stove reduces the emissions and hence provides a cleaner and safer environment inside the kitchens, which greatly benefits the women and children of the Nepali households. The modular chimney of the Sapana Stove reduces the levels of harmful smoke inside the kitchens by venting the smoke outside. Also a primary and a secondary combustion chamber provides a more complete combustion of flue gases and reduces the amount of harmful waste products being led out through the chimney. The Sapana Stove also improved the cooking environment in terms of facilitating better cooking positions, as the women are to stand while cooking which also reduces the risk of burns, especially from children playing inside the kitchen. Manufacturing the modules in lightweight concrete supports a local production of the stoves, thus adding to the local economy.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 3

Reading Guide This is the written result of the master thesis “Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal” and will introduce the reader to the thoughts behind the thesis. During the rest of the report the master thesis “Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal” will simply be referred to as ‘the project’.

Project Process The project has been conducted in the spirit of Archer's prescriptive model of the design process illustrated below, as this method provides a general view of the design process and is widely accepted. Archer’s model starts off with an Analytical phase where the crucial issues are established and a course of action proposed (Programming). Next data is collected, classified, and stored (Data Collection). Analysis follows, identifying sub-problems, and resulting in a set of specification requirements. Next is a Creative phase where design proposals are outlined in the Synthesis sub-phase. Finally prototype design and testing is conducted (Develop- ment). After this is an Executive phase where the manufacturing documentation is prepared (Communication) (Cross, 2000). It is important also to note that Archer’s model includes iterations with the world outside the design process itself, such as experiences gained and new sources of information acquired during the development. Solution Analysis Synthesis Development Programming Data Collection Communication

Analytical Phase Creative Phase Executive Phase Figure 1 – Adapted version of Archers design process (Cross, 2000).

4 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Figure 1 indicates the relative amount of time spent on each of the sub-phases (size) and how far this project is by the time of submission (start of Development). Please refer to Appendix 1 for a simple Gantt chart of the process.

Report Structure The structure of this report does not follow the conventional chronological structure, referring to things in the order it happened. Instead the report introduces 3 overall parts:

Figure 2 – The overall structure of this report with 3 main parts.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 5

To start off with, the overall frame and Programming of this project is presented in the Introduction, following this guide.

Part 1 will then introduce the results from the Analysis phase in order to give the reader an understanding for the context in which this project is set, namely Nepal and the Nepali culture. For a visual supplement it is advisable to combine the reading of this section with the viewing of our short documentary “Cooking and Culture in Nepal” appended on the DVD.

Part 2 introduces the reader to the result of the Creative phase consisting of the final stove concept and an evaluation of this based on the accumulated knowledge.

Part 3 turns towards the path this project has followed in order to end up with the final concept. As such each of the overall phases the project has been through is introduced, the approach and partial results presented. A set of recommendations for the continuation of the development of this project rounds off this final part and is followed by a reflection of the process.

General information The separate appendix-report contains additional information and pictures, which will give the reader a chance to elaborate further on the topics touched in the report. We strongly advise the reader to keep the appendices-report open and at hand at all times. Each appendix will be referred to at the appropriate place in the report and indicated by an icon with the appendix number in the margin.

Further information is found on the appended DVD (found in the appendix-report). When relevant to consult an icon is shown in the margin indicating the type of file. The DVD contains digital information such as photos (camera), audible interviews (note), a short documentary (video camera), and Excel spreadsheet (X).

During the report references to literature will be made when necessary. Please refer to the bibliography at the end of the report for a complete list of the literature used. If nothing else is stated the information and illustrations are based on primary knowledge gathered during two field studies conducted in Nepal.

At times during this report we refer to Danish and western conditions and the historical Danish development, as this is our personal point of reference.

Just after the table of contents the reader will find a list of the notions and abbreviations used in this report. Each concept or name is expanded with a short introduction.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 7

Introduction Whenever we turn on the television, we hear stories about millions of people dying from Malaria, HIV/AIDS, unsafe drinking water and malnutrition. Lots of initiatives have been made to fight these circumstances because we are aware of their deadly effects. But when mentioning the indoor air pollution problem in developing countries around the world, people are unaware of the serious impact this has. Fact is, however, that indoor air pollution is a widespread problem and that it affects some of the poorest people in the world. This is why we have made a stand to challenge the indoor air pollution problem in the world’s developing countries.

Designing for the World's Poor Because the issues and the situation of the affected people dealt with in this project is so very far from the issues that effects and influences the people living in the developed world, we will start off by introducing and explaining the overall frame of this project.

When designing products and services for the poor people living in the developing countries of the world, there are many important things to keep in mind during the entire design process. The most important thing, however, is to respect and meet the needs of the users and by doing so design solutions which lie within their cultural and emotional frame and mindset, making sure that these are in fact the people that will benefit from the new solutions in the future. If no attention is paid to these aspects the users are less likely to adopt the new solutions and no effects will come of it all.

Due to the lack of resources allocated to comply with the essential user- involvement, and the many uncertainties that lies within these new markets, plus the long term return of investments, many western companies have been too afraid to explore the business opportunities that lie within the new markets in the world’s developing countries. However, new initiatives have been made in order to place more focus on this very overlooked group of people who live their whole lives in poverty. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has in 2007 presented an exhibition called Design For The Other 90% (Smithsonian Institution, 2007). The title refers to the fact that nearly all products and services today are designed for the just 10% of the world’s population living in the rich developed countries. This exhibition has travelled around the world in an attempt to create awareness about the irony that so little is done for the many poor and underprivileged people trying to maintain a dignified life.

8 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

As a positive result of the rising awareness regarding the poor people living in the developing countries a new approach has emerged: Designing for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). More and more companies around the world express great interest in the unexploited markets that lie within the base of the population pyramid.

We find the challenges met when moving from design for the developed world to design for the base of the pyramid very interesting and important. Using our educational strengths to benefit those less fortunate than us is very inspiring and has been the prime motivation behind this project. So now the question is, not why, but where to start designing for the people in the developing countries?

The Indoor Air Pollution Problem Nearly 3 billion people, or around half the world’s population, use coal and biomass fuels for cooking and heating inside their homes today. 200 million more people will be relying on these polluting fuels by 2030 if the current trends continue (Warwick & Doig, 2004).

It is estimated by WHO that around 1.6 million people die each year as a consequence of exposure to the indoor air pollution subsequent from burning these solid fuels on primitive fireplaces (World Health Organization, 2006). As fireplaces are essentially used every day at times when people, most often women and small children, are present, a high percentage of the emissions from these fireplaces reach peoples breathing zones (Smith, 2002).

Indoor air pollution is actually a much greater problem than the outdoor air pollution, which has received much attention from both researchers and politicians over the years. In fact the implicated homes in the world's developing countries have pollution levels approximately 100 times higher than the cities of the developed world with serious outdoor pollution (Dhakal, 2007).

Smoke is the result of the incomplete combustion of biomass fuels, which leads to emissions that are damaging to human health. Hundreds of dangerous chemicals are produced as a result of this incomplete combustion in households, including small particles, carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde, benzene, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons etc. The levels of exposure to these dangerous substances observed in the smoke-filled kitchens greatly exceed guidelines set by different agencies like the WHO and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (Find a brief explanation of the important organisations in Appendix 2).

As an example USEPA recommends a PM10 (small inhalable particles) level of no more than 150 µg/m3 in 24-hour mean values, while the actual levels typically range between 300-3,000 µg/m3, but can be up to 10 times this levels during cooking (Bruce, Perez-Padilla, & Albalak, 2000).

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 9

This exposure has been estimated to be equivalent of smoking 20 packs of cigar- ettes per day (Smith, Aggarwal, & Dave, 1983), which under all circumstances will put your health in great danger.

Not all people inhaling these harmful substances die as a result of the exposure, but in general the substances has great impact on the human immune system which makes people suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses like Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Both of these diseases are well documented in terms of their connection to the exposure of indoor air pollution (Bruce, et al., 2004).

Throughout the world's developing countries ALRI, e.g. in the form of pneumonia, constitutes 98% of all deaths from ARI (acute respiratory infection) and is the main cause of children’s death from indoor air pollution. Each year 2 million children under the age of 5 dies from ALRI and WHO estimates that 22% of all cases of COPD is caused by exposure to indoor smoke from biomass fuel (Warwick & Doig, 2004).

However, ALRI and COPD are not the only complications, which stems from the exposure to the harmful smoke. Also Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Lung Cancer, Cata- racts, and Asthma are diseases known to have connection to indoor air pollution. As the exposed women usually continue preparing meals throughout pregnancy, the developing foetus is also indirectly exposed, resulting in cases of Low Birth Weight and Infant Mortality (World Health Organization, 2005) and (Warwick & Doig, 2004). For more information regarding these diseases please refer to Ap- pendix 3.

Although not much attention has been paid to the problem by the public medias, there are people and organisations deeply devoted in combating the indoor air pollution – often referred to as The Killer in the Kitchen. Worldwide organisations such as WHO and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are advocating for more focus on relief aid in general and hence also indoor air pollution. On a more personal level, the university professor Kirk R. Smith from the Berkley University sees it as his mission to document the impact that indoor air pollution has on the human health. Kirk R. Smith is one of the pioneers in this field and he is involved in the many studies that have been conducted up till now. Most of the projects have had the ambition to measure the indoor climate in the houses and thereby document the harmful levels of indoor air pollution and the effects on human health. These studies have been conducted in South America, different places in Africa and several places in Asia (see for example (Smith, Schei, Hessen, Bruce, McCracken, & Lopez, 2004; Smith & McCracken, 1998; Smith,

10 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Pokhrel, Khalakdina, Deuja, & Bates, 2005)). In other words; the problem and the results are found worldwide.

Another aspect is, that not only is the indoor air pollution unhealthy to the affected women and families in the developing countries, but also the global environment is suffering from the great amount of waste products from the incomplete combustion of biomass fuels led out into the atmosphere. Recently the famous politician and devoted environmentalist Al Gore has indirectly put focus on the environmental issues regarding the indoor air pollution. In a speech in Tromsø, Norway, he proclaims that soot and methane (both waste products from incomplete combustion) affects the climate to the extreme and causes the great masses of ice in the oceans to melt, calling for immediate action (nabr/Ritzau, 2009). Through this project, we will make our contribution.

Nepal as the Target Area Even though this is a worldwide problem, we have in this project chosen to look more specifically on the indoor air pollution problem in the small country Nepal, which is situated in between the great nations of India and China.

Figure 3 – Location of Nepal (map adapted from Wikipedia).

There are several reasons for us choosing this particular country. One is that Nepal is amongst the poorest countries in the world, and a common estimate is that nearly 90% of the rural population use biomass fuels or coal for cooking and heating (Bruce, Perez-Padilla, & Albalak, 2002). Another reason for choosing Nepal is that one of the authors of this master thesis, has been travelling in Nepal and experienced the poor living conditions of the Nepali people in general and of the women in particular. Especially the Nepali women are very vulnerable because they spend a lot of their time in the smoky kitchens. This also meant that we already before the project start had a host family and several English speaking

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 11

local contact persons. This would enable us to get out into the rural areas of Nepal to study their current cooking-practices and to interact with the locals, which was very essential for this project being a success.

Thesis Statement This project aims at designing the first in a new generation of user-centred emission-reducing stoves aimed at the rural Terai region of Nepal. By promoting wide local use of such a stove we wish to ensure an appreciable challenge of the indoor air pollution problems in this region and create a significant improvement of the life quality of the women using the stove every day and their families.

The aim is to design a solution, which can be implemented within a few years after being fully developed and tested on location. Focus will mainly be on the interaction between user and stove, as we believe a smooth domestication is the key to improving the efforts already being put into developing technically functional solutions.

Results At the completion of this project the output will be as follows:

. A report documenting the process, the acquired knowledge and a description of the concept (also put into a context perspective). . One final concept with potential for subsequent testing and implementation developed on the basis of an accumulated knowledge and understanding of the Nepali conditions and culture. . A scale model of the concept (first to be completed at the time of the presentation). . A short documentary on the Nepali life and cooking practice today (appended on the DVD).

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 13

Part 1: The Nepali Context

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 15

Structure of Part 1 In order to give the reader an understanding of the context and setting, which the final concept of this project is intended for, this first part will give a general walk- through of a very complicated context. To describe the context, we will move from the wider picture of Nepal, describing in brief the history, economy, climate, religion, and culture of the country, through a description of the district in focus, Chitwan, and down to the present cooking situation observed. An analysis of the intended users of our product and their current cooking practices follow. Also information about the current work is introduced and at the end of the context section a summation of the knowledge gained is found in the specification requirement.

Introduction to Nepal

Targetting Chitwan

The Present Cooking Situation

Analysing the Context

Part 1 The Current Work

The Nepali Context Creating Personas

Cooking in Practice

Requirements to Final Concept

Figure 4 – Structure of Part 1.

16 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Introduction to Nepal The country of Nepal constitutes the context we are designing for in this project, hence an introduction of the political structure, the geographical setting as well as the culture and mindset of the Nepalese demands its space in this report in order to understand how the new concept fits into this setting.

Nepal is a fascinating country offering a wide and complex geography as well as population. Around 28.5 million people (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008) occupy the country today, comprising more than 30 different ethnic groups with different culture, language and religion. Only 702,000 people live in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu (Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office), and the majority of the population lives in the rural areas of the country.

History For great periods of time Nepal has been completely shut from the outside world, as a result of the changing caprices of the ruling Kings, leaving a medieval feel to the country, in many respects reinforced by the striking poverty. After 240 years of monarchy the King was dethroned by the parliament in May 2008. This was the culmination of yearlong rebellions against the monarchy led by the Maoist movement, killing approximately 13,000 people and destroying the economy of the poor country on their way. In April 2008 the 53-year-old Prachanda, leader of the Maoist movement, was elected prime minister of Nepal. However, Prachanda did only last for around 1 year as the prime minister of Nepal, as he has resigned from the post the 4th of May 2009 leaving the country in uncertainty as we write this report. (Ritzau, 2009)

Economy Partly as a result of the violent history Nepal is still one of the 50 poorest and least developed countries in the world ranking as number 142 of the 177 countries evaluated by UNDP with the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2008. In terms of gross domestic product (GDP) Nepal only has US$ 1550 per person in 2008. To put this in perspective, the same figure for Denmark and the United States respectively is US$ 33,973 and US$ 41,890 (United Nations Development Programme, 2008). On top of this the disparity in the population is also significant with the bottom 20% households receiving only 3.7% of the national income compared to the top 10% receiving nearly 50% (Pradhan, Shresta, & Mission, 2005). As such Nepal is an eminent contender for BoP design focussed at the less fortunate part of the population.

Agriculture is from ancient times the mainstay of the Nepalese economy, occupy- ing three-fourths of the population, though only contributing with 38% of the GDP,

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 17

which is one of the prime reasons why approximately one-third of the population lives below the poverty line. Also the unemployment rate is as high as 42% (in 2004)! (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008)

Climate The geographical location between the fertile plains of India and the desert-like plateau of Tibet creates great variations in the topology, which induces significant differences in the ways people live their lives. As such, Nepal can roughly be divided into 3 natural zones (Finlay, 2001):

. The Terai, or lowlands (100m above sea level), in the southern part where the most fertile land is found. . The Mahabharat Range, or Middle Hills, dominated by steep green ‘hills’ (up to 3000m above sea level) and rivers cutting through the landscape. . Part of the Himalayan mountain range, or High Hills, to the north with snow-clad peaks (including Mt. Everest at 8848m above sea level).

Figure 5 – Map of Nepal indicating the approximate location of the 3 natural zones (modified from Wikimedia Commons).

As a result of the variations in topology, also the climate varies significantly. In the southern lowlands we find tropical climate (up to 300m), while the mountains in the north offers polar conditions (above the snow line). In between according to altitudes the climate covers subtropical, temperate and alpine conditions. Vari- ations over the year are strongly connected to the Monsoon coming from the east. There is a dry season from October to May and a wet season with the Monsoon from June to September. The vast majority of the rain falls during this period and has great impact on the farming potentials. During summer temperatures are

18 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

often above 30°C and even in the winter sunny days may reach 20°C, though nightfall can bring temperatures close to freezing. (Finlay, 2001)

The great variations in topology and climate also create very different demands in terms of housing and heating across Nepal. The Nepalese living in the High Hills need 24-hours heating inside their houses at all times of the year. In the Middle Hills continuous heating inside the houses is only needed part of the year and in the lowlands the high temperatures means that heating of the living space is only necessary a few months of the year.

Because of these great differences in topology and climate the people of Nepal are also very different in terms of mindset and way of life. People living in the Kathmandu Valley are typically educated, as they have access to schools due to the relatively good infrastructure found here. The Nepalese living in the rural areas, on the other hand, are not very educated and do not have access to modern facilities such as toilets and electricity. They silently grow their land and harvest the crops to get by. The literacy rates are usually significantly lower for women, particularly in the rural areas where the education of girls is a low priority (World Health Organization, 1992). According to UNESCO Kathmandu, only 11.5% of the poorest people living in Terai and 59.3% of all rural Nepali women are able to read and write (2001 figures) (Acharya, 2004).

Religion & Culture The people of Nepal are greatly divided both in terms of distance but also in terms of religion and culture as Nepal contains an extraordinary and unique mix of religions and beliefs. The vast majority of the population is Hindu (80.6%) or Buddhist (10.7%), but we also find small groups of Muslims (4.2%), Kirant (3.6%) and other religions (0.9%) such as Christianity (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008).

As the Hindu religion touches such a great part of the population this religion in particular has had great implications for the lives people live, especially the caste or varna system brought with the immigrants form India is an important element adding to the disparities in the Nepali population.

Caste System As a result of centuries of migrations from both Tibet and India, the population of Nepal is today a cultural mosaic of different castes and ethnic groups. More than 100 castes and ethnic groups divide the Nepali population into a complicated hierarchy. The caste groups comprise 58.6% of the population, the ethnic groups 36.4% along with 6.2% other groups (Pradhan, Shresta, & Mission, 2005).

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 19

A common way of classifying the Nepali population is to use 3 overlapping clus- ters:

. Jats (hierarchical caste structured groups) and Janjatis (egalitarian ethnic groups). . High/ritually ‘pure’ castes and low/ritually ‘untouchable’ castes (Dalits). . Pahadis (people from the hills and mountains) and Madhesis (people from the lowlands).

Great differences in culture and language exist between and across these groups. The Janjatis are mainly of Mongoloid descent (immigrants from Tibet) and practice Buddhism, Animism and Kiranti without much influence of castes.

The Terai area, in which Chitwan is situated, houses an especially complex and heterogeneous population with 19 ethnic groups and no less than 43 caste groups (Pradhan, Shresta, & Mission, 2005).

Originally the caste was based on your actions in life, but eventually the system became hereditary, leaving no way to change your own or your descendants place in society. Depending on which caste you are part of the type of job and life you can live is already given. The Dalit caste comprises about 13% of the total population, and the people from this caste are employed in degrading service trades such as: blacksmiths, tailors, carcass removers, sweepers, and butchers (Shrestha, 2003). For more information regarding casts and occupation please go to Appendix 4.

Though no longer officially supported, the caste system is still very much a factor in the lives of the Nepali people. The Dalits are still considered ritually polluting and face numerous discriminations, even from the Janjatis. These ranges from bans on entry into temples and homes, refusal by the ‘upper’ castes to eat or drink with them, and exclusionary practices faced when attending schools (Pradhan, Shresta, & Mission, 2005). Also the Dalits are banned from the kitchens owned by the higher casts, which may be part of the explanation why they do not adopt some of the improved cooking stoves, which is to be found in many of the high caste kitchens. The Dalits are simply not allowed to enter the kitchens and get inspiration from the different utensils used. As a consequence of these tendencies we are in this project targeting the lower caste people, as they have neither the opportunity nor the means to get better jobs and hence earn money to acquire modern facilities only available for the high caste people.

20 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Family For the Nepali people family is the most important social frame. Having children not only provides helping hands, but also ensures that you have someone to take care of you in old age. This strong sense of unity also results in a very clear dis- tinction between ‘them’ and ‘us’. This phenomenon is called ‘afno manche’ meaning ‘your own people’ (Danida).

In these old and relatively static communities, whom you know and the connections you have, means everything. Social circles with base in the family and expanding to the fellow caste members, ethnic group, and village form the contact to the surrounding world. Connections make all the difference whether you need a new bicycle or your son needs a job – or maybe a wife. These networking activities strengthen the family ties, even to very distant relatives, and the introduction of telecommunication is only promoting this tendency. These network ties are not only found in the small communities, but also among the people possessing powerful positions, which is why nepotism and corruption is such a difficult entity to fight in Nepal.

Most Nepalese live in a male-dominated hierarchy organised within the family. The patriarch and head of the family has the power and is in charge of the decision-making, though many decisions may still be made collectively. As so many other places, this patriarchal system results in great gender discrimination, giving women less access to education, work and influence. Because the men tend to exercise purchasing power within families, it is important to also reach them when educating about the negative effects of indoor air pollution (Smith, Rogers, & Cowlin, 2005).

Survival as the Main Objective Because of the great poverty dominating the vast majority of the population, the Nepalese mindset is first and foremost focused on survival. Being primarily far- mers and merchants they often have no regular income to depend on and no safety net if things go wrong. One of the most progressive BoP design thinkers, Niti Bhan, points out at her presentation at a DesignIt seminar “Doing business with the poor”, that these poor people cannot be seen as consumers as we know it in the developed world. They are not willing to take risks when investing, because a faulty investment may have dramatic consequences for the family. In fact it is characteristic that the Nepalese do as they have always done, because history ensures them they can survive and support their family this way. As Niels Juhl Thomsen from the GO Energy Sector Assistance Program (ESAP) (Appendix 2). In Kathmandu puts it; this is why so many of the traders found in e.g. Kathmandu sell the exact same items in shops right across from each other. In this mindset we probably also find a large part of the explanation for the very limited develop-

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 21

ment Nepal has seen over time. This is one of the great challenges to overcome in order to get the women to domesticate a new solution.

To change this mindset it is of great importance to find a way to reach the women with information regarding the indoor air pollution problem and providing them tools, e.g. in the form of improved cooking stoves preventing their suffering from the many harmful effects of indoor air pollution. Also the men need information enabling them to take stock of the situation and make good decisions benefitting the entire family.

Targeting Chitwan Due to the vast differences found within Nepal, this project has focussed on one area, namely the Chitwan district situated in the centre of the Terai area. Around 1.6% of Nepal’s total population live in the Chitwan district in 2001. The Terai area as a whole constitutes less than 20% of Nepal’s total acreage, but also holds the largest part of the population. (Statoids, 2005)

The main city of the district is Bharatpur and the great river Narayani cuts through the north-western part of the district creating opportunity for water-related activities such as fishing. Most of the southern part’s forest areas have been preserved in the Chitwan National Park, housing various threatened animal species and creating good income from visiting tourists.

Figure 6 – UN map of the Chitwan district (www.un.org).

The infrastructure in the Terai area is relatively developed, as road construction is much easier in the flat lands than the steep hills, though the quality of the roads

22 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

are as questionable as in the rest of Nepal. Most of Chitwan is thus covered with small gravel roads. Simple houses curb the roads forming small villages with fields stretching from the back.

Figure 7 – Primitive roads found in Chitwan.

Due to the fertile land and relative ease of exploiting it, the Chitwan district is one of the wealthier districts in Nepal, ranking progress wise as no 8 of Nepal’s 75 districts using the HDI (the Kathmandu district not surprisingly ranking as no 1) (Thapa, 1995). This may sound like the Chitwan district is well on its way, however, one should note that only the top 5 districts is said to have a medium or high level of development. As such the ranking may not indicate that Chitwan is doing well, but rather that it is doing slightly better than the vast majority of districts in Nepal having a low level of development. What is also interesting to note is that Chitwan is actually only no 33 when it comes to life expectancy alone (at 62.3 years), which indicates that efforts are still needed in this area to improve the health situation, and hence this will be a good place for us to start addressing the indoor air pollution problem.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 23

Local Political Structure Each of the 75 districts in Nepal has a District Development Committee (DDC) working under the government and being in charge of the local development (C.f. the interview with Stine Høier in Appendix 5). In Chitwan this is located in Bharat- pur. Under each of these are a range of Village Development Committees (VDC), of which Chitwan has 38 (the outlined regions on the map in Figure 6.

Figure 8 – Political structure with DDCs and VDCs.

Every VDC has a chairman and a deputy chairman along with members who are directly elected in the areas under the village. The members of the VDCs within a district elect the members of the DDC. In these local communities personal relations are very important during elections and the local politicians therefore often works for the local interests.

Each DDC receives an annual disposable amount of money from the government, which is distributed to the VDCs. In 1994 the disposable amount for each VDC was raised from 350,000 to 500,000 NPR (approximately 6,700 US$ or 36,000 Dkr). The VDCs have also been given the right to collect small land taxes. These are the limited founds that must ensure the development in the districts of Nepal.

The villagers contact the local VDC if they have a wish for a new road or other programmes (Høier, 2008). When trying to disseminate new projects, whether it be toilets or improved cooking stoves, this is a good place to start advocating for implementation, as this is where the key stakeholders and the funds are.

Why Chitwan There is no doubt that Nepal is a country full of areas in need of help, and many probably more so than the Chitwan district. Nonetheless, we have chosen to have Chitwan as the focus area for this project, as we believe this district holds real potential for a positive development, and because the problems in this area are currently overshadowed by the problems faced by other areas of the country.

24 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

The organisations currently involved in the fight against indoor air pollution in Nepal all have a primary focus on the Middle Hills and mountainous areas because of the lower temperatures and need for constant heating. But the solutions developed for these areas cannot be directly transferred to the lowlands of the Terai where the culture and lives are distinctly different. To take an example, the improved cooking stoves designed for the very cold High Hill regions are made up of cast-iron and are lid 24-hours a day to heat the surroundings as much as possible.

Due to the poor living conditions found in all parts of Nepal the majority of the population suffer from indoor air pollution problems to some extend, includes the people living the Terai region. The kitchens here are still very primitive and the cooking fire unshielded and inefficient. In order to take a slightly different approach than the existing efforts, we have thus chosen this less touched, but still very affected area.

Another aspect has been the level of infrastructure. In the hills people live very isolated and can only get in touch with the surrounding world by hiking the steep hillsides for up to several days. In Chitwan, on the other hand, the infrastructure is relatively well-developed (for Nepal) and moving goods and people are more realistic. This aspect will make the dissemination of our solution much more effective, and before we get to the point of an actual product, the research and testing is more easily available, both to us as the project team, and to the local organisations.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 25

Present Cooking Situation in Chitwan Although the kitchen space is relatively different in different parts of Nepal, we will only be introducing the situation as we have observed it in the Chitwan district. Please refer to Appendix 6 for additional photos and the short documentary appended on the DVD for an animated introduction.

Figure 9 – Layout of a rural kitchen in Chitwan.

In Chitwan the kitchen is traditionally located in a separate building from the living quarters, most often a small building of approximately 6-8 m2 placed in a leftover space behind the house itself (away from the road). The building is often connected to the stable (sharing a wall and roof) and has a door and between 1 to 3 relatively small windows. Figure 9 indicates the layout of one of the kitchens visited in Chitwan, see Appendix 7 for some extra floor plans. The building is made from leftover traditional Nepalese building materials such as wood (possibly clad with clay), stones or light concrete blocks. Very few houses in Nepal are made with bricks as the Nepali bricks are of poor durability and quite expensive. The flooring is compressed clay smoothed out to a relatively plane surface.

By many homes you may also find an outdoor kitchen space, typically with a three-stone fireplace. These are often used during festival times, when the family comes together and sits around the fire, while the meal is cooking, and while eating it afterwards. In some households, however, the outdoor fireplace is the only one there, and hence this is used daily. Often these will be small families (possibly without a husband/father) renting a room in a bigger house. As the owners of the house do not want soot and smoke inside the room, the family must then cook outside. These outdoor fireplaces may be screened off a bit and provided with a pent roof.

26 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Figure 10 – Traditional three-stone-fire and U-shaped fireplace.

Inside the small kitchen buildings you will traditionally find a small u-shaped clay ‘stove’ build on the ground in a corner (often near a window) with room for one or two pots. Also most kitchens contain a gas-stove using Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) placed on a tabletop or cupboard.

Both the three-stone and U-shaped stoves have a characteristically low thermal efficiency of about 6 to 10 % (Grover, 2000). This is primarily caused by the fact that too much air is drawn into the fire during combustion, which cools the fuel and obstructs the combustion process. This low efficiency means more fuel is needed for the cooking process, which greatly increases the cooking-cost. Even though not precisely interlinked, the thermal efficiency also indicates the limited combustion level found in these primitive fireplaces. Studies have shown that the

mean 24-hour levels of PM10 in homes using biomass fuels can reach 30,000 µg/m3 or more during cooking, but the USEPA's 24-hour average standard is just 150 µg/m3. These small inhalable particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and appear to have the greatest potential for damaging the health of the cooks (Bruce, Perez-Padilla, & Albalak, 2000). Women in Nepal typically spend 3-7 hours per day by these fireplaces and the concomitant smoke through most of their lives, often with young children nearby (Warwick & Doig, 2004).

All the kitchen utensils are stored on tabletops and shelves, though the floor may also be taken into use, especially when drying the utensils after cleaning. As all of the food preparation is done sitting outside, there are no actual table surfaces, as we know them in the western kitchens. In stead the floor has been assigned this role and holds all the items in use while cooking.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 27

Figure 11 – Spoons stored under the roof.

There is generally a lot crammed in to these small spaces, so any protrusion or void in the building construction is often used for extra storage space. As an example it is not uncommon to see spoons fastened under the roof.

After this short presentation the reader should now have a sufficient insight in the Nepali society and mindset in general to proceed. We now know that the diversi- ties found in Nepal both geographically and culturally have great influence on the way people live their lives. The survival-issue affect most Nepalese in their everyday lives and this is one of the biggest hurtles to overcome when designing for the Nepali context, as we would like the Nepali women to invest in a new solution never having been tried before. Also knowledge regarding the rather complex political structure is important to ensure the right stakeholders can be contacted when advocating for widely dissemination of the new solution.

28 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Analysing the Context The following is an analysis of the context framing this project including current strategies and interventions in a broader picture, which constitutes part of a competitor analysis. Also personas, acting as the intended users, are presented, and last, but not least, a walk-through of the current cooking practice in Chitwan is performed.

The Current Strategies for Change To gain insight of the previous interventions conducted up until now, and to learn from the experiences gained on the indoor air pollution field, we will take a look at the strategies for change, which is used and recommended at present.

The road to eliminating indoor air pollution is far from obvious and straightforward as we are dealing with a complex problem. Current interventions follow different strategies at different levels. Here, a brief introduction will be given to these different strategies concerning concrete solutions, dissemination, and promotion.

Solution Strategies The different intervention programmes to reduce the negative effects of indoor air pollution follow 3 overall paths or approaches; changing the source of pollution, improving the living environment and/or modifying the user behaviour. Examples of practical solutions within these approaches are given in the table below.

Changing the source of Improving the living Modifying user behaviour pollution environment Improved cooking devices Improved ventilation Reduced exposure by . Improved stoves without flues . Smoke hoods changing cooking prac- . Improved stoves with flues . Eaves spaces tices . Windows Alternative fuel-cooker . Fuel drying combinations Kitchen design and . Pot lids to conserve heat . Food preparation to reduce . Briquettes and pellets placement of the stove . LPG . Kitchen separate from cooking time . Biogas house . Good maintenance of . Natural gas . Stove at waist height stove, chimney etc. . Electricity Reduced exposure by Reduced need for fuel avoiding smoke . Hay box . Keeping children away from . Solar water heating smoke . Pressure cooker

Table 1 – 3 solution-based approaches. Adapted from (World Health Organization, 2006).

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 29

Most current and previous interventions make use of just one of these approaches, often focusing solely on solutions changing the source of pollution. This is also the most readily accessible, as no major changes in the user's life are necessary. If the living environment is modified, however, new routines will to a greater extend need to be developed and more resistance can be expected in the local communities. This is perhaps even more so true when approaches to modifying user behaviour are taken. In this approach it is not merely physical changes, but a mental and habitual change, which is much harder to promote. On the other hand these more fundamental changes will be more likely to impose lasting improvements when implemented.

Changes in user behaviour may include cooking fewer meals, eating cold or leftover foods, snacks or processed foods and even changing diet. It should be noted, however, that such strategies might compromise the nutritional level of the population and thus create other problems (Sims, 1994).

When looking more closely at the first, most popular approach, focus so far tends to be primarily on improved cooking stoves, even though other solutions are also possible. In fact a wide range of interventions offer fuel saving stoves (as opposed to smoke reducing stoves), which may actually increase the level of emissions as opposed to reducing them.

The following is a walk-through some of the improved cooking stoves that have been of inspiration to us throughout this project.

Existing Improved Cooking Stove Solutions As just mentioned the most popular approach to solving the indoor air pollution problem is to this day the improved cooking stoves, not just in Nepal, but worldwide. The idea here is that an improved combustion will eliminate a large part of the health-damaging part of the smoke. Several different types of improved cooking stoves have been developed through the years, some with more success than others. We will here just briefly mention a couple of the stoves that we have taken a look at during a conducted competitor analysis, and which have inspired us in this project. Please refer to Appendix 8 for a bigger overview including stoves using alternative fuel types and a comparison of the different stoves.

The Mud-brick Stove: In Nepal the most widely used improved cooking stove is the mud-brick stove disseminated by ESAP. It is, as the name implies, constructed with so-called mud-bricks. These are produced locally using clay, rice husk, dung, and water and forming them in wooden moulds. Following an illustrated instruction manual the locals can then build the simple structure directly on the floor using a soil paste to join the bricks. Typically the stove is then coated

30 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

with a layer of clay to smoothen the surface. After all the elements have dried the stove is ready for use.

There are a number of different designs proposed in the manual, but the most

popular is the two-potholeInventory versionof Innovat ishownve Indoo rbelow, Smoke A laslev iaitt inmeetsg Techn othelogi ecommons in Nepal cooking need sufficiently. B. Two potholes ICS

nd A. Two potholes (Tamang) ICS B. 2 pothole raised two potholes ICS Figure 12 – Mud-brick stove developed by ESAP.

From the corner of the stove a chimney, also build from bricks, leads the smoke outside through a hole in the wall approximately 1.5 meters above the ground. On the other side of the wall is typically a bended sheet metal chimney.

Firewood is inserted through the small opening at the front under the primary pothole. Inside the stove a small rise is constructed to accelerate the hot air on it’s way to the second pothole, which is also slightly raised to facilitate the airflow.

The Plancha Stove: As the indoor air pollution issue is a problem in many of

the developing countries around the world, we have also looked outside Nepal for inspiration. In Central America, forC example,. Two potho lethes IC Sorganisation with grate HELPS International Source: AEPC has developed a special plancha stove,Fig. 4which: Two p hasothol esomes ICS very interesting features.

Year of dissemination Early 90s The planchaCos tstove gets its nameNR sfrom. 150 tothe 250 me(buttal var iplatees with onsize top,and b awhichse const ractsuction )as the cooking surfaceQuantity (showing disseminate dresemblance More than with200,0 0the0 f rwesternom 2000 oceramicnwards af tecookingr improve plates).ment in chimney and combustion chamber (by NICSP supported by The stove body itself is constructedESAP anfromd co oard localinated blightweighty AEPC). 2n dtile pot hresemblingole raised is m castore concrete blocks, which are manufactured for the purpose at a local manufacturing site. The stove is then build on site from16 these blocks and may be used straight away.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 31

materials are degraded by high temperatures, even stainless steel will be damaged over time. Ceramic parts can be made, however, that will last for years in Rocket elbows. Ken Goyer, an Aprovecho researcher, has developed a mixture that makes durable stove parts: it is kiln-fired, refractory, and highly insulative. This mixture comprises:

! 2 parts ordinary clay, like earthenware, that melts at a low temperature ! 1 part clay that melts at a higher temperature to add Figure 13 – HELPS's ONIL plancha stove (www.onilstove.com). strength. ! 1 part cement. This holds everythingInside together the stove until isit is built a ceramic combustion chamber, between this and the fired outerin the kilnwalls and pumice adds is added for isolation. Only an opening from the combustion more strength. ! 4 partschamber fine sifted of or 2.5ganic cm mat- leading to the steel chimney is kept free. The hot air from the ter, likecombustion sawdust. This chamber burns will then travel directly under the metal plate on its way to out making the ceramic light Figure 4: The Doña Justa stove weightthe and chimney, provides which air pock- will heat the plate sufficiently for cooking. ets for insulation. using multiple pots. Flue gases are this type of improved Plancha A womenOne’s co-operative of the ideas in with Hon- the metalremoved top from is thatthe kitchen cooking through may takestove place named directly after on Dothisña Justa. duras calledand notNueva on aEsperansa pan for example.a chimney. In CentralThis work America has been tortillas(She (flat continues bread) to isimprove, very build, makes long lasting refractory largely sponsored by Trees, Water and test this stove in Honduras.) ceramic popularstove parts and from this acan mix- with advantageand People. beOrganizations cooked on in theCen- plate aThe couple pots atcan the either time. sit on top ture of clay, sand, horse manure tral America working on griddle of the griddle, be placed over and tree Anothergum. interesting featurestove with projects this stove include is theAhdesa, cookingholes position. cut in Unlike the griddle, most or be

Non-Theme Prolena Nicaragua, CLUSA, Funda- partially submerged into the grid- Using theother Rocket improved stove cooking stoves,cion V ida, the HELPS cook isInter actuallynational, standingdle. When while more cooking of the on pot is principlesthis, which among other thingsthe Peace prevent Corpss manyand the burn Godchild-accidents.directly exposed to heat, efficien- Project. cies rise. The griddle is supported The new Lorena stove on top of a box built from ordi- For threeThe years Sampoorna now, Aprovecho and SaralThe Do Chulhaña Justa stove Stoves: Philips hasnary developed brick, lorena two newmix, sheet has been working with local The ‘Rocket stove’ version of the versions of the Chulha stove, which is a very popular stove typemetal, in or India. any inexpensive mater- groups in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Plancha stove includes a Rocket ial like adobe, etc. An insulative Salvador and Guatemala to type insulated firebox and chim- material like wood ash isolates develop Bothand build stoves various are types made of of ney.concrete Hot flue coated gases withare forced local toclay andthe heat are from thought the high to bemass stove Plancha (griddle) stoves. Plancha produced and distributedpass locally. directly The under Sampoornaneath the metal (meaningbody. complete) If the chimney has is an cement, it stoves allow the user to fry tor- griddle (Figure 4). The diagram can be a part of the box, sup- tillas, keepintegrated pots clean, steamer and to cook (to thepoints left) out while the Saraldesign (meaningfeatures of easy)ported simply by four has walls. two po Thet- heavy holes. Both are modularly constructed and have a new bypasschimney tunnel is withinplaced whichbehind a wall of brick that allows hot flue gases increases the distribution of the heat at the first pothole. to flow freely into the bottom of the chimney. If the chimney is The ceramic chimney is constructed from several sections,made which frommakes lightweight it easier sheet metal it can rise directly out of a to manufacture and transport and it is fixed by a bracket tohole the cut wall, in the making griddle. the construction sturdier, while also acting as a port to open the chimney for cleaning. Griddle stoves with submerged pots Partially submerging the pots under the griddle can double the efficiency of heat transfer. The efficiency of this type of stove is Figure 3: The new Lorena stove highest because the design allows

38 Boiling Point No 47 Autumn 2001 Three product development stages

Sampoorna (meaning Complete) with integral steamer: price around 14-16 euro

Three product development stages

32 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Sampoorna (meaning Complete) with inteSgarraal lst(emaemaenri:n pgricEea asryo)u: npdri c1e4 -a1r6o euunrdo 9-10 euro

Figure 14 – Philips Sampoorna and Saral stoves (from Philips' presentation "Designing together with users"). Philips Design, S. Rocchi, 26 September 2008, Designing with users - Sustainable Innovations at the BOP 19

The Sampoorna is an all-in-one unit S intendedaral ( form cookingeani n andg E boilingasy with): p anri ce around 9-10 euro integrated steamer for preparing rice, lentils etc. The Saral is a modular system, which has one basic cooking block and then allows addition of various other blocks for e.g. extra pots, steaming, or a hay box for keeping food warm or heating it up.

Neither the Sampoorna nor the Saral Chulha stove are, as far as we know, in production or use today, but they have been a good inspiration to think unconven- tional elements into the stove design.

Smoke Removal Another solution-based strategy to eliminating the dangerous smoke is simply to remove it from the area where people are staying. Of course this way of action can with great meaning be combinedPhilips Dwithesig then, S .improved Rocchi, 26 combustionSeptember 20 and08, D manyesignin ofg w ith users - Sustainable Innovations at the BOP 19 the improved cooking stoves do also have means of removing the smoke.

Chimneys: A chimney or flue is directly connected to the stove, often as an integral part of the design, and vents the smoke outside the building. An enclosed system is created where the smokeFinal inside the stove ve has nowherersion to go but through the chimney, which ensures that most of the smoke never reaches the cook. At the same time, however, most of the heat, which would otherwise heat the room, is also vented outside. A major issue with the chimney is theS needam pforo cleaning.orna Depending(mean iofn theg Ceffi-omplete) Saral (meaning Easy) ciency of the combustion, after two weeks to one month the chimney must be cleaned to avoid clogging and maintain the draft, which keeps the smoke away from the kitchen. To facilitate this the chimney must be designed for easy dis- mantling, making it unnecessary to climb the roof for cleaning. If cleaning is not made easy, experience shows that the chimneys will simply be left to clog up and Final version

Sampoorna (meaning Complete) Saral (meaning Easy)

Philips Design, S. Rocchi, 26 September 2008, Designing with users - Sustainable Innovations at the BOP 20

Philips Design, S. Rocchi, 26 September 2008, Designing with users - Sustainable Innovations at the BOP 20 10

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 33

when its effect is no longer felt inside, the chimney is dismantled and the parts either sold or reused as irrigation channels. (Bates, 2007)

Adding to the problem of chimney maintenance is also the issues involving the hierarchy of the Nepali people, as stated: “Chimney maintenance is a real problem. In Nepal, people, particularly those from higher castes, have assumed that it is the installers job to clean and maintain the stoves. Where there are no clean- ers, chimney and stove maintenance and performance is low. Sometimes, bad installation, neglect of the stove, or failure to clean the chimney results in sparks leaving the chimney and igniting the roof thatch” (Sulpya, 1994).

Dimensioning of the chimney is also critical, as the correct cross-sectional area and height will provide a draft creating a cleaner and more efficient combustion. On the other hand, too tall a chimney will cause too much suction and the fire will burn excessively quickly. Too wide a cross-section will not accelerate the smoke sufficiently out of the house. (Bates, 2007)

As the chimney and stove form an enclosed system the fuel opening on the stove will also affect the chimney. If the opening is too big, too much air will rush through the system and cool the fire, which increases the cooking time. (Bates, 2007)

Smoke hoods: The smoke hood is a free-standing and independent entity in itself placed over a traditional fire or stove, and intercepting the smoke as it rises, thus venting it outside the building through a chimney. The fire burns largely independently of the surrounding hood and the cook can access the fire through a front opening. In this way the cooking is kept as traditional as possible, but not as affected by smoke as up to 70% of the smoke is vented outside. Some places it has proved problematic to integrate these hoods into traditional homes, especially in small houses (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001).

34 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Figure 15 – Smoke hoods seen in the Middle Hill districts Dhading and Gorkha. The chimney leads the smoke under the roof of the house.

The smoke hood is a simple construction, typically made from sheet metal, and can be bought relatively cheap compared to a chimney stove. The most important factor is the ratio between the area of the opening to the flue-pipe cross-sectional area, which should be between 1:10 and 1:7. It is straightforward for local artisans to produce, thus providing employment and supporting the local economy. The hoods are also easily repaired on site.

In Nepal the non-governmental organisation, Practical Action Nepal, has a smoke hood programme supporting the dissemination of smoke hoods in especially the hilly areas. Some of these hoods are designed with removable sides, which makes it possible to keep gathering around the fire in the cold weather and take advantage of the heat released from the partly open fire. Please refer to the 2 photomontages on the DVD from Dhading and Gorkha respectively.

Dissemination For the solutions to have a significant impact, they must be spread and adopted by as many intended beneficiaries as possible. This dissemination does usually not occur on its own, but must be helped along.

Basically, the technical interventions can be disseminated either through large- scale centralised efforts or small-scale independent efforts. The large-scale efforts will often be forms of national programmes (such as the Chinese National Cookstove Programme), often incorporating subsidies. The small-scale efforts are typically NGO-led and take their starting point in the local communities. (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001)

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 35

These two approaches have different trade-offs. The centralised programmes tend to result in larger quantities of stoves being built and distributed per unit of time and money, however, the rejection rates will often be high and the local integration limited. On the other hand, local programmes generally imply higher quality, as the concerned communities are involved through a much more participatory approach, however, the lessons learned from one project are often not transferred to new ones (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001). The programmes that have proved most successful in the past are those in which the government was not involved in the production or sale of the improved cooking stoves (Barnes, Openshaw, Smith, & Plas, 1994).

Promotion Another relevant consideration is whether to give the stoves away (heavily subsi- dise them) or commercialise the stoves and price them such that the user bears most of the cost. The fact that large segments of the influenced population are poor to the extreme is probably the greatest challenge in this respect. This usually calls for subsidies in order to get the stoves to the intended users. However, there is evidence that people do not value and maintain things that come to them at no cost (no ownership), which significantly reduce the impact of the interventions (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001).

Most experts agree that the commercial approach holds the most potential, as it can generate an income in the local community, while the market forces will help keeping the price down and push for continuing the development. For this to work without subsidies, local producers, often artisans, must receive the necessary training, technical assistance, and commercial guidance as part of the programme (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001).

Even though the approach without subsidies will introduce bigger expenses for the intended beneficiaries, "there is also good evidence from different parts of the world that even quite poor people will be willing to help pay for truly improved and durable stoves that are significant additions to their assets." (Smith, 2002).

36 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Why is IAP Still a Problem in Nepal Today?

Lack of Development Indoor air pollution is a natural problem when cooking over an open fire, and historically people all over the world have been exposed to it. As soon as you take the fire inside a relatively closed space (such as a house) you will experience harmful levels of smoke. In Denmark the rural population of the Iron Age had great problems with the smoke, though the connection to health problems had not been made at that time. But the house construction developed drastically through the next 7-800 hundred years, most notably introducing the chimney, and later on the introduction of electricity has completely eliminated the problem in Denmark (along with the rest of the western world).

But what triggered the development in Denmark? Part of the answer lies in the Nordic climate, which has great changes in temperature over the seasons. In the cold winters in these primitive houses the fire was blazing almost 24-hours to maintain a temperature above freezing point inside the houses. Due to the many occurrences of fires inside the Nordic houses the government decided to make it a legal requirement that every house should have a chimney installed (Nielsen, 2008). This brought down the number of fires but also relieved the cook by removing a lot of the smoke from the houses.

Also in Denmark we need to plan everything into much detail in order to survive the changing weather conditions. An adjoining heating stove made out of cast iron became the source of heat in the newer houses and this exact heating stove was the forerunner of the cast iron cooking stove – which later evolved into the modern stoves we use in western households today.

So why has the Nepali development not gone in the same way as it did in Denmark? Part of the explanation is that Nepal is, as mentioned, a very divided country where many rural villages are many days of fatiguing walk from infrastructure and other people. This is one of the reasons why it is not possible to legislate the use of chimneys or improved cooking stoves, as none of the vulnerable Nepa- lese living in the remote areas would ever hear of these new laws. Also the Nepalese in general do not have much respect for laws and legislations as the extremely disorganized traffic bears clear witness of.

Another aspect is the Nepali mindset, which is very far from the Danish. In Denmark people have a drive to challenge and improve things whereas in Nepal people are more cautious because their primary priority is to survive. This mindset can be utilised to educate people that when using improved cooking stoves the

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 37

chance of premature deaths is much smaller meaning that the mother of the house will be around longer to take care of her family.

Limited Success of Previous Interventions Despite the current interventions the indoor air pollution problem is still a largely overlooked area and generally not understood, both among the exposed population, but also among the stakeholders involved in intervention programmes. Focus is often on the environment as opposed to the health and even when health is addressed focus is shifted to a cure of the related symptoms instead of prevention of the underlying problem. This is not surprising as the affected population and areas are often victims of other pressing problems as well, and the lower status of women results in a lower priority of their specific problems. (Warwick & Doig, 2004)

In general the debate over the most effective interventions offers little recognition that interventions should be context-specific and that different interventions may be more or less appropriate in certain contexts (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001). A comparative review of stove programmes performed by Kirk R. Smith et al. shows: "no matter how efficient or cheap the stove, individual households have proved reluctant to adopt it if it is difficult to install and maintain or less convenient and less adaptable to local preferences than its traditional counterpart”. On the other hand, households have been most receptive when the dissemination process takes full account of the capacities and needs of local stove producers and consumers. (Barnes, Openshaw, Smith, & Plas, 1994)

Professor Kirk R. Smith identifies the current trend of using exclusively local materials, such as mud and sand, as one of the main reasons for the limited success of the improved cooking stove programmes. He is convinced that the local population have already developed the best possible stoves using these materials, and moves to focus on more durable materials such as ceramics and metal. Also, he notes, it is important to provide the skills needed to work with these different materials. (Smith, 2002)

To sum up, the chances of success are enhanced when people have an explicit need to save fuel, when the new stoves are a significant improvement over the local traditional stoves, and when stoves can be made readily available by local industries or artisans at affordable prices (Barnes, Openshaw, Smith, & Plas, 1994). Also education about the impacts of smoke on the health is an essential component of any successful indoor air pollution intervention as people are often unaware or have lay beliefs about the risks (Budds, Biran, & Rouse, 2001).

38 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Creating Personas A user group consisting of the Nepalese women (though limited to the Chitwan residents) is relatively widely defined and embraces many different women with many different needs and preferences. The creation and use of fictional users, commonly referred to as ‘personas’, is a relatively new interaction design technique, which can aid the focus of a design when faced with such a diverse set of users (Grudin & Pruitt, 2002). It is not possible to design for everybody at once, but by creating a set of archetype personas representing different important elements (goals and behavior patterns) from all the primary users, you are able to get to know these personas well. By then designing for these archetypes, who you understand very well, you can satisfy the broader group of people represented by these archetypes (Goodwin, 2008).

The following is a description of 3 personas that we ourselves have created in order to demonstrate our knowledge about the Nepali society. Even though the personas are all a creation of our own minds, they are based on the knowledge gathered and the interviews conducted during the two fieldtrips to Nepal. Be- cause we do not have access to feedback from the Nepali women, which our design will be aimed at, within the scope of this project, our personas will be the closest that we can come to actual “users” on which we can evaluate our concept. This will be done in the evaluation section found later in part 2 of this report. The 3 personas represent 3 archetypes of Nepali women and contains a little from many of the Nepali women we have met on our way. We have taken some important family relationships and given the 3 personas different hopes and expectations of life, which will make them act differently in otherwise similar situations (like real people would).

But now an introduction of the 3 women: For more pictures of the personas' families and homes see Appendix 9.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 39

Nirmala Nirmala is 27 years old and belongs to the low Tatma caste. She is married to Adash from the same caste with whom she has a 3 year old son Ram. Adash works, as all his ancestors, as an agricultural labourer, but the area where they live does not offer enough work to support the family. Instead a distant cousin has helped Adash get work in India, where he now works 6 months every year, sending money back to the family in Nepal. He has just been home for a couple of months, but now he has gone back to India. Once a week Adash borrows a mobile phone from his cousin in India and calls home to his family, or that is the mobile phone of their neighbour, which they can borrow. Nirmala is very excited to tell him next time he calls that she is pregnant with their second child. They both want a traditional, big family, though it means Adash must work a little harder to support the extra mouth.

Nirmala and her little family lives in the small rural village West Rampur in the Chitwan district. They live in a simple concrete house together with Adash’s mother and father and they all contribute to managing the household. They have a small field in the back where they grow rice and maize and a small kitchen garden supplies them with most of their vegetables and herbs. As the youngest woman in the household Nirmala is used to doing most of the cooking, but now that she is pregnant, her mother-in-law helps her from time to time.

Their kitchen is a small wooden building behind the house. When Nirmala first moved in it was just a three-stone-fire under a small pent roof, but just over two years ago Adash and his father build this new building to give her more shelter when cooking and taking care of the baby. In the corner of the kitchen she has tried to build a small mud stove she once saw at her aunts house. It heats better than the old three-stone-fire, but when cooking the Dal Bhat meal twice a day her eyes still gets very sore and watery from the smoke. Also, she has noticed that Ram is often coughing after spending time with her in the kitchen. She wishes there was something she could do to prevent this, as she is very concerned about his health.

Nirmala’s own mother has recently died of lung cancer so now her younger brother and sister lives together with their father in a small village more than 50 kilometres away from Nirmala. Transportation is time-consuming and trouble- some, especially with a small child, so she does not see them quite as often as

40 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

she would like to. When she first moved in with her husband’s family in West Rampur, she missed her own very much and felt left out in her new home. Today she feels much more at home and after she gave birth to Ram her in-laws have also been more helpful and open to her.

For Nirmala taking care of her family is the most important thing. She hopes her son will be able to get a proper education so he can get a better job than his father, but she also knows that his surname and dark skin tone will probably always work against him.

Sanjula Sanjula is a 46-year-old woman who lives with her husband Indivar of the Kami caste in the medium sized village Rampur located 4km from West Rampur. Indivar is a blacksmith and has taken over his fathers forging shop when he died. Sanjula and Indivar have 3 children together. The middle one is a boy called Kaushal who lives in the house next door with his young wife and works with Indivar in the shop. The eldest daughter Vipasa was married away at age 15 and moved away to a nearby village, while the youngest daughter Ranjana was just married last year and moved to Kathmandu with her husband. Sanjula has been pregnant one more time, but the baby died shortly after birth.

There is one other Kami family in the village, but luckily there is still enough work for two blacksmiths. Indivar has been training Kaushal since he was 10 years old and now at 25 he is a skilled blacksmith. They make and repair all sorts of farming equipment and domestic utensils, keeping them especially busy during harvest time. They primarily work with iron, which is bought at a nearby bazaar once a month. For every new thing they make they earn between 2-20 rupees, though sometimes payment can also be made with cereals. They receive no payment for the repairs they do, as it is considered a service, they must give.

As both her son and husband are often busy forging, and her daughter-in-law is very pregnant, Sanjula must do most of the housework on her own, including tending to their cow and keeping the kitchen garden. However, recently her mother-in-law of 66 years moved in because Indivar's brother could no longer support her. She tries to give Sanjula a helping hand, but the mother-in-law is very

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 41

fragile and weak after a long life, so Sanjula spends a lot of time helping her getting dressed, eating and so forth during the day.

Sanjula is therefore also the one cooking Dal Bhat twice a day for the 3 people of the house and often for the son and daughter-in-law too. She does not particularly like cooking, for it takes her many hours to prepare each meal, and she has limited funds to vary the diet. Usually she prepares the ingredients sitting outside the small kitchen, which her husband built 3 years ago from the concrete blocks left after finishing the son’s house. Inside she has a mud stove with two potholes with metal rings, which her husband has made for her. At a small cupboard she also has a gas stove where she makes tea for the family. The gas bottle can be refilled at the small market in the village, but it is very expensive, so she uses it as little as possible. They do not have many trees on their land, so Sanjula must often buy wood at the market for her cooking.

Sanjula has been cooking most of her life, as her mother died, when she was quite young and left her, as the oldest daughter, to cook for the family. She now has a chronic cough, which she believes is due to the smoke she has always been forced to sit in inside the kitchen. To relief her of some of the smoke her son has attached a small chimney to the roof above the stove, for he has heard that this will help. Though Sanjula is grateful of the thought, she does not believe it helps at all.

Festival time is Sanjula’s favourite time. Though it means spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, it also means that her daughters come home to visit, usually with her grandchildren. They bring food with them and presents for the family. So with her daughters to help her and plenty of ingredients to make the diet diverse, cooking is suddenly a joy for Sanjula and the smoke does not bother her so much.

Prachi Prachi is 33 years old and comes from the small village Tandi about 7 km from West Ram- pur. She is married to Kirti and they are both from the Yadav middle caste. As tradition dic- tates they hold cattle, which has been quite profitable for them. Right now they have 5 buffalos and 6 goats, but they plan on slaugh- tering one of the buffalos for the upcoming festival. They have four children at the ages 4 to 13, all still living at home. Kirti is a very charismatic and well-respected man in the

42 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

village, which has earned him the status of unofficial head of the village. He has studied a year of economics in Kathmandu before he came home and took over after his father that could not handle the cattle alone. Kirti is a quick study and always ready to offer both his advice and opinion to the other people of the village, and they frequently make use of this. Because of her husband’s status, Prachi is also well respected among the women of the village.

When Prachi gave birth to their second child, the son Aadi, Kirti decided it was time to give his family a new house as his father’s old house was beginning to show serious signs of wear. He built the biggest and most colourful house the village had ever seen, to make his good fortune visible to the world. The year after he built a big combined kitchen and stable for their cattle with cement blocks and a thatched roof.

When it comes to housekeeping and preparing the meals Prachi has great help from her 13-year-old daughter Padma. They often take turns cooking the meals on the double mud stove, which gives Prachi more time to help her husband with the cattle and tending to their fields. Padma is also in charge of taking care of her 3 younger brothers.

A couple of months ago a local organisation visited the area and offered to help the family build a small biogas plant connected to their toilet. Kirti has seen a similar plant in a nearby village and heard of the advantages it has brought the family, so they are seriously considering the offer. It will, however, involve a big investment, which they cannot afford at present.

Now we have been introduced to 3 types of Nepali women cooking the meals for their families twice a day. We will come back to these women again later, but for now in order to get at deeper understanding of what is actually going on during the cooking sessions around the fireplace, we will in the next section take a deeper look at the habits, products, and dynamics surrounding the cooking practice.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 43

Cooking in Practice Especially when designing for an unfamiliar context, it is of great importance to investigate the current ways of doing things, hence the practices involved in preparing and cooking a daily meal forms the target of our investigation. Understanding the current cooking practice enables us to make an educated guess in terms of how well the new solution will fit into the current cooking practice, and which elements of the practice that will change when introducing the new stove. For better visualisation of the cooking practice, we recommend that you watch the documentary appended on the DVD before reading this section.

The practices that evolve in Nepal are to a large extent local, as they are associated with local culture, which is why the same artefacts in different settings do not necessarily result in the same practices. That is why we cannot simply take an existing solution from the developed world or another developing country and expect it to “work” in the new setting of Nepal, or even take one of the solutions developed to the hilly areas and necessarily make it a success in Chitwan.

The everyday practices surrounding cooking in poor rural households in Chitwan are effectively reproduced at every meal every day. In these parts, meals are consumed twice a day, the first around 10 o’clock in the morning and then an evening meal around 6 or 7 in the evening. In between these meals tea and perhaps some snacks are served. Before the morning meal it is normal to work in the field(s) for a while (because of the moderate temperature) and after the evening meal the residents of the house usually quickly turn in, partly because of the (often) missing electricity at this time in the evening and partly because of ex- haustion from the days work.

Institutions As mentioned, in Nepal the patriarchal culture still predominates, which is why gender roles are particularly clear and stringent. A man’s place is outside, possibly far away from the home, earning money for the family. The types of jobs or careers a man can pursue are defined by his family name - that is the caste he was born into. This definition of status and position in society is a very persistent institution, still surviving today.

The woman on the other hand takes care of the rest. This means long workdays and involves many survival activities such as fuel and water carrying, cooking, food processing, transport, agriculture, childcare, and small enterprises (Smith, Rogers, & Cowlin, 2005). As such the kitchen is the women’s domain. The children helps their mother in the kitchen from a very young age and especially the girls are taught how to prepare the family meal by the time they are around 8

44 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

years of age. Also the girls are often taken out of school at a quite early age, as they are to help their mother taking care of the household.

As mentioned earlier in this report, the Hindu religion is deeply embedded in everything Nepali. Not understood as a yoke with dreaded rules, but as a very natural way of life. Though the low-caste youth are held back by these strict religious and cultural castes, it is still such a traditional part of life that it seems impossible to change. But to all Nepalese practising the Hindu-religion, there are some defined traditions, which also effects the cooking. Perhaps the most significant is the holy cow. From ancient times the cow has been an important provider of milk, giving it an elevated status (being almost a mother to the beneficiary). As a consequence of this, combined with a general reluctance in Hindus to kill any living creature (due to souls and rebirth) the cow has become sacred territory and any consumption of its meat is forbidden. Beef is thus never a part of the diet and meat in general only appears sporadically in the daily meals.

The Hindu religion is also a colourful and complex religion celebrating many different gods. As a consequence the year is full of different festivals celebrating different aspects of the religion. These festivals can last for anywhere between one day to two weeks. A central part of these festivals are often the meals served, which differ significantly from the every-day meals.

Kitchen Status As mentioned the kitchen is the women’s domain and as such it is prioritised lower than the main house, e.g. when it comes to new investments (World Health Organization, 1992). It is, for example, not rare to see a household where the kitchen is nothing but a pent roof with a three-stone-fire while you hear the sounds from a radio or television inside the house. Also the kitchen space itself is undervalued and constructed in leftover space using leftover materials and with little thought of ergonomics, smoke extraction, ventilation etc. (World Health Organization, 1992).

There is, however, some strict beliefs concerning the kitchen. It is considered a sacred space and the women work very hard to keep it and their utensils clean, and this is also why the member of the ritually polluted caste, may not enter a higher caste kitchen because the high cast people fears being “polluted”.

Correlations in Practice When looking at practices from a more theoretical point of view, it is neither the individual products nor social relations that are in focus, but the correlation between these. Practices arise through an active and ongoing integration of images, artefacts, and forms of competence and the relations formed between these

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 45

(Shove & Pantzar, 2005). The result of this integration is a range of bodily-mental activities viewed as the practice. Below is an illustration of these relations adapted from Røpke and Christensen (Røpke & Christensen, 2008).

Images & Meanings

Bodily-mental Activities

Skills & Objects & Competences Artefacts

Figure 16 – Correlations in a practice (Christensen & Røpke, 2008).

In order to have a more detailed peek at the cooking practice found in Chitwan igure 16 have been mapped out in Appendix 10. The model contains the elements, which we on our research trips have identified to be important to the practice, but may be further extended when a more complete understanding is achieved. The following is a walk-through the different elements and relations introduced by the model.

Objects and Artefacts Traditionally the continued reproduction of a practice leads to new or adapted artefacts emerging. In the developed world we are used to a high replacement and introduction level, but in a country such as Nepal things move more slowly. This can also make it more difficult to identify the changes, especially being outside the practice.

In this investigation we focus on the fireplace and objects related to this. There is a range of different pots and pans with different applications in even the poorest Nepalese households. The most important is the wok (often round-bottomed) and the casserole. Apart from these we also find the characteristically curved pot for the rice and the small flat pan used for eggs and baking flat bread. As indicated, each of these items are typically linked to a certain type of food, forming assem- blies with other objects used to prepare these types of food. As an example can

46 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

be mentioned the assembly around rice, which includes either a curved pot or a pressure cooker used on the fireplace, but also a flat tray used to sort the rice before cooking and a water pump located in the yard behind the house.

Figure 17 – The yard behind the Pariyar house.

It is noteworthy that the cooking practice among the Nepalese in most respects looks the same as decades, maybe even centuries, ago. Just a few, and in most respects incremental, changes have occurred. The most significant perhaps being the electric rice-cooker. This cooker is commonly used in all of the households we have visited and is effectively moving the preparation of the rice away from the fireplace. It comes with some natural restrictions though, as electricity is an obvious requirement for it to produce a result even in these remote areas. But electricity is a very instable resource in Nepal, usually it is only on for about 8 hours each day, but most often not during the time the evening meal is prepared or consumed. This puts some natural limitations on the electric rice cooker, which is why a practice is evolving where enough rice for both main meals are cooked first thing in the morning (where the electricity is typically on). The remaining rice is then stored in the curved pot until evening time where it is heated on the mud stove or simply served cold.

Around the fireplace itself we also find an assembly of artefacts including the firewood and kindling material along with the blow-pipe used to ventilate the fire and a pair of pliers used to rearrange the firewood while burning. Most often you will also find a small stool next to the fireplace where the woman sits while stirring the food or maintaining the fire. A naked light bulb is typically the only light source, though not of much use without electricity. Hence a small, mobile, battery- powered LED-lamp is often brought in to the kitchen while cooking at night, pro-

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 47

viding a bit of light apart from the fire itself. Metal ware in the form of plates, cups and bowls comprises part of the kitchen utensils used. This is quite a change from the ceramic utensils used previously. We do not know the exact reason for this change in materials but a guess would be that the price of the metal ware has dropped according to the ability to mass-produce such items. Also the distribution of the metal ware is much easier than with the ceramic ware because of the reduced weight and enhanced durability. The shop is actually brought directly to the front doors of the rural Nepali houses on bicycles, which makes the acquisition of the metal ware very accessible.

Skills and Competences In order to actually make food using these artefacts, however, it is necessary to possess the right skills and competences. We for example, being outside the practice, would not be able to cook a meal in the Nepali kitchen without some aid and instructions (teaching us the skills).

Cooking is not a voluntary activity such as dancing or playing cards. On the contrary the Nepalese are enlisted from early childhood. As mentioned previously, especially girls help their mothers in the kitchen from a very young age and are thus schooled in the necessary skills and competences. A ‘second’ schooling possibly takes place when a young girl moves in with her husband (and in-laws), perhaps in a new region with different traditions.

Quite a few skills are needed to master the art of cooking on a fireplace, all of these having been around for decades and undergoing only little development as just a handful of new artefacts have been introduced. Most importantly is the skill to keep the fire going at the correct level and heating the food at the proper in- tensity. In the developed world we simply turn a knob or push a button, but for the Nepalese women it is a question of adding just the right amount of wood (also dependant on the type and quality of the wood) and maintaining just the right amount of flames (using the blow-pipe and pliers). Controlling the fire is thus very reliant on sight and sound.

Other important skills are centred around the actual preparation of the food, including types of ingredients used and the quantity of these along with the seasoning using different herbs and spices to achieve special variants of the dishes. In Denmark we are used to cook dishes from a wide range of world kitchens (from Thai to Italian to traditional Nordic food) and a recipe is often available to guide us through unknown steps. The Nepali women on the other hand cook variations of the same dish (Dal Bhat) twice a day, every day. This obviously builds a tacit knowledge (Nonaka, 1995) and gives them a routine and natural way of doing things without thinking too much about it. Observing their mother or older sister

48 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

cook and daily testing their skills is simply how they learn and evolve their cooking competences.

For these very poor women making the ends meet while still supplying their family with sufficient food to give them the strength they need to earn their living is of crucial importance. Cooking just the right amount of food to avoid waste is an important thing to be able to do along with knowledge about the season of each of the ingredients and their shelf life.

What is a very implicit part of the skills is the element of preventing diseases induced by the food. Skills linked to hygiene such as cleaning the utensils before and after use is actually embedded in the culture through the notion of the sacred space, while using chilli (which kills some bacteria) for seasoning is an old tradition in the Asian kitchen. Also providing sufficient protein through a low-meat diet comes naturally, as e.g. beans are popular ingredients in the Nepali cuisine.

The Nepalese do not have any remedies against the smoke, as they traditionally see it as a part of the cooking practice that has just always been there. They actually utilises the smoke for insect control, drying food and fuel and for flavour- ing food (World Health Organization, 2005). Also, as Niels Juhl Thomsen (ESAP) tells us, smoke has been associated with keeping snakes away from the houses and, additionally compounds from the smoke such as tar is used to preserve the wood, which the house or the kitchen is built up of, protecting the wood from termites as well as the weather (Bruce, Perez-Padilla, & Albalak, 2000). Please refer to Appendix 11 for the full interview with Niels).

Images and Meaning Nepal is a country full of culture and tradition and of course the meal is also a carrier of this. As such, what is cooked is one way of expressing or underlining different occasions such as religious festivals. The traditional daily meal of Dal Bhat can be prepared with great variation concerning combinations of spices, herbs, and vegetables, and at festival time several different curries will be served along with small meat dishes, fruit and homemade sweets. The local traditions play a great role, also influenced by which ingredients are locally and seasonally available.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 49

Figure 18 – A festival meal with many different dishes.

One of the most dramatic differences between the cooking practice found in rural Nepal and the cooking we practice in the developed world is the element of survival. Of course eating is a basic human need, but stretching the available food is at the centre of every meal in Nepal – something we rarely give a thought here in Denmark. If the meal is not sufficient we will most likely have something else stored we can eat, or at least buying something extra is not a problem. In Nepal, however, the meal is not primarily a culinary experience, but first and foremost a means of surviving and thus cooking the meal is a way for the cook to secure the momentary survival and wellbeing of her family.

Despite of this element of survival, the meal is also another place where the Nepali generosity manifests itself. The typical Nepali household (especially when looking at the low-caste households) are very open entities with very little of the privacy we are used to in Denmark. Anyone from the village can come and go as they please, no invitation needed and with no opportunity for the host to ‘throw them out’. Though the meals are most often consumed at home, the Nepalese are more than willing to share their food with others. A person from the higher caste will, however, never eat food a lower caste person has touched as it has been ritually polluted (especially true for water).

50 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Doing Cooking Practices are basically a question of having and doing, for example having a primitive fireplace/stove and doing cooking on it. In reality though, it is not quite as simple as this. This section will give an idea of the things and doings involved in the main cooking practice in the Nepali setting considered here (as we have observed it on our field trips).

First of all, to speak of ‘cooking’ is a simplification of the actions that take place when preparing a meal. Still keeping it simple, we will here look at 3 sub-practices within the cooking practice:

• Preparation of fireplace • Preparation of ingredients Pre-cooking • Kindling of fire • Preparation of pot(s)

• Frying and cooking Cooking • Keeping dishes warm

• Arrange food Post-cooking • Washing-up

Figure 19 – 3 sub-practices.

Also other practices are linked very closely to the cooking practice and are in some ways overlapping and affecting the cooking practice. The practices concerning eating as well as procurement of food, water and kitchen utensils are all important practices contributing to the cooking practice in order for it to be executed as intended. These additional practices however, will not be the focus of the elaboration below.

Pre-cooking The first step when preparing a meal at the fireplace is to make all the involved elements ready. First of all the fireplace (or primitive stove) must be prepared: ashes from last cooking session must be removed, and new twigs, paper scraps and even plastic bags (or some other easily combustible material) must be arranged with the firewood. This may be done a while after completing the previous cooking session, as soon as the fire has died out and the fireplace cooled off. In this way the cook can concentrate on preparing the other elements immediately before the meal.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 51

Figure 20 – Combustible wastes are arranged for next cooking session and firewood prepared.

Naturally the different ingredients to be used in the meal must be prepared before the actual cooking. The rice is sorted using a flat round ‘tray’ and flipping the rice grains in the air, thus removing the remaining rice husk and sorting out the bad grains, which are then fed to the hens (and/or pigeons). The rice may also be washed or soaked before cooking, but too much of this result in the loss of important nutrients. The water used to wash the rice is often saved to feed to the domestic animals.

Figure 21 – Traditional rice sorting with a flat tray.

For the curry, herbs are gathered directly from the kitchen garden and carefully washed with the vegetables to be used. If potatoes are to be part of the meal, these are typically peeled before cooking. All ingredients are then cut or ripped into appropriate size by hand (using no chopping board). If meat is to be part of the meal, this too is cut out (with bones) using a special curved knife with the blade facing upwards, which is held by the foot. Characteristically all ingredients are chopped in pieces small enough to be eaten in one mouthful without cutting it any further as they use no knives or forks for eating. Roast meat is thus never part of the meals, but then meat is an extremely rare part of the diet for these poor people. However, when a buffalo is slaughtered, the entire community usually gets a share, as preservation of the meat is quite difficult (no cool storage).

52 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Figure 22 – Ingredients are prepared by hand.

The fire is then started using either a lighter or a match to ignite the easily combustible material. The fire will spread to the firewood and a “blow pipe” is used to keep the fire going. The Nepalese women are very skilled in controlling the fire as the knowledge gets passed on through experience. While the firewood catches fire the pot(s) is prepared. To facilitate the cleaning after use a thin layer of mud or ash is often applied to the outside of the pots, which will be exposed to soot.

Figure 23 – Starting the fire and preparing the pot.

Cooking As soon as the fire is burning at a sufficient rate the first pot is placed on the fireplace. If lentils are part of the meal these will typically be prepared first in a casserole. Water and dried lentils are poured into the pot and some oil and spices added. This is then cooked over the fire with frequent stirring until the lentils have the right texture. When done, the casserole is removed from the fire and placed on the ground next to the fireplace with a plate for lid until the rest of the meal is ready.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 53

Figure 24 – Lentil soup and rice being prepared over the fire.

When rice is prepared traditionally on the fire this is done next. The prepared rice is placed in a special curved pot with the right amount of water or in the pressure cooker. This is brought to the boil. When done the rice is placed next to the fireplace to infuse while the rest of the meal is prepared.

It is not always, however, that the rice is cooked on the fireplace, as the electric rice-cooker has gained considerable footing in Nepal. The rice is then fed into the cooker with water and hooked up to the electricity. The actual cooking process is then left to the machine and no human interaction is needed for this.

Figure 25 – Cooking the curry in a wok.

The vegetable curry is usually prepared in a round-bottomed wok. Oil is poured up and when sufficiently hot the vegetables are fried with different spices added. The spices are often stored in plastic containers with screw top and the lid is often used when dosing the spices. After frying for a few minutes, the curry is brought to a simmer and a metal plate is placed on top of the wok as a lid. During the entire cooking session the fire is frequently poked to and fanned with the blow- pipe to maintain the right temperature. When meat is cooked this is most often done separately from the vegetables, but in a similar manner using the wok.

54 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

For guests and special occasions eggs may also be fried on a flat pan (like a simple omelette) to be served with the other dishes. This is then the last thing to be cooked.

Post-cooking When everything is ready the food is arranged on plates, one for each person in the household and with a small bowl for the lentil soup. Each element of the meal is kept separate at the plate, only to be ‘combined’ when eating it. The meal is typically consumed sitting on the ground behind the house and the cook (woman) usually eats after the rest of the family. She eats the leftovers so to speak. In winter time the meal is consumed inside the kitchen to exploit the heat generated from the cooking fire.

Figure 26 – Arranging the meal.

After the meal has been consumed the plates, bowls, and other kitchenware is cleaned at the outdoor water fountain. If soap is available this is used, but alter- natively ash can act as replacement (~scouring powder). If there are any leftovers from the meal these are fed to the domestic animals (such as goats, dogs and cats) along with the water from the rice to ensure no waste. Prepared food is never saved for later due to the absence of cool storage places.

Side practices The main cooking practice described above is performed twice a day for the two main meals, however in the morning and during the day other activities take place in the kitchen. Small snacks may be prepared or, more commonly, tea will be served. Also after the evening meal warm milk (typically buffalo-milk) may be served as a type of dessert.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 55

Figure 27 – Nepali tea prepared on a gas stove.

Today most households own a small gas stove, which is popular for heating water quickly. Thus this stove is most often used when tea is prepared. A casserole with water is placed on the blaze, tea and sugar (perhaps along with flavourings such as ginger, cinnamon or lime juice) is added. After being brought to the boiling point the tea is sieved into cups for serving. Often milk is also added and heated with the tea. This sweet milk tea is very popular and often served several times a day.

Heating the milk is done in a similar manner using a casserole, though it is preferred to use the fireplace for this, as the smoke contributes with a distinct flavour. Thus the milk is often heated on the dying fire from the evening meal. In fact even the households with better-equipped kitchens still have an open fireplace reserved for heating milk, as it is considered a delicacy.

Now we have gained a general insight to the cooking practice, as it is unfolded in the Chitwan district of Nepal. There are lots of elements influencing the practice and they are all important to take into account when introducing a new object into the cooking practice in order to enhance a smooth domestication. The people actually conducting the domestication of the new object are the Nepali women who, like Nirmala, Sanjula, and Prachi, are facing the introduction of a new cooking stove into the daily cooking practice.

At present several initiatives has been launched in an attempt to reduce the indoor air pollution but none of them have managed to gain foothold. This could be a result of the lack of focus on, and hence lack of understanding for, the users and the current cooking practices. When understanding the users and their practices you also understand the demands they place on the development of a user- centred solution.

56 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Requirements to Final Concept Based on the entire amount of conducted research, including literature studies and the very important field trips where several interviews were conducted, and also based on our analysis and interpretation of all the information gathered and observed, a list of specification requirements has been set up.

Some key features have been identified during interviews and observations in the Analytical Phase, which are some of the elements to be considered when designing a new stove. Examples of these being:

. Firewood is the preferred fuel, and when burned effectively, this will result in almost no harmful emissions released in the kitchen environment. . Cooking is currently performed sitting by necessity and not by choice. In fact the women prefers standing as they do when using the LPG-stove. . At least two dishes are prepared for each meal, and the women would like to be more efficient when cooking and managing the stove. . Keeping the food warm while waiting for the last dishes is currently problematic. . Keeping the kitchen, and thus the stove, clean, is of great importance to the women, but if it is too time-consuming it will not be done, as other activities will be prioritised.

Why these aspects are so important will be illustrated later in part 3 of the report.

The various aspects ranging from the Nepali culture and religion, and to the elements involved in the present cooking practice, presented up till now have formed the basis of the specification requirements, which have been iteratively updated as new aspects have become clear along the course of the project. For earlier versions of the list of specification requirements please consult Appendix 12.

At the end of this report we will list some additional and more technical requirements that must be taken into account when continuing the development after the completion of this project.

But right now focus has been on designing a user-centred stove, which fulfils the specification requirements presented on the following pages.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 57

In general, focus in this project is on 3 overlapping spheres (please refer to Figure 28) which constitutes the backbone of the specification requirements: a socio- technical sphere containing requirements related to the broader context, a workspace sphere concerning elements during use, and a stove sphere directly related to the physical stove characteristics. This approach has been taken to maintain a holistic approach to the problem and not solely focus on the stove- object.

Adjoining areas to the indoor air pollution problem like nutrition, hygiene, and building construction have not been considered in the scope of this project, though they may be interesting to combine at a later state.

Socio technical sphere

Workspace sphere

Stove sphere

Figure 28 – The overlapping nature of the 3 spheres.

The requirements and criteria, written in bold letters in the Specification requirements on the following page, have been prioritised above the others in this project, as we believe they are essential for a new successful concept. This, however, does not mean that the other aspects are not of great importance too, as will be illustrated later on.

58 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Spheres Requirements Criteria Facilitate the local cooking culture Facilitate intuitive use

Possible to procure locally Initiate local businesses

Spare parts locally available Locally acceptable appearance nical

h Longer lifespan than existing mud-stoves Information available to user on the optimum use of the stove tec - Introduce aesthetic considerations into the Meet changing demands according kitchen to time of year and festivals

Socio Affordable price

Eliminate harmful levels of flue Safe environment for children gases in the kitchen

No risk of burns Facilitate easy installation

No fire hazard Facilitate easy ongoing maintenance

Transportable on bike, maximum 20 Comply with different rural kitchen kg parts layouts

Compact design (small enough to pass Facilitate better standing cooking positions

Workspace through a door)

Cooking surface approximately 90±5 cm above ground level

Fuelled by wood Minimize fuel consumption

Adjustable heat Minimize emissions from combustion

Possible to feed fuel during the entire Facilitate convenient ignition cooking session

Direct polluted air outside Reduce cooking time

Compatibility with different kitchen Minimal time needed to prepare the fuel Stove ware (pot sizes)

Possible to cook two dishes at the same Better thermal efficiency than existing time stoves use

Stable when stirring in pots

On the basis of these specification requirements and a lot of synthesis-work, which will be explained later in this report, a new concept has seen the light of day: The Sapana Stove!

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 59

Part 2: The Final Concept

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 61

Structure of Part 2 The following will offer a walk-through of the stove concept, introducing the reader to the individual elements found in the stove. Next the Sapana Stove will be viewed from each of the 3 spheres, taking its starting point in the sphere surrounding the stove itself, where the key features are introduced. Following this is a description of how the Sapana Stove affects the workspace sphere (mainly the kitchen environment) and finally it will be illustrated how the stove influences the socio-technical sphere surrounding the stove sphere and the workspace sphere respectively (see Figure 28). Following this we will take a look inside the stove and describe the more technical sides before rounding off with an evaluation of the Sapana Stove as a whole.

Introducing Sapana Stove

The Elements of the Sapana Stove

A Sphere-tour

Looking Inside

Getting Rid of the Smoke

Part 2 Structural Considerations

The Final Concept Evaluation and Perspective

Requirement Fulﬁllment

New Concept in Context

Market Share

Figure 29 – Structure of Part 2.

62 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

Introducing the Sapana Stove Our contribution to the fight against indoor air pollution in Nepal is the innovative Sapana Stove (Sapana meaning dream in Nepali). The Sapana Stove is a modular, wood fired stove, which can be upgraded according to the different needs and livelihoods found in the homes of Chitwan. As such the Sapana Stove exists in both a simple and a full version.

Figure 30 – Isometric illustration of the simple and the full version of the Sapana Stove.

The stove is still on a conceptual basis so the final materials have not been con- clusively decided at this point, however, based on our current knowledge and observations we will in the following walk-through of the concept offer sound material-proposals. For further thoughts on the material selection see the section "Material Considerations for the Stove Body" below.

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The Elements of the Sapana Stove Each element that constitutes the Sapana Stove contributes to the formation of the stove as a whole by possessing different functions and qualities. The following is a short walk-through of the different elements, which constitute the full version of the Sapana Stove. See Appendix 13 for a full view of all the elements plus scale drawing of the Sapana.

Butterfly Valve Section

Pothole Lid

Secondary Top Module

Primary Top Module

Hay Box Module Secondary Combustion Module

Wood Storage Module Door Stone

Water Tank

Primary Combustion Module

Extra Hay Box Module

Figure 31 – Semi-exploded view of the full Sapana Stove.

Primary Combustion Module: This module is the heart of the stove and is located under the primary pothole. The chamber is constructed by the rocket- elbow or L-shaft principle already being used in a range of existing improved cooking stoves (see Appendix 14 for existing principals in use). This has been proved to be an efficient way to burn firewood by feeding it horizontally through the fuel opening whereupon the combustion takes place in the rocket compartment. In the bottom of the combustion chamber a cast iron grate is placed

64 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

approximately one centimetre above the bottom of the chamber forming a so- called fuel shelf. The fuel shelf allows air to pass underneath the firewood, which pre-heats the air and ensures that enough air is mixed with the fuel during combustion. Separate door stones of brick placed on the shelf outside the chamber help regulate this airflow.

The improved combustion and isolating qualities of the lightweight concrete creates quite high temperatures of approximately 700-1100 degrees Celsius inside the combustion chamber.

Secondary Combustion Module: This module is placed on top of the primary combustion module and extends the rocket-elbow. Half way up the secondary module is a removable sheet metal drawer with a grate in the bottom where charcoal leftovers from the primary combustion are laid. When closed the flue gases will pass through the burning charcoal, further completing the combustion. The concept of secondary combustion is today not implemented in any existing stoves, but it holds great potential (Grover, 2000).

Chimney: The metal chimney is constructed of modules 40 cm long and 12 cm across, which are joined together in metal connections using the metal-collar shown in Figure 32. The number of modules needed depends on the height of the roof of the kitchen and the height of the stovetop. It is desirable to have the chimney protrude above the ridge of the roof in order to avoid smoke-nuisance outside (see illustration in Appendix 15). Also the height of the surrounding buildings needs to be taken into account when determining the chimney height.

Figure 32 – Chimney sections with metal collar.

In between the bottom two modules of the chimney a module containing a butterfly valve (damper) is installed (see drawing in Appendix 14). The chimney provides a draft created from the difference in temperature (which induces a difference in density) at each end of the chimney-pipe, which draws the hot flue gases from the combustion chamber and outside (cf. Archimedes' principle). This draft is regulated partly by the damper and partly by the door stones. When manipulating the damper and door stones the gas-flow between the two potholes is also regulated.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 65

When completely open the damper is placed in a 90-degree angle enabling the air to flow by each side of the metal plate. When closed the metal plate leaves a space of 20 % of the internal diameter open to ensure that the smoke will not be forced to exit inside the kitchen.

Figure 33 – Chimney top.

The top of the chimney is fastened by a metal-collar attached on the rooftop constituted by two parallel plates on either side of the roof. This collar helps carrying a large part of the load from the chimney and seals off the hole in the roof around the chimney pipe. The chimney cap placed at the very top of the chimney is a simple cone top cap, which prevents rain from entering the chimney and ruining the stove. 3 pieces of spring steel keeps the top cap in places in makes it easily removable for cleaning purposes. The design is similar in appearance to the ones already being used by e.g. Practical Action Nepal in different places of Nepal today. It can thus be assumed that the locals will not have any reservations against having this type of chimney on their roofs.

Top Modules: The Sapana Stove has two potholes; a larger primary pothole and a smaller secondary pothole, which are placed in the two separate top modules. Both potholes can be covered by an appurtenant pothole lid when not in use (see Appendix 16). The primary and second pothole both have conic sides (inclining 45 degrees) in order to ensure effective use and support of pots and pans with a range of diameters (from 12 cm to 24 cm). Due to the slanting sides no smoke will slip past the pot and into the kitchen, as no matter what size pot, it will always cover the opening. If a pot is too small for the pothole opening, the pothole lids can be used as a cooking surface in stead.

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Figure 34 – Pothole with pots of different size.

Water Tank: The water tank is made of steel sheets and can contain approximately 10 litres of water. In order to attain maximum heat transfer from the combustion of the firewood to the water inside, the tank is placed as the backside of the combustion chamber (primary or secondary depending on the version). Also the water tank is situated immediately under the primary top module, meaning the tank receives heat from both the side and top. We estimate that a temperature around 80 degrees Celsius can be attained, as it does not take too much energy to heat up water to this temperature. As mentioned, the warm water can be used for washing the dishes or it can be used for saving fuel while cooking e.g. rice and lentils, which are then heated the rest of the way to the boiling point.

Figure 35 – Water tank with tap.

When the stove is elevated in the full version, a simple tap for easy water dosing is found on the front. The tap has a small plastic tube attached to it to ensure the water-stream can easily be handled without dripping all over the drying wood below. However, when the stove is in its most simple design then the tap is too close to the ground for it to be used. Instead a plug is inserted in the hole where the tap usually sits, and the water is accessed by manually pulling out the tank. The top of the tank is divided into two parts; a removable part that can be removed to fill the tank, and a stationary part, which is riveted together with the rest of the water tank. When the cook wants to use warm water in the simple version, she simply removes the lid and ladles the water directly from the tank. Similarly when filling the tank. Water is collected in a tin container from the outside well and brought into the kitchen. The water tank is simply pulled out, the top lid is removed and the water is poured into the water tank. When finished, the water tank is pushed into its original position.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 67

Hay Box Module: The hay box is a u-shaped compartment in the stove, which can be lined with e.g. hay or rice husk and shut completely off to get better isolating properties. It is used for keeping the prepared dishes nice and hot while waiting on the other dishes to be finished. Also the hay box is ideal for the simmering phase of some dishes (such as the vegetables curries). This saves fuel, as the dish only needs direct heat from the fire until it is brought to the boiling point. Then the pot is put into the hay box for further simmering using the heat already stored in the food, until the dish is ready. The hay box principle dates back approximately hundred years and has been used extensively as a fuel saving device in Denmark among other places.

The dimensions of the hay box facilitate use of fairly big pots or several small because of the utilisation of the depth but at the same time it seems very small and compact at a glance.

Wood Storage Module: Another hay box like element introduced in the full version of the stove is the compartment for drying wood. The wood moisture content influences the combustion process, as wet or fresh wood reduces the energy availability of the fuel. Fresh (or green) wood pollutes more than dry wood and part of the energy and heat is lost for drying the wood in the combustion chamber (Miljøstyrelsen, 2008). As a ground rule the moisture content of the wood should not exceed 18% (Dansk skovforening, 2009).

There will be enough space for drying approximately 10-12 kg firewood depending on the type (density) and the ability to stack the wood, which should be enough for two days of cooking sessions. The limited depth of the box furthermore en- hances the incentive to cut the wood into smaller pieces than is common at present. This makes the wood fit more easily into the enclosed combustion chamber.

A Sphere-tour Now we will introduce the reader to some of the more overall sides of the Sapana concept by moving through the 3 spheres.

Stove Sphere As mentioned above we have designed the Sapana Stove to function in both a simple and a full version as illustrated in Figure 30. The simple version offers a very good starting point for the poor, low caste Nepali women like Nirmala (one of our personas), who are currently being exposed to harmful waste products from smoke every single day. The simple version consists of a modular metal chimney and two overall modules in lightweight concrete. One of the two overall modules contains a primary combustion chamber and a water tank with a pothole on the

68 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

top, while the other module contains a hay box with a second pothole and an opening for the chimney. The primary combustion chamber provides a clean and safe combustion of the firewood and the metal water tank uses some of the heat generated inside the combustion chamber to supply warm water for the family. The warm water can be used for e.g. cleaning the dishes, or it can be heated up to the boiling point in a pot to make tea. This way energy is saved, as the water only needs to be heated for a short while in order to boil when already warm from the beginning. Lids covering the idle potholes eases the kindling process and prevents the smoke from leaking up through openings. This version of the Sapana Stove is basically operated from the traditional sitting or squatted position, however, it can with advantage be placed on a foundation or table to ensure a more ergonomically correct cooking position.

Figure 36 – Simple version of the Sapana Stove in context.

When the Nepali family has saved up enough money, they can upgrade the stove by buying two more modules that are combined with the ones that are already procured, forming a new structure of the stove. One of the additional modules contains a secondary combustion chamber, which is placed on top of the existing primary combustion chamber. Inside the secondary combustion chamber leftover charcoals are ignited and hence the flue gases are burned once more to secure a

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 69

very clean combustion with almost no harmful waste products. The other additional module provides a space for drying the firewood used for cooking. Experience shows that drying the firewood before use improves the combustion and lowers the smoke emission (World Health Organization, 2006) so this application is one more element that helps keeping the indoor air clean and safe for the people staying in the kitchen.

This full version is automatically elevated due to the extra modules, and by adding a foundation an optimal cooking position can be achieved for the cook. 80 cm 60 cm 140-170 cm 40 cm

Figure 37 – Height and cooking position for the simple and full version (the grey box indicates the height when elevated).

The people coming from a higher caste, like Prachi does, will probably buy the full version of the Sapana Stove at from the beginning, in order to take advantage of all of its features right from the start.

Workspace Sphere The main advantage of the Sapana Stove is its ability to provide cleaner air inside the kitchen and thus significantly reduce the indoor air pollution. Not only does the chimney connected to the stove, vent the polluted air outdoors and away from the kitchen space, but the smoke itself will also be less harmful. The combination of the primary and the secondary combustion chamber provides a cleaner and more complete combustion of the health damaging substances, meaning that the people living in the surrounding houses as well as the environment as a whole will not suffer from the smoke coming out of the chimney either.

Like the rest of the Sapana Stove, the chimney is constructed by modular sections, which are held together by metal collars. This means that the chimney can be partly dismantled to facilitate easy cleaning of the deposited soot in the chimney pipe.

70 Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal

The ease of adjusting the Sapana Stove to a height, which enables the house cook to prepare the food standing, results in significantly more ergonomic working conditions than observed today, but also keeps the face of the cook away from the fire and smoke as opposed to the traditional squatted position. Furthermore the raised placement of the stove offers a significantly reduced risk of burns and scalding accidents. Because the hot potholes and the very hot metallic chimney are positioned fairly high above the ground, it is situated in a safe distance from the arms of the small children playing inside the kitchen. This means that the risk of accidents is highly reduced and the kitchen environment is a lot safer.

When first procuring the Sapana Stove it is easily installed, aided by the guides on each module (see Appendix 16 for details of the guides), and can be placed conveniently according to different rural kitchen layouts. The stove is originally designed to fit into a corner of the kitchen with the chimney to the left (when facing the stove). However, due to the symmetric design of the stove elements it is possible with just slight modifications to mirror the stove so that the chimney module, which is the crucial element, is located on the right side of the stove instead (as illustrated in Figure 38). The only precaution the buyer needs to take is choosing a mirrored version of the secondary top module at the manufacturing site.

Mirrored Secondary Top

Hay Box turned around

Water Tank Frame upside down

Figure 38 – Mirrored version of the Sapana Stove (seen from the back).

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 71

Socio Technical Sphere With the new Sapana Stove people will have to transport the stove from a local manufacturer and back to their home instead of building a new stove directly on location. In our design the construction of separate lightweight concrete modules support this transport situation (possibly in several turns). The average weight of a single module is approximately 6 kg, meaning that several modules can easily be transported by bike at the same time (see Appendix 17 for an estimate of the weight of all the individual modules).

The two versions of the stove also enable people of different social status (and thus economic background) to benefit from the health improvements provided by the Sapana Stove. The low cast people with almost no money to spend on “luxury goods” like kitchen equipment can thus start out by buying the simple version of the stove, while more financially secure people can start off with the full version.

Using the Sapana Stove will also increase the cooking efficiency due to the two potholes as two dishes can then be made at the same time. Especially in the festival time large amounts of food are prepared each day and the women spend a lot of time in the kitchens. Having two potholes instead of one provides significantly more flexibility into the cooking sessions, and hence the basics of the Nepali culture will be supported when using this stove. The pothole lids also offers different possibilities while cooking such as pan-like qualities for making flat breads.

As a positive side effect, the increased height of the stove may have the effect that children are less prone to be placed in charge of the cooking, as it will be more difficult for them to reach the pots. This helps improve their health as they are kept completely away from the smoke.

Proposed Dissemination Strategy Nepal has a very fragile and slow economy, which we would like to benefit posi- tively with this new stove. As Nepal at this point has only taken baby-steps towards a democratisation of the country, it is not possible to conduct a nationally executed dissemination program. So instead of taking the path of a centralised large-scale and subsidised distribution, we focus on the individual local communities of Chitwan. Inspired by the positive experiences of Practical Action Nepal and their Smoke Hood Programme, we believe that a local manufacturing site is the key to a small local economical improvement.

Although our focus is not on the economics of the stove development and dissemination, we will offer some general thoughts as to how the Sapana Stoves can be disseminated to the rural Nepalese. We will follow the current approach of

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Practical Action Nepal (see Appendix 18 for an interview with Practical Action Nepal – Chitwan office) starting off by posting advertisements in the newspapers seeking collaboration partners in the form of local NGOs in the targeted districts. When the local NGO has been approved, they initiate the identification of local villages suitable for implementation of the new stove. Often villages with at least a little money are selected as this indicates a foundation for growth (Høier, 2008). When this is done the local NGO might identify a specific family in the community, well respected amongst the majority of the locals (this could be people like Prachi’s husband Kirti, as he has the status of unofficial head of the village). If key people like Prachi and Kirti are convinced to buy a Sapana Stove, then other families will have more trust in the new stove and follow suit.

In parallel, local manufacturers showing great potential and having the required skills must be identified and convinced to start up a production of Sapana Stoves.

The Sapana Stove is not meant to be a traditional commercial innovation, rather an equivalent to open source programming, making local adjustments possible. This being said, it is essential for the effectiveness of the stove to maintain control of the quality of the produced stoves. Hence we propose for the NGO to keep control of the key to manufacturing the Sapana Stove: the formworks for the individual modules.

The Actor-Netwok diagram in Figure 39 illustrates the relations between the important actors (marked with orange) such as the national NGO (like Practical Action Nepal), the local NGO, the user, the buyer (as these are not always identical due to the gender roles of Nepal), and the artefacts (in white) flowing between them. The gray boxes illustrate different traditional courses provided by the local NGO, which will be advantageous for some of the actors to participate in.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 73

National NGO Micro credit loan

Local manufacturer (metal) Business making course

Local Local NGO Application manufacturer (concrete)

Formworks

Buyer

Kitchen management User / cook course

Figure 39 – Actor-Network revolving around the formworks of the Sapana Stove.

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When setting up production of the stoves a local manufacturer needs to make significant investments in the formworks and tools needed, which we know is more than difficult to scrape together for the average Nepalese. Using a combination of micro financing and structuring from local NGOs, we intend to overcome this problem while at the same time maintaining some control of the production.

Local Local NGO Accepted manufacturer • Evaluates • Low interest • Fills out applications loan to application • Determines finance initial supplied by potential investments local NGO • Formworks provided

Figure 40 – Applying for micro credit loans for buying formworks.

The aspiring local manufacturer will apply the local NGO for a micro credit loan needed to cover the investments when starting up the production of Sapana Stoves. Based on their local knowledge the NGO will evaluate the application and determine the potential market and dissemination perspectives. Then, if the circumstances are deemed positive, micro financing is provided by the NGO in terms of micro credit loans for the manufacturer with very low interest rates – similar to the successful concept of the MyC4-initiative (MyC4 A/S, 2009). Using money from the loan, the manufacturer will then be able to buy the necessary formworks through the NGO, which also provides necessary technical and economic training to run a successful business. The manufacturer will in the time agreed by both parties, pay back the loan as he earns money on selling the Sapana Stoves in the local community.

The hope is that this will initiate more action in regards to the local economy on a more giving basis than if the manufacturer was located in e.g. Kathmandu or even as far away as in India or China. Also by keeping it local the competition will flourish amongst the local manufacturers who have received the formworks and have started up their new business of selling the stoves. This will greatly benefit the local Nepalese buying a Sapana Stove, as the competition between the manufacturers will lower the prices of the stoves. By offering micro credit loans, instead of just giving the formworks away, we ensure that the manufacturer builds up ownership and regards the formworks as actual investments, giving him incentive to use them optimally and keep them in good repair. This is essential for keeping the quality of the produced stoves optimal.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 75

It may turn out to be advantageous for several local manufacturers to form a partnership (as indicated in Figure 39), as different manufacturing techniques such as metal handling and concrete moulding, must be mastered to produce all the elements. In this way they may share the investment expenses and ensure a high quality product as one may have expertise in casting and another in forming metal.

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Looking Inside In this section we will turn focus from user interaction towards the more technical details of the stove.

Getting Rid of the Gases As smoke removal is the centre of this project, we will here give a brief walk- through of what goes on inside the Sapana Stove.

The Simple Version: In the simple version firewood is placed on the grate, forming the fuel shelf, at the bottom of the primary combustion module and subsequently ignited. The rocket-elbow promotes flames at the very back of the chamber, which means only a small section of the firewood is burned at the time and it must thus regularly be pushed further in. The bottom of the pothole is placed approximately 25 cm above the firewood to ensure that no flames touch the pot (no direct radiant heat), as this cools the combustion prematurely (as is the case on the traditional fireplaces). Instead the Sapana Stove uses the hot flue gases to heat the pot and its contents, which will significantly reduce the serious wear of the pots. To ensure a relatively even heat distribution at the bottom of the pot resting on the primary pothole, the back wall of the combustion chamber (constituted by the water tank) starts already halfway under the hole. The draft created by the chimney then pulls the hot flue gases along the bottom of the pot and ensures optimal heat distribution (primarily via convection).

Figure 41 – Basic structure of the simple version.

Challenging Indoor Air Pollution in Nepal 77

From the space under the primary pothole a small channel (approximately 40cm2 in cross section) leads the flue gases on and up to the secondary pothole. The heat flow is dependant on the size of this cross section. The reduced size of the channel will thus accelerate the gas-flow (complementing the draft), which will delay the heat transmission. The channel is then widened underneath the secondary pothole slowing the flow down a bit. This will facilitate the transmission of the remaining heat, leaving just enough for the flue gases to escape through the chimney (approximately 20% heat loss (Navitron)). If the draft is increased (by adjusting the chimney damper and/or door stones) a larger part of the heat will reach this second pothole, though too much draft will simply pull the heat out of the stove before it is properly utilised. From the space under the secondary pothole another channel leads the flue gases to the chimney, which leads the gases all the way outside the kitchen.

When initially starting the fire the chimney will be 'cold', and the draft thus very limited. It is thus important that the damper is completely open at this stage. Subsequently the optimum position of the damper will vary according to the state of the fire. As a rule of thumb the initial pyrolysis stage needs to burn relatively quickly, but after this the damper may be partially closed to better take advantage of the heat created. In order to maintain the draft in the chimney it is important to have some heat left in the flue gases when they reach the chimney pipe.

The enclosed nature of the combustion chamber and isolative qualities of the surrounding walls ensures that a high temperature can be build and maintained inside the stove. This will increase the effect of the pyrolysis stage in the combustion process, but a part of the volatiles and char may still not be completely broken down in this version.

The Full Version: The basic structure is kept intact in the full version; however, the secondary combustion module is added on top of the primary. By using two combustion chambers we ensure a more complete overall combustion where each chamber is responsible for it’s part. The primary chamber is for heating, drying, and pyrolysis of the firewood (please refer to Appendix 19 for a walk- through of the wood combustion stages). In the secondary chamber passing the flue gases through hot and burning charcoal facilitates the thermal cracking of tars and other large molecules of volatiles remaining in the gases and results in a more complete combustion.

For optimal utilisation of the secondary combustion, the leftover charcoal from the previous operation must first be moved to the charcoal drawer and ignited before initiating the combustion in the primary chamber. To increase the effective surface area some pieces of a refractory material may be added to the burning

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charcoal, as proposed by professor P.D. Grover (Grover, 2000). While operating this full version it will be important to use the door stones to restrict the airflow to the primary combustion chamber to a minimum, as this will increase the efficiency of the pyrolysis. It should, however, be noted that a minimum of air supply must be maintained in order to keep the combustion going (oxygen needed to transform carbon and hydrogen into carbon dioxide and water).

Figure 42 – Basic structure of the full version.

At the end of the cooking session it is very important to preserve the charcoal formed in the primary combustion chamber. This can either be done by closing off all openings to stop the pyrolysis (though leaving the chimney damper approximately 20 % open to ensure no smoke will enter the kitchen while the fire is dying) or simply by sprinkling water on the charcoal.

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Structural Considerations The heat produced by the combustion can only be partly utilised for the cooking purpose, as some losses are inevitable. Figure 43 shows a schematic illustration of the heat balance. Via testing, it can be determined how much heat is 'lost' to the different elements and modifications can be done to reduce the most critical losses.

Figure 43 – The approximate heat balance in the stove.

Inside the stove, heat will be transmitted from the burning firewood to the stove via both radiation and convection. Heat radiates via electromagnetic waves and is partly reflected and partly absorbed by the surrounding stove body (and pot). Both

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the soot particles and flue gases contribute to this, however only the CO2 and H2O components emit radiation at the temperature-levels found in a fire which (according to our calculations) is around 2000 degrees Celsius (Prasa). The absorbed radiation will be turned back into heat and increase the temperature of the absorbing material. (Lauritsen, 2004)

As illustrated in Figure 41 and Figure 42, flue gases will move through the stove due to the draft created by the chimney. This air will be heated by the flames and thus have a higher temperature than the surrounding stove body. This will result in heat transmission through convection to the surrounding elements, as the flue gases move past the stove walls (and water tank and pots). The convection is strongly dependant on the flow of the air as well as the surface structure (and hence material) amongst many other things. Hence it is very complicated to describe the heat transmission mathematically, and several different models have been developed based on empirical trials through the years. The key to determining the heat transmission is basically the so-called Nusselts number, which is a simplified equation of the very complicated differential equations otherwise for- mulated to describe the phenomenon. In the literature many different versions of Nusselts equations exist, classified after the type of convection and flow observed. On an overall level we can talk about forced or free convection as well as laminar or turbulent flow. (Lauritsen, 2004)

The flow observed in a mock-up experiment at DTU, indicated a largely laminar flow as the flames were even and 'long'. Also we have free convection as the flue gases are moved solely by the chimney draft (no pumps e.g.). These observations have been backed up after discussions with PhD. Kim Rene Hansen from DTU, with an area of expertise within heat transfer amongst other things. The details regarding the mock-up experiment will be explained in the Part 3: The Path to Sapana.

As mentioned, the convection from a flow is a very complicated entity to calculate, and the flow in the winding channels of the Sapana Stove is even more so. In reality computer computations should be done, however, we have had neither the time nor the expertise to perform such calculations. Instead we have looked at a basic version of the air channels, for the simple version of the stove (illustrated in Figure 44), and calculated an estimated effect found at the water tank and potholes assuming complete combustion. The mock-up test, conducted at DTU, provided a basis for the values applied in the calculations as well as a ground for validating the results found. Please refer to the Excel-sheet appended on the DVD for the actual calculations and to Appendix 20 for pictures of the experimental setup.

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10 cm

Figure 44 – The simplified model used for calculations. Heat flow is estimated for every 10 cm.

The total estimated heat flow is the sum of the radiation and convection contributions:

Φtotal = Φradiant + Φconvective

These values are dependant on the change in temperature, the cross-sectional area, and the heat transmission coefficient α (for both radiation and convection) € (Lauritsen, 2004).

This heat flow has been calculated using a model equation for the Nusselts number for laminar, free convection. As the gases flow through the stove, the gas temperature gradually declines as the heat is transferred to the water tank and pots (and stove body). To accommodate this, we have calculated the values in intervals of 10 cm through the stove (see Figure 44). To simplify the calculations we have assumed that the stove body is completely isolating and does not absorb any heat. Also, as our geometry inside the stove is not circular, we use an equivalent diameter for the calculations as well as assume a linear flow development, which possibly affects the results.

As expected the emitted effect decreases as we move through the stove. The water tank receives the largest amount of heat with an approximate effect of 3,5 kW, as both the convection and radiation contributions are considerable. The 1st pothole receives just below 1,5 kW with a significantly smaller contribution from radiation. When we reach the 2nd pothole, which has a significantly smaller heating surface, only 270 W are emitted, almost entirely from convection.

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In order to maintain a sufficient draft in the chimney, the flue gases must still be sufficiently warm when reaching the chimney in order utilise the difference in temperature compared to the outside. However, a balance must also be established, as a lot of useful heat can potentially be lost through the chimney. The model calculations give us an estimated temperature of 900 degrees Celsius at the base of the chimney, which may turn out to be a bit too high when striving for a good efficiency. It must, however, also be kept in mind that the surrounding temperature found in Nepal is higher than the temperatures found in Denmark along with the different humidity, which will influence the gas temperature necessary to maintain a sufficient draft.

In our mock-up test we were able to boil 2 litres of water in half an hour. Using this as a reference, we have calculated the heating rate at the 3 active spots. The heat emitted to the water tank is able to evaporate more than 5 litres per hour, while the 1st pothole can manage 2 litres per hour. The 2nd pothole, which is intended for simmering, can heat approximately ½ litre per hour.

In our simple mock-up experiment we only had one pothole and no water tank. To be able to compare the results, we have thus temporarily removed the factor of the heat transmission to the water tank in our spreadsheet. This results in a heating rate on the 1st pothole of 4 litres per hour, which corresponds perfectly with the 2 litres heated in half an hour on the mock-up.

All in all our simple calculations give an idea of the effects that can be expected at the three active surfaces, supported by the results from the mock-up test. Bearing in mind that this is just the initial design, which presumably can be opti- mised significantly, the numbers are very promising and indicate very useful heating levels.

Material Considerations for the Stove Body One of the most important characteristics of the stove body is its demand for thermal insulating qualities. From the 3 basic material-classifications (metals, ceramics, and polymers) we find the most promising characteristics within the ceramics group. These materials are typically isolative to the passage of heat, and are more resistant to high temperatures and harsh environments than metals and polymers (Callister, 2003).

The existing stoves are, as mentioned, constructed primarily from clay (mud). The great advantage of this material is its inexpensive nature, as it is found in abun- dance many places. Also clay is easily formed when mixed with water (in the right amounts), and the formed piece can be fired at an elevated temperature to improve its mechanical strength (Callister, 2003). The quality of the resulting piece

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is to a large extent dependant on the quality of the clay and the firing techniques. In Nepal the clay-pieces are commonly left to sundry, resulting in less than optimal mechanical qualities.

Another group of ceramics is cement. This is a powdered material that, when mixed with water, forms a paste that subsequently sets and hardens at room temperature. The hardened material is regularly termed concrete. Several different types of concrete exist with various compositions of cement, water, and aggregates (such as gravel and/or clay) (Jensen, 2003). Generally concrete is characterised by a good compressive strength, but a low tensile strength. How- ever, when combined with steel reinforcements placed strategically to absorb the tensile forces, a good and relatively cheap material emerges (Jensen, 2003).

When keeping our application (the stove body) in mind, one of the downfalls of concrete is the relatively high density, which will result in heavy modules difficult to handle especially during transport. This, however, can also be overcome by adding lightweight aggregates to the cement. A typical aggregate in this respect is LECA pellets (Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregates), which reduces the weight significantly. The density of concrete with LECA pellets can be as low as 600 kg/m3, but when exposed to temperatures above 800 degrees Celsius the concrete starts sustaining damage.

We have consulted the head of the Department of Civil Engineering at DTU, Kris- tian Hertz, whose area of expertise amongst other things involves concrete structures (see notes from the interview in Appendix 21). He has performed various experiments where the cement-blend is mixed with clay and thus achieving a significantly better thermal resistance. The clay is dried and pulverised before mixing with the cement and strengthens the chemical bonds found inside the cement, which is why higher temperatures can be endured before fractures occurs. Kristian Hertz estimates endurances up to 1100 degrees Celsius are possible to achieve.

On the basis of the insights discussed above, we propose to use cement mixed with LECA and clay to construct the stove body. However, tests need to be conducted in order to document the thermal resistance of the concrete as the inside of the primary and secondary combustion chamber will be experiencing highly elevated temperatures as previously mentioned. Also the right blend of cement and aggregates needs to be established.

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Now reader has been introduced to the Sapana Stove and its different features. The concept of the Sapana Stove is a product of all the inputs gathered during the Analytical Phase, which indicates that the elements will be of great use in the Nepali context.

The chimney along with the enhanced combustion inside the two combustion chambers provides a cleaner and safer environment for the women and children staying inside the kitchen. The improved cooking height ensures better ergonomic cooking positions, and at the same time, the hazardous areas of the stove, such as the hot potholes, are kept in a safe distance from the children playing inside the kitchen. Also the heating of water in the water tank helps the Nepali women save fuel and use warm water for different helpful purposes such as washing the dishes or doing laundry. Modularity of the stove and the lightweight materials used eases the transportation from the manufacturing site and also the installation of the different parts. Additionally the modular nature enables the poor Nepalese to procure the different elements of the stove when they can afford them.

As the Sapana Stove is designed for and with the users, this is a completely new approach making sure that the women will benefit greatly from the many new features. In the next section we will evaluate the Sapana Stove to see if it is, in fact, a solid and realisable solution in terms of fulfilling the specification requirements and creating better cooking practices.

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Evaluation & Perspective The final concept has been developed for a very specific context and to meet the specification requirements that we have uncovered as being important. In this section it is evaluated if the final concept in fact lives up to these requirements and will work in the intended setting. To start with is a walk-through of how the concept fulfils the requirements, again taking the 3 spheres as a starting point. After this the identified design challenges still present in the stove is considered and computed. Next the Sapana Stove is tested in the Nepali context by use of the created personas, and the changes it inflicts upon the current cooking prac- tise is illustrated.

A general limitation for evaluating the concept is the lack of contact to the intended users and other stakeholders in the final phase of the project. Hence the evaluation will solely be based on the knowledge we ourselves have gathered through the course of this project, which may be limited and biased.

Requirement Fulfilment

Socio-technical Sphere Generally it is hard to evaluate the successful fulfilment of the socio-technical spheres without involving the actual users and placing the solution in the right context. We can, however, assess some of the requirements. First of all we have made a point out of having the stove produced locally, which makes the stove locally available while boosting the local economy. It is our hope that local crafts- men can both collaborate on producing the different elements of the stove, and in the long term create competition, which will ensure a low price. Creating such an environment also ensures that spare parts are easily available and repairs can be offered locally. The modular construction furthermore makes it simple to replace single elements instead of replacing the entire stove if some of the elements are warn out or clogged before time.

We believe the use of the stove is relatively intuitive, but whether or not a Nepa- lese will agree can only be determined by testing the stove in the field, which has not been possible within this project. The biggest challenges in terms of use will most likely be the secondary combustion principle and chimney damper, which requires some knowledge of the combustion principles.

The use of more robust materials, such as concrete and metal, should ensure a longer lifespan than the traditional mud-stoves found in the kitchens today. It will,

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however, be necessary to test these materials to be sure of their performance under these specific conditions with great heat exposure.

Workspace Sphere The initial focus of this project has been to reduce the levels of harmful flue gases inside the kitchen. By enclosing the fire, improving the combustion, and leading the smoke outside our mock-up test has proved that we have significantly reduced these levels. It cannot, however, be said exactly how much before measurements are conducted on location of the present levels as well as the new levels. Also at the time of writing we are still awaiting the completion of a set of guidelines proposed by Practical Action Nepal and WHO, whose aim is to establish a set of maximum levels for the different smoke compounds. It is our expressed ambition to adapt the Sapana Stove in order to live up to these guidelines.

By elevating the cooking surface and enclosing the fire we have created a much safer workspace with this new stove. The risk of burns is significantly reduced for the cook, but also infants and toddlers are unable to fall into the fire or knocking over pots with hot liquid and thus scalding themselves. Furthermore sparks that may start a fire is contained in the combustion chamber.

The modular structure ensures that the stove can be easily installed in many different kitchens and be adapted to the individual needs. The height of the cooking surface can be adapted to the individual cook by placing the stove on a number of tiles, a table or two extra hay box modules. By replacing a single module the stove can be placed in the opposite corner giving great arrangement opportunities. The cooking surface is also of a size that facilitates the setting aside of pots and spices, while still remaining compact.

The modular structure also supports the cleaning. On a daily basis the ashes can easily be removed from the combustion chamber by removing the grate. The improved combustion ensures that cleaning of the flue channels will not be needed on a regular basis, but when time comes, it can be done relatively simply. Once in a while the top modules should be dismantled and the deposited soot removed inside channels of the stove.

Stove Sphere The Sapana Stove is designed for firewood, but an adaption of the combustion module may make it possible to use other types of biomass fuels such as briquettes. Also using the secondary combustion chamber utilises the fuel optimally by using the leftover charcoal for secondary combustion.

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The combination of a chimney valve and the two door-stones gives the cook a unique control of the fire, which gives greater freedom in the cooking process and thus reduces the cooking time and indirectly the fuel consumption.

Both potholes have slanting sides, which makes it possible to use a range of different kitchen utensils and still maintain stability in the pots. This also ensures that no smoke escapes through the potholes during use, further enclosing the smoke. As mentioned previously the pothole lids take over this function during kindling and extermination of the fire.

Design Challenges Even though the Sapana concept lives up to the requirements stated in this project, there are still a number of design challenges in the stove, which should be given attention in the further development. The following is an investigation of the possible design challenges marked in Figure 45, providing considerations regarding these possible pitfalls.

6 5 3 2

Figure 45 – Design challenges discussed below.

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1: Concerning the chimney the connections between the individual modules, the stove and chimney, and the chimney and roof, must be examined to ensure effective mounting, but also convenient dismounting when cleaning.

2: The guides indicated on all the stove modules will experience potential great stress during mounting and also wear and tear during the lifetime of the stove (especially if it is dismounted for cleaning from time to time). It is thus important that these be dimensioned properly, however, this has not been a priority in this project, which is why the indicated size and location is purely meant as a guide- line in the further development.

3: It is very difficult to estimate the temperature of the water inside the water tank as it depends on the material of the water tank and the time it takes to prepare the food. Experiments conducted by ESAP showed, that they could only reach a temperature at around 60 degrees Celsius in their water tank (Pandey, 2009). However, this water tank is embedded in a metal stove designed for the high hills were a lot of the heat is used for heating the surroundings. As Min Bik- ram Malla states: The shortcoming I have seen with metal stoves is, that the heat does not go to the pot (Editors note: or in this case the water tank) but instead it goes to the metal. Please refer to Appendix 22 for the full interview with Min Bikram Malla.

The water tank will, naturally, need to be waterproof. How well it is possible to manufacture the proposed tank in steel sheets is thus quite critical. If the joints cannot be made sufficiently tight or the price rises significantly as a consequence (e.g. if the joints are welded), then the design of the tank must be reconsidered. Also it may through testing turn out to be necessary to insulate the front of the tank to avoid heat loss this way, or to simply use different materials for the different sides to aid or hinder heat transfer. As we cannot at this point estimate the temperature level achievable in the water tank, it is also impossible to estimate the temperature of the front of the tank. However, if this temperature exceeds 50- 60 degrees Celsius there will be a risk of burns, which we will want to eliminate. Another material-related issue is the risk of experiencing corrosion inside the water tank. This needs to be avoided, as corrosion in the water may be dangerous to drink.

A more interaction related issue is the possible difficulty in pulling the water tank in and out due to the heavy load present, when the tank is filled with water. Hence a strong and solid handle needs to be included in the design. Furthermore it must be established at what times users will want to have access to the tank. If the tank is extracted during times where the combustion chamber is full, some ash and embers may fall behind the extracted water tank and hinder its return

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(especially an option in the simple version). If this turns out to be a problem, the grate may be provided with a metal back wall, stopping the ash, but still enabling the heat transfer.

4: The two pothole lids have a somewhat ambiguous role at present as both covers and cooking surfaces. The primary function of the lids is, and must remain, to enclose the flue gases during ignition and when one of the potholes are not in use. In continuation of this we want to prevent the loss of useful heat through an open and unused pothole. This role is, however, de-emphasized in this design with the use of metal, and thus heat conductive, plates. By accepting the consequent heat loss, we instead create a new cooking surface, which will be useful when using pots smaller than the slanting pothole-sides or where a regular pan may otherwise be used. It may through testing turn out that this is not a suitable prioritisation offering too many tradeoffs and in consequence need to be reconsidered.

5: Turning to the charcoal drawer, this is the heart of a completely new stove- element introduced with the Sapana-design. Consequently a lot of insecurity surrounds this element: size, distance, and shape being some. Also the need for a secondary air-supply may become apparent when testing the full system. If access to the drawer is necessary during operation of the stove, the temperature of the handle may also prove to be critical.

6: Finally we have the dimensioning of the individual wall thicknesses in the stove modules. The optimal dimension must be found considering the actual production and material quality being used, which is not known at this point. However, a quick analysis of the structure indicates that the most critical element is the wood storage module, as this is the only one experiencing tensile forces.

We assume that this particular module will need steel reinforcements to make up for the poor tensile strength of the concrete. Thus calculations have been conducted regarding verification of the number and size of steel reinforcements needed to prevent the construction from cracking. The point of departure of the calculations was a worst-case scenario where a man weighing 100 kg is installing the stove and stands on the wood storage module to better reach the roof while installing the chimney.

A force, F, of 100 kg x 9,82 m/s2 = 982 N is acting upon the beam. We know from a table that the maximum compression strength of concrete is fc = 4 MPa so the concrete stress must be below this limit.

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The real construction is statically undetermined but in order to facilitate calculations, the construction is simplified into a beam that is statically and geometric determined.

F=982 N

1/2 F 1/2 F

Figure 46 – Simplified beam with the load applied.

We assume that: diameter of steel reinforcement = 8 mm, h = 50 mm, b = 80

mm and d = 10 mm, Ec = 15 GPa, Ec = 250 GPa and l = 550 mm

A A a c B

h=50 mm B 0mm d=1

b=80 mm

Figure 47 - Cross section of the beam

As we would like to calculate the compression strength for concrete and for steel we start by calculating the moment of inertia of the axis of gravity for the transformed cross-section around BB. AA is the axis of gravity for the cross-section of concrete and BB is, as just mentioned, the axis of gravity for the transformed cross-section, where the steel reinforcement is transformed into a α times bigger concrete-area. This transformation is done to make up for the transformation of the initial axis of gravity because the reinforcement steel has a higher density than concrete.

The moment of inertia of the transformed cross-section is given by the equation:

2 2 2 It = Ico + Aca + αAs1(c + a) + αAs2(c − a)

€

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We calculate the cross-sectional areas A1, A2, the ratio, α, of the two Young's modulus of concrete and steel, the length c when d is set to be 10 mm and finally the distance between the two cross-sections, a, is found. And knowing that:

1 3 Ico = bh 12

We now have all the information needed in order to calculate the moment of

inertia of BB: € 1 I = bh 3 + A a2 + αA (c + a)2 + αA (c − a)2⇒ I = 967981.1mm4 t 12 c s1 s2 t

The stress in the concrete and the steel is found when M= ¼Fl: € M  1  σ s =  a + Ø ⇒ σ s = 0.87MPa I  2 

M  h σ =  a +  ⇒ σ = 3.8MPa c I  2 c €

As the maximum compression strength of concrete is fc = 4 MPa the stress in the concrete is below the crucial limit, when having steel reinforcements of 8 mm in € diameter. Since the breadth of the piece of concrete used in these calculations is 80 mm and because we have just determined that it would give the concrete strength enough to carry a man weighting 100 kg we conclude that it will be a good estimate, that the wood storage module has five pieces of steel reinforcements moulded into the it in order to prevent cracks in the concrete. Please refer to Appendix 23 for more steps of the calculations, and to the appended excel- sheet on the DVD for the actual calculations.

Based on the walk-through of the 3 spheres as regards fulfilment of the specification requirements and the answer to the design challenges in terms of being aware of the aspects that needs further testing and development, we have at this stage come a long way in the development of a new type of stove. With the more technical considerations in place we will now turn the attention to the socio- technical considerations with regards to the actual use of the Sapana Stove.

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New Concept in Context As we have neither the time nor the means to test the concept in its right context with the true users (as would provide the undisputed best insight), we will instead turn to our personas as earlier defined. These archetype Nepalese women will act as our users in 3 different scenarios set up to illustrate different aspects of the stove’s appropriation and use. The scenarios are used as a method to shed light on potential pitfalls and enable us to correct mistakes or justifying the presence of the pitfalls. Due to limited space in this report only 1 of the women will live through each scenario, though it would provide a broader picture if all the combinations were thought through.

Base Scenario The local craftsman Balbir in Rampur has through a microcredit loan financed the investments involved in setting up production of the new Sapana Stove. His two sons are helping him and they may have to hire an extra man soon, as a positive consequence of the many enquiries on the Sapana Stoves. Previously they had a production of concrete cylinders for collection of glass and plastic bottles, but Baldir liked the possibilities in this new product, so he challenged tradition and took a chance. His experience with casting techniques was one of the main reasons why the local NGO granted him the loan. Balbir and his sons have received a manual along with the formworks and were given an introduction to the production processes by a man from the NGO. One of the sons has attended a course in business management and is now in charge of the book keeping. They have started to sell stoves to households in the nearby community and are learning to produce the stoves faster and better all the time.

Scenario 1: The First Steps In West Rampur, Nirmala has heard of the new Sapana Stove at her friend’s house, she has not seen it though, as she is not allowed to enter her friend’s kitchen. She has told Adesh about it, and how her friend tells her that now there are no smoke inside the kitchen anymore. Adesh is concerned how they will afford to buy a new stove, he has been planning to buy a mobile phone so he does not need to borrow his cousin’s all the time. But Nirmala can be very persistent when she needs to, and she argues that soon she will have another child to look after, and she is scared that the two toddlers will hurt themselves on the mud stove she has build. Ram has nearly tripped into the fire once, but luckily she was nearby and caught him before anything happened, but with two children she will not always be close by.

When Adesh comes home the next time, he agrees to go with her to talk to Balbir in Rampur who makes the stoves. Balbir explains to them how they can start off

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by buying the basis model and then later expand it when they have enough money. After negotiating for a while they both agree on a price. Adesh and his father come back the next day with two bikes to transport the stove home. Balbir helps them tying the different elements to the bikes for by now he has some experience how this is done best. Balbir sends one of his sons with them to help unload and assemble the stove properly.

In the small wooden kitchen Nirmala has been busy removing the old mud stove. The mud floor is damaged in the process, so she has to level the ground out again to make a proper base for the new stove. When the men come back, Baldir’s son starts looking at the kitchen roof so he can prepare the chimney. They agree to place the new stove in the corner opposite of the old stove, so the chimney- smoke will bother them least outside. Adesh and his father start setting up the modules of the stove following directions from Baldir’s son. Meanwhile Baldir’s son is preparing a hole in the roof and mounting the chimney top.

After about an hours work the stove is assembled and ready for use. Nirmala is very excited to try it out this evening, but first she will attempt to make tea for Baldir’s son to thank him for his help. Her mother-in-law is very curious and insists on helping her, so she fills the small casserole with water and prepares the ingredients while Nirmala gets some firewood from the storage in the back. Some of the branches are a bit too big, so she has to cut them into smaller pieces. She is unsure how to arrange the firewood in the small opening, and how much she should use. Her mother-in-law is offering plenty of advice, but Nirmala gets the fire going in her second try. She removes the pothole lid from the primary pothole and places the casserole on the slanting sides. She is not quite sure how to use the valve in the chimney or the two door-stones, but Baldir’s son offers her a few ground rules. About half an hour later the tea is done and the whole family sits down to discuss the new investment. Adesh is still a bit sceptic, but Nirmala is very excited. She was so focussed on making the tea that she did not notice before, but now she realises her eyes are neither sore nor watery!

Scenario 2: Taking it Further In Rampur Sanjula has used the basis stove for about a year now. Her husband Indivar made some tools for Baldir when he started up his production and has been offering a helping hand with the construction of some of the metal parts. In return Baldir gave them one of the first stoves he made.

The stove has been installed in the corner of the kitchen and placed on two tiles to elevate it slightly. The chimney is installed in the hole from the old chimney- stump Sanjula’s son had made.

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The first couple of weeks Indivar had complained the food tasted strange, but now he seems quite content. Sanjula is happy to have a kitchen free of smoke and she finds it much easier to keep clean without the soot. They still use a lot of firewood for the cooking and the kitchen utensils are still a little blackened by the stove, so they have agreed to upgrade to the full version of the stove. Indivar has negotiated a price with Baldir, which includes the forging of some new tools for Baldir's production.

The day has come, and after preparing the morning meal, Sanjula starts cleaning the stove and chimney thoroughly. Indivar and Kaushal go to pick up the new stove modules before it gets too hot. The new parts are mounted on their bikes and Baldir gives them instructions how to mount the new elements and change the length of the chimney. Once back again they start to disassemble the old stove elements and move them outside. Sanjula has insisted that this new version be raised more than the old, so she can stand up while cooking, so Indivar has bought two extra hay box modules to place underneath the stove body.

After placing two of the u-shaped hay box modules on the ground with the bottom plate on top, they start placing the other elements. First, the new wood storage element is placed in the corner and next to this is the old combustion chamber unit. On top of this is placed the last hay box module and the new secondary combustion unit on top of the combustion chamber. It takes both of them to lift the elements in place, but the guides make it easy to place correctly. Once the bottom parts are in place the tops are added, first the secondary and then the primary top module. The old chimney modules reach too far into the room, now that the stove has been raised due to the implementation of the extra elements. The entire chimney is dismantled and Sanjula cleans it thoroughly with water in the kitchen garden and one of the chimney modules is removed to fit the new height. The first chimney module is placed in the according hole on the secondary top and the valve section is mounted on top. Then the chimney top unit is mounted on the roof and connected to the valve section's top. This being done the stove is ready for use, and Sanjula cannot wait to try out the new features. See appendix 24 for drawings of the mounting-steps.

Scenario 3: Festival Time Prachi and Kirti decided to invest in a Sapana Stove instead of the small biogas plant that the local organisation offered to install. They made this decision mainly due to the high investments needed to install the biogas plant, and they learned that the plant would not supply enough gas for two gas burners. This was the tipping point on Prachi’s scale, as both her and her daughter Padma are very skilled cooks and prefers using two potholes at the same time due to the reduced cooking time this results in.

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Now Prachi and Kirti have the full version of the Sapana Stove in their kitchen, which has completely removed the smoke from the kitchen. It takes up more space than the old mud-stove, however it also offers better space for setting aside the kitchen equipment during the cooking session. Prachi is especially happy that her youngest son can no longer burn himself on the fire or touch the hot pots.

Late September the biggest annual festival, the Dashain festival, starts. Through- out Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations is worshiped with abundant offerings. At Prachi's house they have slaughtered one of the buffalos and meat will thus play an important role on the menu the next 2 weeks.

Today Prachi and Padma will be helping each other preparing a festive meal consisting of a curry, a meat dish, lentil soup and the special flat roti breads. Prachi prepares the stove by putting the charcoal leftovers from last night in the drawer and igniting them with a matchstick and a paper scrap. She then takes a few pieces of wood from the storage module and arranges it in the primary combustion chamber. Using a couple of stripped corncobs and some paper she starts the fire. See Appendix 25 for larger drawings of the cooking situation.

Figure 48 – Prachi moving leftover charcoal to the charcoal drawer.

In the meantime Padma is sitting outside and preparing the different herbs and vegetables for the curry. Prachi removes the lid from the primary pothole, places a big wok in its place and adds oil. She adjusts the firewood now that it has caught on, turns the butterfly valve vaguely, and places the door stones slightly in front of

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the opening. The vegetables for the curry is added to the hot oil and fried while stirring for a couple of minutes. The lid on the second pothole is then removed with the end of a spoon (as it is quite hot), and the wok is placed here for simmering covered with the big pothole lid.

Figure 49 – Preparing the curry over the primary pothole.

A casserole is filled with warm water from the water tank, oil, and lentils and placed on the primary pothole. Prachi stirs the lentil soup from time to time and adds spices for the right flavour. She also keeps an eye on the simmering curry and adds a bit of water from the water tank. Outside Padma is cutting a lump of buffalo meat into smaller pieces using the curved foot-held knife.

After about fifteen minutes the curry is almost done and Padma helps her mother pour it into a bowl, which they then place in the hay box. A piece of cloth is stuffed into the opening to help keep the curry hot. A rotation is now done, placing the lentils on the secondary pothole and the cleaned up wok on the primary. After heating some oil in the wok the meat is added and fried while Prachi stirs. She sends Padma outside to start on the roti breads, for she knows these will take time to make. Padma prepares the flour and mixes a firm dough using water, before she starts making small dough-balls.

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Figure 50 – The curry is placed in the hay box.

Inside the kitchen the meat is now fried and Prachi adds water and spices before placing the wok on the secondary pothole for simmering. The casserole is placed next to the pothole with a plate for lid, as the lentils do not need to be warm when served. She places the lid on the primary pothole and adds a few more pieces of wood and adjusts the chimney valve. Then she moves outside and helps her daughter roll out the dough-balls to small flat breads. While doing this the neighbour-wife stops by and they discus the new light-ornaments her son has bought for her in Kathmandu. Padma is quickly bored by the conversation, so she goes to check on her brothers playing with some friends across the road.

Kirti returns from their fields and is very hungry, so Prachi tears herself from the conversation and starts preparing the roti breads. The meat-dish is done, so she pours it into a smaller bowl and places it with the curry in the hay box. Now both potholes are covered with their lids and she increases the heat from the fire. She places a rolled-out bread on each of the lids, thus baking them for a few minutes on each side. The prepared rotis are placed in a special thermo-box to keep them warm.

Meanwhile Padma has returned with her brothers and start rolling out mats next to the kitchen and placing the dishes on plates for each member of the family. Thanks to the hay box the curry and meat-dish is still warm and accompanied by the fresh rotis and lentil soup a lovely meal is ready for the family to eat.

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The scenarios have now given us indications as to how the Sapana Stove would be taken into use in rural Chitwan. A number of interesting occurrences took place, e.g. did Nirmala have difficulties getting the fire going the first time, and Sanjula’s husband Indivar did not like the taste of the food in the beginning, as there was no smoke to flavour it. Apart from these issues, there were also lots of positive aspects. The local craftsman Balbir got a lot of inquiries on the Sapana Stove which benefited his business, and all of the 3 women Nirmala, Sanjula, and Prachi were very glad that there was no longer smoke inside the kitchens making the environment much better for both them and the rest of their families.

As it has not been possible to illustrate all possible scenarios in this section, further illustrations of tea making and chimney cleaning are found in Appendix 25.

Changes in Practice It is clear that the introduction of a new stove significantly different from the existing will influence the cooking practice in the Nepali kitchen. Before we see the new Sapana Stove in its right context and used by the actual users, we cannot say for sure how it will affect these people's lives. Nevertheless we will here offer an educated guess as to which changes that are likely to occur in the cooking practice, when the Sapana Stove is introduced and domesticated based on the above scenarios.

As illustrated earlier the practice around cooking contains different meanings, skills and objects. When one of the central objects of the practice is changed, it is likely that this will in turn affect the skills needed and what other objects are used, perhaps even the meanings linked to the practice.

Introducing New Objects As the point of departure this project has aimed at introducing as few new objects in the kitchen as possible. This partly due to the expenses this would evoke for the individual household, but also to facilitate a transition as fluently as possible. We do not wish to evoke radical changes in the cooking practice, however, it is also important to note the positive impact a change in practice can have on a problem such as indoor air pollution (as indicated in the strategy concerning user behaviour).

Obviously, the new Sapana Stove is replacing the old fireplace-object, but there are elements of the stove, that may best be seen as separate objects, as these will influence the practice on their own. One example of these objects is the door

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stones, which will be used to control the airflow to the combustion. Another is the two pothole lids, which eliminates heat loss through unused potholes and offers new ways of cooking. The chimney may also be seen as an object in itself and the introduction of it has some significant impacts. First of all the construction of kitchen-roofs may have to be considered more thoroughly than before as e.g. a thatched roof may not be the best way to go. It also introduces some new routines regarding maintenance, where the need for a special broom will be evident.

As a way of reducing the need for new equipment when taking the Sapana Stove into use, it has been a main concern that the new stove should accommodate the existing pots and pans found in the Nepali kitchen. With the conic pothole we have made sure that a wide range of pot-diameters and bottom-shapes can be used, probably even more so, or at least more conveniently, than the old fireplace solutions.

Acquiring New Skills Using the new stove will necessitate some new skills from the Nepalese women. Most centrally, the way the fire is kindled, maintained and adjusted will be significantly different than in the open fireplaces. Previously the women have used the visual input to decide when to adjust the fire, but this input will be highly restricted in the new stove as the fire is much more shielded. As a consequence the women must evolve their ear for the audio input instead. Experience from ESAP shows that this is merely a question of habit and a skill that can be obtained relatively quickly (Pandey, 2009).

How the fire is adjusted will also be different. With the new stove adjusting the airflow suddenly plays a central role. Previously the only way of increasing the airflow was to use the blow-pipe, but now the women must master the use of the chimney valve in combination with the two door blocks. Also this skill should be relatively simple to acquire in a trial and error approach, as the consequences of a manoeuvre will quickly manifest itself in the burning rate. To ensure an optimal use of especially the chimney valve, it will, however, be preferential to offer the women some introductory advice.

Looking at the actual cooking, we may also find differences here. The cooking time are likely to shorten once the optimal use of the stove is mastered, which will change the routines around the meal preparation. Also the extra pothole offers new possibilities, e.g. doing the initial frying on the primary pothole and then moving the wok to the second pothole for simmering while lentils are prepared on the primary pothole. This requires a better sense for coordinating the different dishes and keeping watch on two things at a time. In continuation of this the use of the two pothole lids will also be new to the women and it will be quite important

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to point out their importance for the fuel economy and smoke reduction to ensure their use. Also they may be used as supplemental pans or for pots too small for the potholes.

The traditional art of seasoning the dishes may also have to change, as the new stove removes an important part of the flavour: the smoke. Just as recipes changed in the developed world when open fireplaces were replaced by closed cast iron stoves, the Nepalese may have to face that their dishes have to evolve with the kitchen. This is part of the price for getting rid of the smoke.

Having a chimney stove requires extra focus on the maintenance in order to keep the stove fully functional. But as the chimney is a new object the introduction of it needs to be accompanied by knowledge of the maintenance; how often should it be done, what techniques should be utilised, and what will happen if this is not done.

The Sapana Stove is made with different and more sophisticated materials than the current mud-stoves. As such it cannot be build by the Nepalese women themselves, as has been the norm up until now, but must be produced by a skilled manufacturer. Experience also shows that a small industry production provides better quality control and hence increases the quality, efficiency and the stove life (HEDON, 2008). The skills needed are primarily related to moulding and forming sheet metal, which we know the Nepalese already master for other applications.

Building New Meanings With the new Sapana Stove we would like to introduce a new concept: 'The healthy kitchen'. We hope that the new stove will be a symbol for taking the health of women and children seriously and actually making an effort to improve it. The chimneys protruding from the rooftops will send a signal to the neighbours that this is a healthy home and offer an indirect status elevation for the family. As indicated in the dissemination strategy we imagine engaging well-respected people in the local community to act as a type of spokespeople, thus spreading the concept of the healthy kitchen to other people of the community and pushing the development.

Hopefully, cooking in a kitchen without the distracting smoke and in a more ergonomically correct position, the Nepali women will also find greater joy in preparing the daily meals instead of only focusing on survival.

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Market share In order to assess if the Sapana Stove is actually entitled to a market share, we will here compare its qualities with the competing solutions in the Nepalese context.

Standing out The new stove concept, which we have developed through this project, takes on a broader approach than most of the existing stoves. We are not only offering an improved cooking device, but also take into account the other approaches for reducing indoor air pollution: Improving the living environment and Modifying user behaviour.

Changing the source of pollution Improving the living envi- Modifying user behaviour ronment

Improved cooking device Kitchen design and Reduced exposure by . Improved stove with flue and placement of the stove changing cooking prac- airflow regulation . Stove at waist height tices . Elevated space for . Module for fuel drying Reduced need for fire setting aside pots . Pothole lids to conserve . Second pothole for simmering heat . Hay box for simmering and . Easy maintenance of stove keeping the food warm and chimney . Water tank providing hot water Reduced exposure by

avoiding smoke . Keeping children away from smoke

Table 2 – Our approaches to reducing indoor air pollution with the Sapana Stove.

The currently available and most widely used solutions in Nepal are the improved mud-brick stove and smoke hood previously described. Both of these solutions are developed for the Mid-Hills, though especially the mud-brick stove is also introduced in other areas. The Sapana Stove is developed specifically for the Terai, but after visiting two Mid-Hill villages we are convinced that the simple version of the stove will also be possible to implement in these regions (possibly using new versions of the modules). However, this will take some analysis work and modifications in the design, to make the Sapana Stove adapt to the new context.

The smoke hood is a more primitive solution retaining the primitive fireplace and simply collecting the smoke after it has left the fireplace. As the cook still needs to be close to the fire to control the cooking, she will still feel the affects of the smoke, though the rest of the household is spared. Making use of a chimney

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instead the smoke will never leave the stove before being lead outside the kitchen. In this way even the cook avoids the dangerous smoke. In this respect the Sapana Stove resembles the improved mud-brick stove, but there are important differences.

The philosophy behind the improved mud-brick stove is to keep it as simple as possible and make it resemble the existing fireplaces. Our philosophy is to take the Nepalese kitchen further than its current primitive state and offer the Nepa- lese women a good and healthy working environment. We have seen indications that the Nepalese are willing to adopt completely new artefacts into their cooking practice in the case of the electric rice cooker. This strengthens our expectations of the Sapana Stove receiving a nice welcoming from the Nepali women. To do this we have created a new stove that eliminates the dangerous presence of smoke and significantly improves the working postures while offering individual adaptations.

The fact that the Sapana Stove is operated from a standing position is quite a revolutionary new feature that has never been introduced in the domestic households until now. Niels Juhl Thomsen has conducted further research on this topic with similar results confirming our discovery.

All in all, we believe to have created the first in a new generation of improved cooking stoves keeping the users needs at the centre.

In creating a more advanced stove we have, however, also created some challenges to be overcome before successful dissemination can be achieved. Most centrally is the price. A very important reason for the current solution’s simplicity is the attempt to keep the cost at an absolute minimum. This is an aspect we have deliberately chosen to give less priority to give ourselves a wider solution space to work with. This being said, we are convinced that the price of this stove will not be a significant hindrance to its dissemination. By “pushing” implementation of the Sapana Stoves into the homes of valued people in the local communities, we hope to create a market pull, as the Sapana Stove becomes popular, influencing the local economy in a positive manner. Also studies have shown, that in general ”a cleaner house due to less smoke or the prestige of owning a modern stove can result in a perceived rise in the status of the users” (World Health Organization, 2005). Indicating that the Nepalese will strive for higher status through acquiring the new stove.

Our hope is, that the implementation of the Sapana Stove will also help push the development of new solutions in the local community, as the less prestigious

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people will always strive to attain the same conditions as those commanding great respect in the community. This means, that after a while, the majority of the community will have Sapana Stoves installed in their kitchens and thus the prestigious people will seek new ways to stand out. At this time, our aim is to be able to present the next stove in the new generation.

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Analysis

Synthesis

Development Data Collection

The Path to Sapana

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Structure of Part 3 In the following the process behind the development of the final concept will be presented and evaluated, starting with the Analytical phase and moving on to the Creative phase. Finally we will consider what should happen next when moving on to the Executive phase, which lies beyond the scope of this project.

Before initiating the project neither of the project members had any significant knowledge or previous experience in the indoor air pollution field. This has resulted in a strong initial focus on the early Analytical phase, which was necessary for designing a holistic concept as the Sapana Stove.

Figure 51 – Structure of Part 3.

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Analytical Phase Most of the Programming part of the project took place before the project was officially started. As we were already aware of the indoor air pollution problem in Nepal, to some extend, we investigated the problem further, and the formulation of the thesis statement outlined the initial course of action.

When the project was officially launched in August 2008 Data Collection was the first priority to quickly form a knowledge base, but Analysis has been conducted in parallel and iteratively. Below are listed some of the tools used in the sub-phases.

Scientiﬁc Articles Conference Lejre Field Trip Analysis Programming Data Collection

Thesis Statement Knowledge Mapping Actor Network Competitor Analysis Idea in/with

Analytical Phase

Figure 52 – The sub-phases of the Analytical Phase and some of the tools used.

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Data Collection

Gathering Secondary Knowledge The area around indoor climate is very complex and considers many different aspects of the spaces we stay in both here in the developed part of the world, and in developing countries.

As indoor climate is an area of great research and publication, we have made great use of the academic search databases (such as Google Scholar) to identify a range of relevant scientific articles. To start off with the search was wide to give us an overall introduction to the field of research, however, after reading the first articles some concrete areas were identified for further exploration and the search gradually narrowed down. Cross-references between the articles have also shown us new aspects and new directions to follow.

Just as the project was launched we were made aware of an upcoming conference on indoor climate, which we were able to participate in. The International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) is a five-day reoccurring conference, this year (2008) held at DTU and organized by the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy (ICIEE) on DTU with participation of international researchers from all over the world and within various indoor climate fields.

Figure 53 – Speaker-session at the Indoor Air conference 2008.

The leading researcher within the indoor air pollution field in developing countries, professor Kirk R. Smith, is a regular speaker at this conference, however, not this year. Generally the conference was lacking contributions from our field of

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interest, however, it still gave us a good introduction to the field in general, giving us an idea of the language and terms used, which we were to meet frequently in the articles later on. We became aware of which harmful substances found in indoor air pollution in the developed countries and how they were measured. This made us aware of measuring techniques and which substances were most important to measure, as they were the ones causing most illnesses. During the week we were also able to establish contact to several of the people from the indoor climate section at DTU, which have proved useful during the course of the project.

In order to create a frame of reference, the history of indoor air pollution here in Denmark was explored early on. Observation trips at the Open Air Museum (Fri- landsmuseet) and Lejre the Land of Legends (Sagnlandet Lejre), observing specifically the cooking facilities, gave us a strong impression of the concrete problems faced. In Lejre an actual cooking session was witnessed and we felt for the first time the disturbing presence of the smoke. Also strongly indicating the sot produced by the open fireplaces were the blackened walls of the kitchen area shown on Figure 54. Several of the adventures people staying in Lejre's 200-year- old farmhouses were very open to share their experiences, giving us a first idea of the problems faced by the people living with indoor air pollution. Please refer to Appendix 26 for more pictures from Lejre and the Open Air museum.

Figure 54 – Observations from Lejre the Land of Legends.

After this initial research giving us insight in the indoor air pollution field we gradually shifted focus to investigate various alternative energy sources that may be able to relieve the problem with flue gases. Amongst others, renewable energy sources such as wind, water and sun was considered and previous experience in the developing world sought. See Appendix 27 for a brief walk-through of the

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various fuel types. In parallel with this, information was found on already existing solutions designed to minimize the indoor air pollution. Throughout the years many people and organisations have developed a range of different so-called improved cooking stoves (also known simply as improved stoves) directed at different countries. Reviewing these, as a kind of competitor analysis, has given us a valued insight in the efforts already being put into this area and the practical obstacles faced when taking the solutions in use. See Appendix 8 for a selection of these past initiatives, the experiences with them, and a comparison.

Discovering the limited success of past initiatives underlined our initial starting point of building a good knowledge base concerning the specific local context before developing a solution. Indoor air pollution is not solely a 'technical' problem, it is also of critical importance that the affected people actually use the technical innovations provided to them. Realising this, our hope of actually visiting our focus area now became a must. A lot of effort was thus for a time invested in applying for financial support through grants in order to realise such a visit. Partly financed, the research trip became a reality in October 2008.

Gathering Primary Knowledge in Nepal From the very start, this field trip was meant as a unique opportunity for us to collect primary knowledge where we were otherwise referred to secondary (or tertiary) sources of information. Being 'on location' and feeling the smoke first hand was very important to us, enabling us to better put ourselves in the shoes of the cook. Capturing as much as possible in visual inputs retained by digital cameras and a video camera, which could be referred to and processed once back home was prioritised. Also a log-book was kept during the trip, which helped us remember situations, names and places visited throughout our stay.

Figure 55 – Smoke filling the kitchen space observed.

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With this scope in mind we needed to not only visit the country, but also an actual home (or more). One member of the group had previously enjoyed a short stay with a local family in the Chitwan district, and this family became our ticket. As open and hospitable as the Nepalese people are, we had no problem arranging a stay with the family for several days.

Contact to the NGO Practical Action Nepal (see Appendix 2) was established through a mutual friend who had previously been in Nepal and talked to them about improved cooking stoves. From the contact person we were introduced to Min Bikram Malla, who is the project manager on the project "Scaling-up of Indoor Smoke Alleviating Technologies", the objective of which is to reduce indoor smoke and provide fuel switching options by promoting appropriate technologies and developing a local supply base (Practical Action, 2008).

Figure 56 – From the left: Min Bikram Malla and Niels Juhl Thomsen

Another contact to a Nepalese organization was obtained through Danida (the Danish International Development Assistance programme). Via the Danish em- bassy in Nepal we reached Niels Juhl Thomsen who is chief advisor for the governmentally funded Energy Sector Assistance Programme (ESAP) (see Appen- dix 2). Given his Danish origin, Niels has been a valued contact person also after the research trip, as communication can flow with no language barriers.

Planning the Trip Due to the timeframe of the project as well as financial concerns we had to con- fine the trip to two weeks in Nepal, meaning we would only have a short time to absorb all of the critical knowledge we were hoping for. We thus knew before hand that we would not be able to see and do all of the things we wanted to and had to prioritise our time. Seeing as the knowledge we were most lacking in our research and could not achieve through the literature was the 'user-inputs' and

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knowledge of the local culture and living situation, we emphasised the stay in the village above all other things. Interviews with the relevant people from Practical Action Nepal and ESAP was put second. It was not possible to arrange these interviews from Denmark as we discovered the Nepalese arrange these things more on a day-to-day basis.

In order to enable ourselves to position the indoor air pollution in Chitwan relatively to the cases discussed in the literature, we arranged to conduct measurements on site. Equipment to measure the level of coarse particles (PM10)

(DustTrak), CO-levels (Lascar EL-USB-CO), CO2 and temperature (Telaire 7001) as well as relative humidity (HOBO U12 data logger) was borrowed from the ICIEE and tested at a traditional Danish fireplace and at Lejre Land of Legends.

Being in Nepal An overview of how the actual trip proceeded can be found in Appendix 28. We were able to arrange a meeting with Niels Juhl Thomsen in Kathmandu one of the first days and received a thorough introduction to the work of ESAP (A summation of the interview is found in Appendix 11). Getting hold of Practical Action Nepal proved more difficult, as we had arrived in the week of the Hindu Tihar festival and many people were home celebrating with their families for the majority of the time. But we managed to meet with Min Bikram Malla shortly before returning to Denmark (A summation of the interview is found in Appendix 29). During these interviews roles were assigned internally, meaning one was in charge of taking notes, while the other one focussed on asking the questions. Questions were prepared beforehand and as our knowledge on the field was still limited, we used mostly open-ended questions (Spradley, 1979) and let the interviewee open up new areas of conversation.

Most of the time, however, was spent in Chitwan. For 8 days we stayed with the low caste Pariyar family in West Rampur and observed their daily routines in and around the kitchen.

Figure 57 – Our hosts, the Pariyar family.

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The measurement equipment we had brought along gave us an indication of the pollution levels present in the Pariyar kitchen and the fluctuation during the day. It quickly became clear to us, that the levels of indoor air pollution were highest when the fire was started, and when new pieces of wood were added to the fire. Great differences from day to day was also observed and concluded to stem from the use of firewood of different quality. The exact levels experienced in the kitchen could, however, not be defined as we experienced some technical problems with the equipment. See Appendix 30 for information on the equipment set-up and logged results from the measurements of CO, temperature, relative humidity

and CO2.

Figure 58 - Conducting measurements in Nepal.

Fortunately just being present in a local Nepali kitchen gave us so many valuable impressions we would not have been without e.g the smells, the atmosphere, and the sore eyes and throats from the smoke. Follow the actors-techniques were used to observe the local Nepalese in their normal context and setting. This resulted in valuable information in terms of the current cooking practices and way of life. From the Data Collection we had read articles concerning cooking habits, but it proved extremely valuable to get primary knowledge as opposed to secondary knowledge. We had to rely on observation for the most part as the language barrier complicated verbal communication with the locals. Only few Nepalese speak English in the rural villages and those who do, have a very restricted vo- cabulary. The son of the Pariyar family, Kishor, who acted as our guide, knew English on a sufficient level to help us translate when interviewing people in the village.

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We talked to Kishor about various subjects besides from cooking and indoor air pollution, to get a sense of the Nepali culture and livelihood from the mouth of a local Nepalese. These informal conversations, however, are not documented in any appendices of this report, as most of the information was acquired during conversations in more easy settings, as for Kishor to relax, and not being afraid that his answers would be insufficient.

Figure 59 – Kishor in relaxed settings.

Our aim was to see more than just one local kitchen in Chitwan, but it proved rather complicated to get access to any other kitchens, as these are very private spheres to be kept clean (metaphorically speaking). Kishor went around to some of the other families first and inquired if we could see their kitchens. After having considered for maybe half a day we were granted access a few places, but as Kishor is member of a low caste he was not allowed to enter the other kitchens. As a result we had to settle for a quick viewing of the kitchens accompanied by a member of the household, typically not speaking English. These short visits unfortunately had to be conducted at times where the kitchens were not in use, meaning we were left to guess how the kitchens are actually used. When walking around the village we were, however, able to catch glimpses of the villagers' life, also the part evolved around cooking. Please refer to the short documentary of the Nepali life on the appended DVD for a better insight.

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Analysis

Structuring Gathered Knowledge Through the course of the Analytical phase a lot of different information and impressions were gathered, which had to be processed somehow. To get an initial grasp of the area, we deployed a self-devised method called Knowledge Mapping. The Knowledge Mapping method shares some resemblance with the acknow- ledged KJ-Method (Spool, 2004), however, where the aim of the KJ-method is to organize and prioritise opinions and subjective data, our Knowledge Mapping is more aimed at visualising and sharing the knowledge gathered, while linking separate pieces of information together to form a wider picture. In practice the elements consist of a big wall and a lot of post-it notes containing different important points or quotes from the literature, interviews, or other research areas. The post-it notes are grouped around different topics, in this case for example 'culture', 'negative consequences of the smoke' etc. (see Appendix 31 for a picture of the actual model).

Figure 60 – Our own personal workspace at DTU, Denmark.

Especially during the literature study each member of the project team separately gathered large quantities of knowledge, which was important to share and here the Knowledge Mapping played a vital role. In consecutive sessions we went through our individual piles of post-it notes, discussed each point and placed it with the group of other notes it most related to. The groups of notes relating to

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each other were placed near each other. During the research phase the Know- ledge Mapping wall gradually grew, illustrating the growing amount of knowledge we were gathering and making the points easily available to us during subsequent discussions. This proved valuable as the discussions in relation to grouping and arranging the post-it notes often rendered the holes in our knowledge visible and thus enabled us to fill these holes from further studies. All in all the Know- ledge Mapping has been an important tool in the first phases of the project, sharing the knowledge effectively and opening questions.

Visual Inputs from Trip As mentioned we wanted to gather a lot of visual inputs on location in Nepal. To ensure that these impressions would stay alive when returning to Denmark we put an effort in documenting our observations with numerous digital photos and video-segments.

Figure 61 – Visual impressions from West Rampur, Chitwan.

Once back in Denmark these have been very important in the remaining part of the project to keep the context in mind and even notice new things while being in a different place. From a selection of the photos different posters were made to illustrate different kitchens, types of houses and steps involved in cooking. These have adorned the walls of our workspace the remaining time of the project and helped us remember e.g. how a specific type of pot looked like or how different things were placed relative to each other. But apart from being internal remind- ers, the photos have also helped us describe the setting to others here in Denmark, e.g. our supervisors. The video-segments have also been vital in this sense, making it possible to animate the situation and better convey the mood of the setting to 'outsiders'.

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Actor Network The scene around the primitive polluting fireplace is set with many different actors linked together by different artefacts and settings. In order to create a better understanding of the links between these actors an Actor Network Diagram was created and regularly updated with new actors and information. The network is divided into different levels and the illustration represents the actors at play in these levels – the household level, the local community level, the national level, and the international level. However, the household level was paid most attention, as this was an opportunity for us to identify and arrange the most important artefacts linked to the cooking practice. This network in general has also helped us internally in the team to gain a good overview and to better understand the position different interviewees are placed in. Please refer to Appendix 32 for a large version of the final network.

Figure 62 – Actor-Network for the current cooking practice in Chitwan.

Making the Knowledge Useful The competitor analysis was a great source of inspiration, but in order to make use of the different approaches in the Creative phase we needed to process the information these stoves offered. Identifying the different principals used in these different solutions made us aware that the same results could be achieved in different ways and no generic approach was given beforehand (see Appendix 14 for the principals). Also identifying the 'idea in' and 'idea with' (c.f. Myrup and Torp) for the different stove types gave us an idea of the areas others had prioriti- zed (and perhaps failed to prioritize), and how these were attempted solved. Appendix 33 gives a graphical overview of these dimensions for a selection of the stoves, illustrating the relative importance of each of the dimensions.

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On the field trip a lot of different and implicit knowledge was gathered. In order to sum up the user-relevant knowledge we chose to create a set of personas. We decided on the number 3 as this gave us opportunity to explore different archetypes, but at the same time command the different goals and behaviour patterns they represent. None of the characters are build on real people, but spring from the knowledge we needed to express. As we could not conduct actual interviews with the women in Chitwan (due to the language barrier), these personas are based on our observations of the women and the different bits of information on family structures, we captured on the trip. Also an interview with Stine Høier who has lived in Nepal during several years around 2000 gave us valuable information in this regard (Appendix 5). Creating these personas has thus made us more aware of the insight we have build, and enabled us to make it explicit and available in the design process. While brainstorming and developing concepts in the Creative phase we used these personas as a reference. By designing for just these archetypes we are in fact able to design for all the potential users represented by these archetypes (or a combination of them) and in this way benefit a lot of different Nepali women (Goodwin, 2008).

The Analytical Phase has been an important part of this project as we were moving in to unknown territory at the beginning of this project. Gaining a basic knowledge of the various relevant themes was thus devoted a significant amount of time during the Data Collection phase, where scientific articles from different fields and sources proved very informative. At the centre of the Analytical Phase was, of course, the field trip to Nepal where very important primary knowledge was gathered, through observations, follow the actor-sessions and interviews, and a deeper understanding from our side created. In analysing all the collected data we identified important aspects and formed a more structured overview of our knowledge in the form of actor-networks and posters, making it more easily accessible for the next Creative Phase.

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Creative Phase After having absorbed a lot of information and gained a significant knowledge of the indoor air pollution problem, and the context we are working in, the next phase was initiated. Turning to the more creative perspective did not, however, mean that no further research was conducted. On the contrary when developing new ideas it was often necessary to acquire new knowledge, only this time much more specific. Below is listed a few of the tools utilised during this phase.

Mock-up testing Sketching Calculations Scale drawings Synthesis Development

Brainstorming Function-Mean Tree Concept development Field Trip Pugh evaluation

Creative Phase

Figure 63 – The sub-phases of the Creative Phase and some of the tools used

Synthesis Now it was time for us to use all knowledge and information gained during the very extensive and educational Data collection and Analysis to start the Creative phase and hence generate solutions to indoor air pollution problem, which would result in the creation of a final concept. All the steps of the Creative phase were conducted iteratively to keep all models and information updated.

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Idea Generation Just after rounding off the Analytical phase we did an initial brainstorm, which had the purpose of us getting to know each other's thoughts and ideas that had emerged from the quite extensive research we had just gone through. A blank piece of paper, some coloured stencils and our minds were all that were used in this brainstorm where heads were cleared and ideas were shared and discussed. This brainstorm was actually very specific on stove design – probably because the vast majority of the articles read dealt with pros and cons of different stove designs. Please consult Appendix 34 for an overview of the ideas.

To keep the solution space as open and wide as possible the next step was to address the indoor air pollution problem as a whole instead of focusing on the stove-dimension right away. This was done to get the creativity going from the beginning and to make sure that we could generate a whole range of diverse solutions that went in many different directions. At this point nothing was determined regarding the type of solution and we did not want to be too blinded by all the reports that we had already read about the use of improved cooking stoves in the rural areas.

Workshop At that moment we felt that we were too locked on to the direction of the solution and were afraid that we had cut too many interesting solutions and creativity off. This led us to invite two outside comers with no relation to the indoor air pollution problem or to stoves whatsoever to participate in a small workshop. The choice fell on two people with completely different backgrounds: Janna Sonne-Hansen and Rikke Efferbach Jensen, who studies psychology and information technology respectively. Both of the two participants are known to be able to think outside the box and are not afraid to comment on issues and subjects that they are not experts in. Sometimes the best solutions derives from some of the most crazy and foolish suggestions, so we wanted the participants to let go of their restraints and go a little 'wild'. 3 scenarios were prepared to frame the brainstorm and to ensure that the brainstorm unfolded on our terms. The 3 scenarios were: We have this pot with food in it, now how do we heat up the food? How do we get smoke out of a box? And how do we hinder the smoke produced by a fire to get into contact with a person maintaining the fire?

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Figure 64 – Workshop setup and result.

The workshop was divided into 3 brainstorm sessions of 20 minutes each, making time to get into the scenario and to purge as many ideas as possible. At the same time we would not want the participants to be too tired and bored when they could not come up with any more ideas so in between the sessions they were treated with fruit and cake to give a boost of motivation and energy. Both of the project team members participated in the brainstorm sessions along with the two participants as we concluded that the workshop would benefit from the momen- tum of more people getting caught by the creative moment and coming up with some good ideas.

3 pieces of very large paper was prepared with a drawing illustrating the concrete scenario so that focus was not lost during the period of brainstorming. Also everybody was free to draw and write on the paper at any time to get the ideas flowing and all the four participants did comply with this very intuitively. Also small cards, each with a different word written on it, were used to create associations and new inspiration when the creativity was in decline.

The workshop proved very successful, as we got many diverse solutions to the 3 scenarios. There was no question that the input from Janna and Rikke brought new ideas and thoughts to the table. See Appendix 35 for the brainstorming papers.

Next, however, it was time to narrow down the solution space to get more specific and detailed solutions that would converge to tangible and realistic solutions. In order to move on we had to make a choice as to the type of solution we were aiming at; whether our focus was to be mainly on an overall socio-technical level, if we were to focus specifically on the workspace, or if the aim was a physical

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stove solution. During this initial stage of the Synthesis phase we had come to discover that we were both most enthusiastic about developing a physical solution and we felt that our alternative background in design engineering, compared to the traditional stove-inventors, would enable us to come up with something new. From this point forward the main focus was thus on developing a new stove solution, however, still keeping the other spheres in mind.

Mood-board Brainstorming During the Analytical phase some aspects had begun to stand out as especially important when considering the Nepali cooking culture. By reviewing our knowledge and personas these key aspects were identified and listed. These were: smoke reduction, safety, mobility, heating of surroundings, social interaction, flexibility, traditional appearance, ergonomics, visibility, and modern appearance. All of these 10 aspects were important to take into account when designing innovative and user-friendly solutions to the Nepali context. These aspects were used as a starting point for us to put ourselves in the place of the Nepali woman who cooks for her entire family twice a day spring, summer, fall, and winter. How would she like her dream cooking situation and dream stove to be like? To keep focus each of the 10 aspects were dealt with individually. The aim was thus not to create a holistic concept at this point, but on the contrary to dig deep into each aspect to generate specialised ideas that could later be combined into full concepts.

In order to get a common understanding and make sure that we were both on the same page in regards to how these aspects were to be understood and perceived, we used a great amount of pictures visually illustrating different associations. These pictures were searched and found on the Internet and made into small picture-pieces. A large piece of paper was then devoted to each aspect. In turn we chose pictures illustrating different sides of the aspect in focus, creating a mood- board like paper and giving occasion to many interesting discussions. This was a very good exercise because it made us reflect on the diversity of perceptions amongst different people.

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Figure 65 – Mood-board brainstorms.

In parallel a brainstorm-like process was conducted to generate solutions in relation to each trend. These solutions consisted for the most part of rough sketches that illustrated general ideas and quite vague one-dimensional concepts. Now each of the group members got the task of drawing more detailed sketches for a selection of the 11 aspects on the basis of the emerged ideas. See all the brainstorms in Appendix 36.

Structuring Ideas Function-means diagrams come in very handy when structuring ideas and aspects with many versatile solutions because they help identifying and structuring the functions and the sub-functions of a product and in this way also the means to achieving these functions (Tjalve, 1979).

A lot of drawings and ideas were generated during the different brainstorm sessions, mostly centred on the 11 aspects, but they were still very flighty and would benefit from some structure. The Function-mean approach supplied this, as we defined our 11 aspects as the functions and our solutions as the means. The diagrams now gave an overview of the many sub-solutions (please find the function/means-trees in Appendix 37). Also a more holistic diagram was created putting “heating of food” as the overall function and the different fuel types as the means to this. Several iterations were done over a couple of months as the project evolved e.g. when the fuel type was selected and more knowledge was gained on the possible techniques for different tasks. New ideas arose from the different iterations, as we needed to consider all the means of achieving the different functions.

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The final version of this holistic diagram can be found in Appendix 38.

Figure 66 – Function-mean diagram.

From the Function-mean diagram it became clear that we would most likely have some basic elements in our final solution, such as a combustion chamber, a fuel feed, a pothole, and a chimney. Putting these elements together in different constellations was another way of coming up with new, and more concrete ideas. These alternate basic structures describe different overall ways of performing the function "heating food". Within each of these basic structures also lies a range of variations where the overall approach is the same, but the elements are arranged differently (the so-called quantified structures (Tjalve, 1979). Looking at these structures gave us an overview of which possibilities and limitations that were to be taken into account in the design process. Also this inspired thoughts as regarding the flow of the smoke and how to utilise the heat on its way to the chimney (if this particular type of concept was chosen). Please consult Appendix 39 to see the quantified structures.

Figure 67 – Examples of quantified structures.

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Also principles from existing solutions were analysed and structured to give an impression of how things are working in well functioning and well-tested improved cooking stoves. These principles all had to do with how the airflow circulates inside the stove and how the heat is directed to the pot. Examples of such principles are: rocket elbow (L-shaft), gravity fuel feeding slope, fuel shelf, plancha plate, hot air channels, secondary combustion chamber, and lowered potholes. For a brief explanation and illustration of these principles please go to Appendix 14.

Fuel Evaluation The type of solution to the indoor air pollution problem is very much influenced by the choice of fuel that is used for cooking and heating. To narrow down the solution space further, and hence choose a direction and a scope for the solution, a fuel evaluation was thus conducted. A modified version of Pughs Weighted Objec- tives Method (Cross, 2000)(p. 159) was used for this comparison giving a structured overview of the different fuel options. Hence, nine evaluation criteria were formed on the basis of the gathered knowledge from the Analytical phase, and each of them was weighted on a scale from 1 to 10 to give a more varied picture and to illustrate what we felt was most important. The weighing was done according to the scope of our project (as indicated by the thesis statement and requirement specification) and according to our collected knowledge of the priorities of the Nepali people, their culture and their way of life, as well as our own expert opinion.

The evaluation criteria in descending, weighted order were:

. Emission levels in use (Amount of emissions released in the household when the fuel is used optimally, a high score given to low emissions) . Availability (Access to the fuel in the local community, a high score given to good availability) . Purchase cost (Cost charged for a comparable amount of the fuel on the local market, a high score given to a low purchase cost) . Convenience (Easy of use in the household on a daily basis, a high score given to high convenience) . Fuel efficiency (Amount of fuel needed to heat the same amount of water, a high score given to a low amount of fuel) . Initial and running investments (The cost of the investments needed to exploit the fuel and the cost of maintaining the investments, a high score given to low investments) . Useful waste products from use (Amount and quality of the waste products left after using the fuel, a high score given for useful amount and good quality)

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. Positive flavour impact (Flavour added to the food from the cooking fuel, a high score given for nice flavour) . Environmental impacts from extraction (Level of harmful environmental impacts from extraction of the raw materials used in the fuel, a high score given to low impacts)

We compared the 13 most commonly known and used fuel types in the world's developing countries today: crop waste and dung, wood, charcoal, coal, briquettes, Kerosene, LPG, biogas, electricity, solar power, wind power, hydro power, and solar radiant heat. The fuels and their properties are described in Appendix 27. Each of the fuels were given points on a scale from 0 to 5 for each of the 9 evaluation criteria based on optimal Nepali cooking conditions. The points were assigned based on our accumulated knowledge. As an example the following is a walk-through of the thoughts resulting in the actual scoring for the fuel wood in each of the above listed categories. Wood is chosen as the example, as this is actually the fuel used for the final concept. Please consult Appendix 40 for a full schematic view of the fuels and their scoring.

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Evaluation Score W Reasoning criteria score The combustion of wood is quite good even though no Emission levels in complete combustion can be achieved under the rural 3 30 use Nepali circumstances. Other fuel types can achieve significantly lower emissions. There are a lot of forests and trees growing in the lowlands of Nepal where Chitwan is situated, making wood available. Availability 4 40 If a family does not own any land with trees on it, the wood can easily be bought almost everywhere in the Chitwan district. Due to the good availability of the wood the purchase cost Purchase cost 4 36 is quite low. Either the Nepali people collect the wood for free (costing only time) or they buy it locally at cheap prises. The Nepali women are used to, and very skilled in, firing with wood on a daily basis, making it very convenient. Convenience 4 32 However it is still necessary to prepare it (cut it into pieces) unlike e.g. electricity. The efficiency of the wood is not as good as the different kinds of gas but it is a lot better than the efficiency of e.g. crop waste and dung. It is, however, very difficult to gener- Fuel efficiency 3 21 alise too much because there may be huge differences between the available types and qualities of wood so there can be vast variations. These are very achievable, as in theory only a simple mud- Initial and run- 5 30 stove is needed to exploit the wood, which requires almost ning investments no maintenance. The waste products in the form of ashes from the combus- Useful waste tion of wood have very good properties in terms of fertilising 5 25 products abilities in the fields and the use of the ashes when cleaning the dishes and the kitchen wear. Positive flavour When cooking on a wood fired stove the food gets a very impact nice flavour from the smoke. In the developed world we see this phenomenon in the summer season when much of the 5 15 food are barbequed on the grill. The Nepali people tell us that the food taste better and that the only way to warm up buffalo milk is to use a wood fired stove. Environmental As long as the tree harvest is kept at a steady pace where it impacts from is possible to replace the trees, no significant envi- 4 4 extraction ronmental impacts are found from this (looking at it small- scale).

Table 3 – Fuel evaluation exemplified with the scores for wood.

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The fuel evaluation showed that wood, charcoal, briquettes, biogas, and surprisingly crop waste and dung, were the fuels that received the highest scores. Crop waste and dung does have some advantages, but also some noteworthy disadvantages. First and foremost it has a very low fuel efficiency and is very difficult to combust completely, but also importantly by using it for fuel the rural population losses a very important fertiliser for the fields. Because of this we consider it unsuitable for a primary fuel, but rather a supplementary fuel for which the final solution will be designed. This left us with wood, charcoal, briquettes and biogas – with wood as the unmistakable top scorer. It may surprise that electricity does not score higher, as this is one of the cleanest fuels (in use), however, it is a highly unreliable source in Nepal, and WHO notes that: "Electricity is unlikely to become an important cooking fuel in most developing countries in the foresee- able future." (World Health Organization, 2006).

In conclusion, it can be said that all the top scoring fuel types except biogas can be used in a very similar cooking stove, which gave us a good indication that the final solution was to be some kind of a biomass fuelled cooking stove.

250 200 150 100 50 0 LPG Coal Wood Wood Biogas Charcoal Kerosene Kerosene Electricity Briquettes Briquettes Wind power Wind power Solar power Solar power Hydro power power Hydro Crop waste & waste Crop Solar radiant heat

Figure 68 – Result of fuel evaluation, the fuels scoring above the line are all considered.

Now it was time to create initial concepts to be used as a basis for interviews and more general conversations on our second field trip to Nepal.

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Designing 7 Concepts Until now the focus on the development process had been on the structural form and the functionality of the solution and only very few considerations as regards to the visual appearance of the stove had been made. The drawings created until now had been very conceptual as to mainly show the functionality of the different items. We felt that it was quite difficult to play with different shapes and sizes on a two dimensional paper, so for this reason clay was brought into the creative process as a way to create shapes and sizes and visualise them in three- dimensional models.

Figure 69 – Performing a 3D brainstorm with clay.

This 3D brainstorm resulted in quite a few models that were to be used as inspiration in the concept generation that was to be conducted shortly after (find more pictures in Appendix 41).

The aim of the actual concept generation was to come up with individual concepts that went into different directions to give a varied and solid ground for discussions with stakeholders at the upcoming second field trip. By combining functional ideas from the mood-board brainstorm with more shape-oriented ideas from the 3D brainstorm a range of concepts were created, adapted, and specified to form 9 preliminary concepts. Some concepts were for standing, some were for sitting, some used gas and some used wood, and some had a hot plate and some had potholes (please refer to Appendix 42 for a selection of sketches).

The 9 concepts were presented for the thesis supervisors who had some comments for modifications in the design, as e.g. some of the concepts were too similar. This resulted in combinations of four of the concepts into two new concepts, which each had more functions incorporated, hence 7 distinct concepts were ready for the field trip. Through the dialog on the field trip we learned that a

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few of the concepts were actually still too similar at this level. The 7 concepts will shortly be presented in the following, focussing mainly on the specific characteristics.

1: Semi DIY Stove

Fuel type: LPG or Biogas Cooking position: Squatted Smoke removal: None Production: On location and parts at factory

The aim of this Do-It-Yourself concept was to build a simple mud stove, which looks very similar to the type of stove, many Nepali families own at present, but add some new features. The Semi DIY Stove thus distinguishes itself from its traditional counterpart by using biogas or LP-gas, which produce less indoor air pollution. A pre-fabricated metal top, containing the burner and pot-rests, is bought separately, but the rest of the stove installation can be done by the family themselves on location by forming mud from their garden, and then place the metal top on top.

2: The Flexible Stove

Fuel type: LPG and Firewood Cooking position: Squatted Smoke removal: Smoke hood Production: On location and parts at factory

The Flexible Stove gives the cook different options in terms of fuel type and also facilitates opportunity for social interaction between family members while pre-

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paring the food. The stove consists of two parts; a combustion chamber and a shell on wheels that contains a build-in gas stove. The part with the combustion chamber is stationary while the shell is movable and can be rolled around to facilitate different use. For example, the children can use the shell as a desk for studying, which enables the mother to keep an eye on her child while cooking the family dinner.

3: Stand-up Stove

Fuel type: Firewood Cooking position: Standing Smoke removal: Chimney Production: On location and parts at factory

The stove is built against the wall in the kitchen for a standing position. The top of the stove is a metal plate (plancha), which is heated by the flue gases on their way from the combustion chamber to the chimney. The plancha plate allows for multiple and different sized pots at the same time as well as cooking bread directly on the plate. The plancha will also offer different temperatures across the plate. Room for setting aside pots when done is provided in the corners of the stove against the wall.

4: Upgradable Stove

Fuel type: Firewood Cooking position: Sitting or Standing Smoke removal: Chimney Production: At local factory

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This stove is upgradable meaning that the family can start by buying a basic version and later on upgrade it with extra modules. The basic elements of this stove are a rocket-module, a chimney-module, and a connection-module. By the time the family have saved up more money a secondary-burner-module and an extra pothole-module can be attached for achieving cleaner combustion and shorter cooking time. The modular stove is operated sitting in the simple version and standing in the upgraded version.

5: In & Out Stove

Fuel type: Firewood Cooking position: Standing or Squatting Smoke removal: Smoke hood Production: At local factory

The stove is mobile and can be used inside as well as outside. Inside the stove is placed on a table under a fixed smoke hood, which leads the emitted gases outside. The table has an indent matching the size of the stove and the handles on the stove will also hold the stove in place. When inside the cooking position will thus be upright and the tabletop will provide space for setting aside pots. When moved outside the stove is placed directly on the ground resulting in a seated position. When outside the smoke will be diluted quickly by the outside air, ren- dering smoke removal unnecessary.

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6: Multi Purpose Stove

Fuel type: Firewood Cooking position: Sitting Smoke removal: Chimney Production: At local factory

The multi purpose stove is an expandable stove that can be adapted to different needs. The basic stove is formed by a combustion chamber and one pothole with a chimney. This can be expanded by buying a multi purpose section, which can either function as an extra pot hole, a hay box for keeping the prepared food warm or a water boiler that uses the spare heat from the cooking to heat up a water tank. Which function the multi purpose section will perform depends on the liner inserted.

7: Combi Stove

Fuel type: Firewood Cooking position: Squatting Smoke removal: Chimney Production: On location and at local factory

The stove is built on the floor as a quarter of a circle with a chimney in the ‘corner’ venting the smoke outside. On top of the stove is a plancha plate, which can rotate around the chimney and underneath this plate are two traditional potholes. This means that the family can choose to cook on either the plancha-part or on one or two of the potholes. When the potholes are used the plancha is rotated 90 degrees and can function similar to a hay box, keeping the food warm.

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Each concept was printed on a sheet of A4 paper and laminated in order to with- stand the wear when travelling. To see the entire concept catalogue with more drawings please go to Appendix 43.

User Evaluation in Nepal Following is a description of how we managed to conduct user evaluations on the 7 concepts during our second field trip to Nepal, using a participatory design approach. We start off explaining how the field trip was planned on the basis of experiences from the first trip. Second is a description of how the actual user interviews were conducted and last we illustrate how the 7 concepts were modified into 3 new and much more detailed concepts.

Planning the 2nd Trip Now all the concepts were ready for the field trip, but there was still a lot of preparation to be done before we could leave for new experiences in Nepal.

The scope of the second trip was to get a lot of feedback on our 7 concepts in order for us to create new and improved concepts on the basis of the comments. Comments from the important stakeholders were crucial because these people represent our users and clients and are the ones who need to approve of the final solution.

Secondarily the aim was to observe how Practical Action Nepal dealt with the indoor air pollution problem in their project villages, as this was one thing we missed at the first trip because everybody was home celebrating the festival.

Knowing from experience that it would be difficult to get a standing appointment with the Nepalese, an effort was put into confirming our meetings this time as well as the arrangements regarding the trip to 2 project villages that Practical Action Nepal were taking us to. It was very difficult for us to cope with the Nepali way of planning and structuring as we did not want to miss the great opportunity it was to visit these project villages. Hence a lot of e-mails were sent in order to put extra pressure on the people that were to arrange the trip – and this gentle but firm pressure gave a good result as we got some dates in time for us to plan the rest of the trip (see the trip schedule in Appendix 44).

During the Trip During our 14 days in Nepal in February 2009 we got to interview 7 people about our concepts and 4 other people were asked more general questions regarding their thoughts on key aspects. The interviewees were 2 women and 5 men of which 5 were from NGOs (marked with yellow) and 2 were local Nepali people (marked with orange).

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7 Interviews

2 Women 5 Men

Ruma Sunam Niels Juhl Min Bikram Malla Sangita Bista Pariyar Thomsen (ESAP) (PA)

Rojan Pandey Kishor Pariyar (ESAP)

Head of local NGO in Dadhing

Figure 70 – Interviewees in Nepal.

For logistic reasons and for the sake of ease we let the interviewees decide location of the interview situation. Hence most of the interviews were conducted at the offices of the NGOs and not in Nepali kitchens. This meant that high demands was put on the interviewees in terms of imagining how our concepts would fit into an authentic Nepali kitchen. However, because all the interviewees had a close relation to kitchens and cooking stoves we experienced that this was not an issue. The only time where the interview was conducted in the kitchen was in a small room in Kathmandu where the interviewee Sumi and her husband lived.

Figure 71 – Sumi and her husband looking at the 7 concepts.

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This did not have any direct influence on the interview situation, however, as all the concepts were designed for kitchens in rural Nepal so the interviewees still had to imagine how the stoves would fit into their homes in West Rampur in the rural Chitwan district.

Every time an interview was conducted we followed the same structure, keeping the interviews comparable. However, slight changes were done based on learning from previous interviews. For example concept no 1, the Semi DIY Stove, was very quickly taken out of the stack because the first two interviews showed that this solution was not very feasible due to the very high prices of LP-gas and the difficulties in the acquisition of the gas.

Every interview started out with and introduction to each of the 7 (and in some cases 6 concepts). We made it clear that the concepts were to be thought of as ideas that could be combined in new ways, and not as fixed and finished concepts. Then all the concepts were scattered out on a table or on the ground so that the interviewee could get an overview of the concepts all together. On this second trip we brought with us a Dictaphone, making it possible for both group members to pose questions without having to also take notes. This made the interview situation more fluent and gave better dynamics because both of us had the surplus energy to pose questions and participate in the conversation.

There were quite a difference in interviewing the NGO people and the local Nepa- lese. The NGO people easily understood that they were not looking at finished, detailed solutions. The only issue was that they had some difficulties in understanding that no materials were chosen yet for the concepts. They all asked what type of materials the concepts was made of and were a bit surprised when they were told that it was yet to be decided. The material is quite essential when assessing price and availability for example, which turned out to be very important parameters to the NGOs.

The local Nepali people, however, had more difficulties in understanding how we wanted them to comment on the concepts. For one thing it was difficult for especially Kishor Pariyar to understand the English words and phrases we used to describe the details in the concepts. Second he could not accept that the drawings were just ideas and not real stoves used currently in Nepal. By the use of many hand gestures we explained the ideas one more time with greater impact. Still Kishor was confused that our ideas did not really exist yet and tried to explain to us, that the Nepali people did not use these types of stoves now because they build their own stoves in mud (please refer to Appendix 45 to read the full interview with Kishor Pariyar or consult the DVD for the audible interview). Instead of pursuing to explain to Kishor how we wanted him to look at the concepts, we

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started asking him much more specific questions as regards to the Nepali preferences in different situations. We asked him questions like whether the Nepali people preferred to stand or to sit and how many potholes he would like to work with and so on. This way we still got very useful information even though Kishor had a hard time imagining the conceptual stoves. We should mention that Kishor does not fit the stereotype of a Nepali man, as he is actually a skilled cook and regularly helps his mother cook, when he is at home visiting. The interviews with Niels Juhl Thomsen, Rojan Pandey, Sumi Pariyar, and Min Bikram Malla can be found as text in the appendix report and as audio on the DVD.

As a result of our hard work in planning the trip we succeeded in arranging an excursion with Min Bikram Malla from Practical Action Nepal and their senior finance officer Sanu Babu Neupane. Min and Sanu Babu had some meetings with local NGOs in the districts of Dhading and Gorkha (both located in the Middle Hills of Nepal) and we got the opportunity to tag along. Both had very tight time sched- ules so the trip was very focused. This meant that we had to keep our eyes and ears open at all times to absorb as many impressions and information as possible. Dhading and Gorkha is the home of a different culture than Chitwan, amongst other things due to the different topology, and the excursion was thus aimed at getting better acquainted with the work of large NGOs like Practical Action Nepal and also the work of the smaller local NGOs with whom Practical Action Nepal are collaborating.

Figure 72 – Min and Sanu Babu in the hills of Gorkha.

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After driving on bumpy roads and hiking for hours, we visited two Practical Action Nepal project villages where we got to see their smoke hoods and appertaining chimneys in real life. Also we got to see the local manufacturer in Dhading who produces the smoke hoods to the surrounding villages. Find more pictures on the appended DVD.

Figure 73 – Local smoke hood manufacturer in Dadhing.

In Dhading the production had been started very recently and only a few of the houses had a smoke hood installed yet. Min was there to collect information and feed back from the users who had just received their first smoke hood and it was very interesting for us to see how this evaluation was conducted. It seemed very easy for Min getting the locals to understand and answer to his questions. This made us realize that it is very fruitful to form an alliance with local NGOs for example when testing or disseminating a new stove design.

As the trip was as structured as could be, and because we had concrete concepts to bring with us initiating very interesting dialogs, this trip proved particularly fruitful. The most important findings on this trip and aspects that the final solution should incorporate, presented in random order, were:

. That the Nepali people in general would very much like to cook in a standing position both from an ergonomic and a safety perspective. As Sumi puts it: “it gives more safety also for the children and it is also healthy. Also in cleaning aspects. It is good for the pregnant women to stand up”.

. That the stove should provide the possibility of cooking two dishes simulta- neously to save time preparing the food. Sumi tells us that: “Two potholes is a

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good idea. Kids are going to school and parents are going to jobs so it needs to be fast to prepare food – so two is better”.

. That the fuel used in the final solution should be firewood due to lack of infrastructure and hence the unavailability of LP-gas and the cost associated with some of the other fuel types that we selected in our fuel evaluation. Also Min Bikram Malla states that: “… The only choice is firewood”.

. That it is important to have easy ash removal as the ashes are used for cleaning dishes and for fertilising the fields.

. That the food should be able to be kept warm while finishing the other dishes.

. That chimneys work very well when they do not have bends.

When we left Nepal we were very overwhelmed of the many impressions and information we had got out of this trip and we really felt like we had some exciting work to do when we got home as regards to using the feedback to create new and improved concepts.

From 7 to 3 Concepts When having returned to Denmark, new and more focused concepts were to be generated on the basis of all our newly recovered feedback and knowledge. It was important for us to incorporate the different new aspects into the final design solution so that the sub-solutions from the seven concepts that the stakeholders liked would be represented.

It was a great asset for us at this point that all the interviews conducted during the research-trip was available to us in audio format. This meant that we could listen to the interviews one more time while writing it all down and additionally it was much easier to pin out the different statements when needed.

For the evaluation of the different concepts we used all the interviews and went through each and every one of them. The seven concepts were evaluated one at a time and the interviews, which was now available in text form helped us remember the stakeholders’ comments to the individual concepts. These comments were written down on green and red post-it notes (as shown in Figure 74 below) respectively indicating whether the character of the comment were positive or negative and were placed on the laminated concept paper.

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Figure 74 – Stakeholder comments on post-it notes.

This gave a very nice overview of the pros and cons of each of the seven concepts. It is important to stress that we did not just count the number of post-it notes as for the concept with the greatest number of notes to “win”. Instead the comments were used to indicate which ideas were the most interesting and which would be less ideal in a Nepali context. Hence all the seven concepts were split up into promising sub-concepts or functions of which we could create alternative means. By the use of the morphological chart method (Cross, 2000) (p. 126) we could spread out the solution space once again.

Sub-solutions in the form of morphologies were created to investigate the solution space within 9 areas representing important elements in the stove design; fuel feed, pot interfaces, chimney, ways to carry, deselect 2nd pothole, connection to chimney, water tank, ash removal and connecting 1st and 2nd cooking module. All these sub-solutions were to be the basis of the new concepts. When combined in sound ways, keeping the specification requirements in mind, these sub-solutions constituted 3 full new concepts. Please refer to Appendix 49 for the actual chart.

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Figure 75 – Moving from 7 to 3 concepts.

So now the overall concepts were determined but they still did not have a concrete physical appearance. Hence the clay was brought in once again so that we could make different three-dimensional shapes of the concepts. Also a lot of

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sketching took place in order to come up with holistic and finished concepts (a selection of the sketches is found in Appendix 50). Illustrations of the selected concepts in more detail can be found in Appendix 51.

In the following the 3 new concepts are shortly described focusing on the specific advantages with the individual concepts, which lie at different levels.

Portable Stove

This concept is possible to use both inside the kitchen and outside on the bare ground by having both a removable and a fixed part. When inside the kitchen the portable stove is used in a combination with a second pothole or a metal plate and a chimney module and is operated from a standing position. Because of the chimney no smoke will be present in the kitchen during cooking. Also firewood can be dried underneath the combustion chamber. The plate covering the second pothole can function as a heat-transmitter to the kitchen space in the cold months of the year.

The removable part, constituting the combustion chamber, can, as the name suggest, be taken outside on the ground for cooking in the very hot summer months where the high temperatures makes it almost unbearable for the women to cook inside the kitchens. Also especially in festival time when the family gath- ers to celebrate, the stove can be used as a place for social gathering outside. When the stove is used outside the smoke comes out from a hole in the back. The smoke, however, will not be a problem when the stove is used outside because of the lower concentrations of the harmful substances. Also, the stove will

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provide a cleaner combustion than a simple three-stone-fire normally used outside because of the more enclosed nature of the combustion chamber.

Modular Stove

The basic concept of this stove revolves around modular structure. It can be bought in several turns, giving the very poor low caste people the option of starting just the most simple solution, which includes a combustion chamber with a pothole and a chimney module. With the simplest solution installed the stove is operated from a sitting position.

The people belonging to the higher casts might instead buy a complete stove with a water tank, a second pothole and a secondary combustion chamber for a more complete combustion. The sides are made out of wavy metal to ensure a good heat transfer between the different modules. Also the combustion chamber comes with attachable isolating sides so that it is possible to control whether you would like heat transfer to the kitchen or not. This extended model is operated from a standing position.

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Luxury Stove

The Luxury Stove contains many of the elements a Nepali family would need for cooking “all in one”. It has a primary combustion chamber, a secondary combustion chamber, a hay box, a place for drying firewood and two potholes. The potholes can be used as just that, or you can slide two metal plates in front of the potholes and use these for baking bread and frying eggs or for simmering of the food. Both of the potholes are not always in use at the same time. When this situation occurs one of the metal plates can be brought to cover the idle pothole. This way no smoke will be able to slip through the pothole and into the kitchen. Also you can slide both metal plates over the potholes and use the radiation heat from these plates to heat up the room. This stove is at all times operated from a standing position, which ensures good ergonomic qualities.

Evaluation and Selection After finishing the 3 concepts it was now time for us to evaluate these and consequently select the final solution. First step in this evaluation was to screen the concepts by the use of an adapted Evaluating Alternatives Pugh method (Cross, 2000) (p. 158), giving them “grades” in the form of plus and minus with the Port- able Stove as a reference. The reference was chosen, as this concept seemed quite neutral without large deviations in any of the categories. Hence the Portable Stove concept received zeros in all categories. The evaluation criteria were a selection of the parameters from our list of specification requirements. The selection of criteria was done from a perspective of trying to point out the categories in which the 3 concepts were not too much alike.

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The result of this concept screening was that the Modular Stove concept clearly received most plusses on this account. For the full evaluation chart please refer to Appendix 52.

Now we had an indication of a result as to which of the concepts to choose for further detailing, but we still wanted to have a more clarifying evaluation. For this reason we turned to Pugh and his Weighted Objectives Method one more time. This second time around the evaluation criteria from the list of specification requirements was weighted on a scale from 1 to 5 in order to put more focus on the main aspects. Grades were also given on a scale from 1 to 5 still with the portable stove as reference. This meant that the Portable Stove concept received the grade 3 in all categories.

After several iterations the grades and the weighted scores of the concepts resulted in the distribution of points, shown in bold letters in.

The table is only an extraction of the concept evaluation. Please refer to Appendix 53 for the full table and a walk-through of the scoring of the 3 concepts.

able able t Stove Stove Stove Luxury Luxury Weight Modular Modular Por

Facilitate local cooking culture 5 3 15 2 10 2 10 Low levels of waste products 5 3 15 4 20 5 25

Possible to buy locally 4 3 12 3 12 3 12 Affordable price 4 3 12 5 20 1 4 Meet changing demands for space heating 4 3 12 3 12 3 12 Ease of transportation from manufacturing site 4 3 12 5 20 2 8 Comply different kitchen layouts 4 3 12 5 20 1 4 Direct polluted air outside 4 3 12 5 20 5 20 Compatibility with different kitchen ware 4 3 12 2 8 3 12 Ease of instalment 4 3 12 4 16 1 4 Facilitate easy maintenance 4 3 12 3 12 1 4 …

Total score 222 258 211

Table 4 – Extraction of the concept screening.

It turned out, that also after using the weighted method, the Modular stove was a clear winner. Each of the 3 concepts had their strengths and weaknesses but the Modular Stove was the most consistent. Overall this concept gave the impression

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of having the ability to succeed in most of the categories with minor modifications. The Luxury Stove turned out to be too expensive and complicated for the Nepali context and the need for the main conceptual strength of the Portable stove (the mobility) has not been confirmed to a degree where the scale would tip its direction.

The 3 concepts and the concept evaluations were presented and discussed with our thesis supervisors. On the basis of the concept comparisons, the overall potentials and our own gut feeling, we agreed to continue with the Modular Stove concept.

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Development Now having selected the final concept it was time for us to go back to the drawing board and start the actual development of the concept. The goal was a modular stove, which could be upgraded from a basic to an extended version and included a chimney, a secondary combustion chamber, a water tank, and a hay box.

We did an initial small-scale brainstorm where different ideas was sketched and put together to see how the different elements in the solution could be fitted most elegantly in terms of simplicity and functionality. This was to get an initial sense of the size and dimensions of the different elements of the stove e.g. the combustion chamber, the internal diameter of the chimney, the second pothole, the water tank, the operation height and the general compliance with our list of specification requirements (please refer to Appendix 54 for a selection of the sketches).

We found it very hard to visualise and think through all the different elements of the stove at the same time because of the complexity and our lack of experience in stove design. First of all it was crucial to make an estimate of the overall size of the stove and the chimney in order to try to come up with proposals for materials.

Hence we did a lot of research on the Internet regarding wood-burning stoves, cast iron stoves and the building of fireplaces and chimneys. Brochures of different stoves were skimmed to get an idea of their specifications and building manuals for chimneys were also a source of information. Unfortunately this proved very difficult to get any concrete information on the topics for a number of reasons. At almost every Internet site that was visited no concrete information was to be found, only indications were given of relations between the important elements of stove and chimney. To take an example the Internet page of a chim- neysweeper (Thorstensen, 2009) simply states that the height of a chimney should be constructed to create a satisfactory draft smoke removal. Such statements did not give any tangible information in the form of optimal values or formulas.

The problem connected with seeking inspiration in wood-burning stoves is that they are constructed for the purpose of emitting a lot of radiation heat to the surroundings, which is not very suitable for this particular context. Also, intellec- tual property rights protect the well-known producers with solid brands meaning, that it was not possible to get specific information this way. E-mails were written to different stakeholders that we came across in our Internet research and at the Intranet at DTU, but there was really no one that could help us. Also the “roll the snowball” method was used (Bijker, 1995)(p.46), asking the contacted stakeholders to come up with contact information on other interesting stakeholders in an attempt to get in touch with some experts in the field, but still with no luck. It

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turned out that there are really not many experts to find in this field of work, especially here in Denmark. The people that do conduct research in stoves and chimneys do it on a much larger scale like power plant construction or the like. This is probably due to the much larger amounts of money involved in projects like these, and due to the general lack of focus on the indoor air pollution problematic in the developing countries.

Neither at the DTIC (Danish Technical Information Centre, at DTU) did we have much luck finding information in this field due to the issues discussed in the above. All this together made it very clear, that an experimental setup was needed and that hands-on learning by doing experiments was the way to go. ESAP and Practical Action Nepal both make use of this method when designing stoves and it is a recurring fact that most stoves are designed this way – using well- known principals, which is then tried and modified for the specific purpose at hand.

Mock-up Experiments We wanted to compare a mock-up of our solution to a traditional Nepali stove both in terms of efficiency and of the emission of harmful substances into the surroundings. To compare the two stoves in terms of efficiency, an amount of 2 litres of water was poured into two identical pots. We wanted to measure how long it would take for each of the two stoves to heat up the 2 litres of water to the boiling point and also how much wood they would consume in the process.

The mock-up was constructed from bricks and an attachable metal chimney. Using these elements would enable us to test the initial thought and then continuously manipulate some of the parameters to see the effect. The parameters we wanted to test were the volume of the combustion chamber, the placement of the chimney and the regulation of the fire and the temperature with the airflow. Please refer to the DVD for a small video-summation of the experiments.

The first experiment was a comparison between the mock-up and a traditional three-stone-fire. The experiment showed that after 1 hour and 20 minutes the water started boiling above the three-stone-fire while the temperature in the other pot was only 35 degrees Celsius. The conclusion was, that the distance between the flames and the pot was way too far.

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Figure 76 – Set-up for the mock-up tests.

Hence for the second experiment one layer of bricks was placed in the bottom of the combustion chamber to elevate the wood and shorten the distance to the pot. The comparison in this experiment was between the mock-up and a traditional u- shaped type of stove. As the experiment elapsed the conclusion was, that the pot needed to be even closer to the source of heat in order for anything to happen. It was clearly not enough to raise the bottom with the height of only one brick, as the water still did not boil in the pot above the mock-up after 1 hour and 30 minutes. Another conclusion was, that the wood burned better and steadier when there was not too much air coming from underneath the fuel that would otherwise create a very strong draft. Besides from regulating the draft by changing the height of the grate also two bricks were used to cover the fuel feed in terms of shielding the fire and hence regulating the draft.

The third experiment was conducted the next day. On the basis of the learning from day one, the bottom of the combustion chamber was raised further up. Also the grate on which the wood was placed was lowered down to reduce the draft created by the chimney and the incoming air. This time we actually got the water in the pot placed on the mock-up to boil after 56 minutes of heating!

More experiments were conducted on this day fine-tuning the different elements and better results in terms of cooking time and fuel efficiency was achieved. A breakthrough in these experiments was to place a brick standing in the left side of the stove in order to place the hot flames more centrally under the pot. Before this installation we noticed that the flames and all the heat was drawn into the chimney because of the strong draft.

In both of the experiments conducted on the third day of experimenting, the chimney was placed in the back of the stove behind the fuel feed in an attempt to achieve a better and more equally distributed draft. However, the chimney was forced a little to the side because of the nature of the way the stove was constructed. It was very difficult to keep the fire burning during this experiment even

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though we tried to vary the airflow even more by placing a brick on top of the chimney acting as a damper. The experiment was stopped after achieving a water temperature of 75 degrees Celsius after 45 minutes, which did not match the results from day two.

In the final experiment the bottom of the combustion chamber was raised once again so that it consisted of two bricks and a wood burning stove isolation sheet. Placing an extra brick against the back wall pushed the wood and the fire for- wards, in order to make the fire burn more centrally under the pot due to the draft of the chimney.

It was more difficult to get the fire going in this constellation, but this may be due to very strong gusts of wind during the ignition of the wood.

The water was boiling after approximately 33 minutes, which was a new record.

After having performed the experiments we had build a much better feeling for the workings of the stove in practice, and it was very educational being able to influence and modify the different parameters, such as the draft from the chimney, the dimensions of the combustion chamber and the placement of the hot flames according to the pot, as the experiments developed. The experiment also gave us valuable knowledge regarding the dimensions of the stove as a whole, which needed to be a lot smaller than first assumed in order to enhance the internal heat transfer.

Most noteworthy was, that no matter which parameters we manipulated during the different experiments the mock-up always produced a lot less smoke than the local reference (the traditional stove). As this is one of the highest weighted criteria from our specification requirements, this was a very successful finding. Also we found that the mock-up was slightly more efficient than the traditional reference in terms of fuel use. Put shortly, the mock-up used almost the same amount of wood for heating the water as the traditional stove did, even though it took longer time for the water to boil at first. This indicates, that when using the principles in these rather primitive experiments in the final design, with the secondary combustion chamber and operated by an expert (the Nepalese women) the improved efficiency will be more noticeable. It is, however, necessary to perform a number of additional and more accurate tests before this can be finally concluded. Please refer to the Appendix 20 for additional information and pictures.

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Materials and Production Considerations Building the mock-up also gave us new experiences regarding choice of materials. The bricks used in the test seemed to provide a good thermal insulation even without joints, but they also offered complications when moving the stove.

Inspired by other similar products, we came up with 3 alternative construction approaches: building the stove in layers of brick similar to the mock-up, having a metal frame lined with refractory clinkers, or casting the modules in concrete. All 3 have their individual advantages and disadvantages and the challenge has been to decide which holds the most potential for this specific application. The brick-option was quickly abandoned as the modularity of the concept would not come to its full if build (possibly on site) with bricks. Also the Nepali bricks are of a poor quality and even used rarely for house-construction. The concrete and metal frame offered greater potential for realising the modularity we were aiming for. However, as the details of the stove began to take shape, the metal-frame solution began having troubles. It turned out that the stove-modules would not be as square as we had first anticipated, resulting in shapes less compatible with the frame and liner approach. This left the concrete solution in the lead, however, we were concerned about the weight-aspect of this approach, as the transport from manufacturer to the home will most likely be done on bike. (Consult Appendix 55 for illustrations of the 3 alternatives)

We sought advice from Torben Lenau, one of the lectors at DTU, who is known to have a huge and very broad knowledge of materials and manufacturing techniques, and he suggested the stove being build in a certain mixture of cement and LECA, light expanded clay aggregate, that is very light but still quite strong. This seemed like a good idea with a lot of potential, and hence Anders Solgaard, a Ph.D. student working with concrete at DTU, was consulted to obtain more information on the subject. Anders Solgaard gave us some valuable information in terms of the density of ordinary concrete and lightweight concrete respectively.

We evaluated the design and identified possible critical areas, which needed further investigation. Anders Solgaard had pointed out that there could be issues regarding the thermal stress of concrete, which needed to be investigated further. Consequently we consulted Kristan Hertz, head of the Department of Civil Engi- neering at DTU. Kristian seemed very interested in the project and stated that the issue of heat constancy could be overcome mixing clay into the cement and LECA paste. The two most critical parts of the construction, was the u-shape that constitutes the section for drying of wood and the top with a hole for the chimney.

Anders Solgaard was once again consulted to give his expert propositions on the subjects. He estimated that the most crucial part of the construction was the u-

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shape for the drying of wood because of it being exposed to tensile forces, which are quite critical when dealing with concrete. Calculations were done illustrating worst-case scenarios in terms of peak loading on the middle part of the concrete element where the tensile forces was most dominant, and also the size and amount of steel reinforcements needed in order to strengthen the construction were calculated (see Appendix 23 for the calculations).

Parallel to this sketches of the different elements in the stove were drawn. This forced us to be more detail oriented than ever before, as the coherence and interaction between the different elements in the stove had to fit well together. All the details needed to be in place in order to make a holistic and feasible solution. Also 1:1 scale mock-ups of the two tops with the potholes were made out of paper to give an impression of sizing. Double right-angled projections and exploded views of the stove were drawn while continuously discussing every detail in order to get a detailed concept and also form an idea of how the stove is to be produced.

While drawing and thinking about all the small details of the stove and making them fit together, we also considered the choice of materials of the various elements, the weight of the stove and the capabilities in terms of peak loads on the construction. During these deliberations we also had to keep in mind the personas and their needs, which helped identify different potential problems, such as choosing the right height and deciding how the stove was actually raised.

In the course of the Creative Phase we have scanned the solution space through various brainstorms both on paper and in clay. Many different concepts has been created using the accumulated knowledge from the Analysis Phase and the field narrowed down using different evaluation methods such as Pugh evaluations and user feedback on the 2nd field trip. We have also initiated the Development sub- phase where expert statements and a mock-up test have given us the first promising indications of the potential in our final Sapana Stove concept.

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Next Step: Executive Phase At the end of this project, the Sapana Stove is still on a conceptual level. Before an actual production and implementation can take place, there are still a few steps left in the Development process, before continuing to the Executive Phase.

Figure 77 – The sub-phases to be focussed on in the further development.

Further Development At the time this report is written the development has come as far as it can without being on location and able to test the stove in its right setting. Namely testing will be the central element of the forthcoming work to validate and improve the performance of the stove and adjust it further to the intended user's requirements. Tests conducted in Nepal (Chitwan district) will provide much more realistic results than the ones conducted in Denmark due to the big difference in climate and general surroundings. Through our field trips to Nepal we have established contact to the two organisations Practical Action Nepal and ESAP, which have both expressed interest in testing the outcome of this thesis in some of the villages where they work.

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The relevant tests will include:

. The chimney dimensions and design: o Is a sufficient draft created? Or is it too much? As Min Bikram Malla puts it: “How to separate the heat and the smoke – that is important. If the chimney is too effective, then also all the heat will quickly disappear out into the air. Heat is required for the pot and the smoke we would like to go out. So if one pothole works perfectly then it should be enough”. o Can the damper adjust the draft satisfactory? o Does the metal-collar facilitate attachment to the relevant roof designs? o Can it be dismantled and cleaned sufficiently easily? . The combustion chambers' dimensions and materials: o What is the best mixture of the concrete to achieve insulation and lightweight locally? o What temperatures can actually be achieved inside the chamber? o How can the inner walls of the chamber best be protected to achieve a satisfactory lifespan? Is the clay enough? o Can adjusting the distance between fire and pot optimize the heat transfer to the pots? . The water tank execution and use: o What temperature levels can be obtained for the water inside the water tank? o Does the temperature foster or kill off bacteria in the water? o Are any harmful substances released from the sheet metal to the water, such as corrosion? . General effectiveness of the stove: o How many percent of the heat is being actively utilised (for the potholes and for the water tank)? o How great is the radiation loss? Can this be limited by extra isolation? o How much heat is lost as charcoal and ashes (for the simple and full versions)? o What is the composition of the resulting smoke?

It will most likely prove useful to involve local manufacturers in the testing phase, as they can bring valuable knowledge concerning what will be actually possible to produce in the local communities and what elements will possibly have to be supplied from outside the community.

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When continuing the development of the Sapana Stove we have identified some additions to the before listed specification requirements. These are all highly dependent on the final material and production specifications as well as the internal geometry of the stove, which are elements that still needs fine-tuning at this point. Nevertheless we are still promoting these demands for further work.

Spheres Requirement Criteria Socio- Lifespan of minimum 5 years technical Maximum price of $20

Workspace Levels of particulate matter should be Meet the coming < 120 µg/m3 PM10 (24 hours mean) in WHO/PA guidelines the kitchen

Stove Minimum 50% thermal efficiency Maximum weight of 10 kg per module

Combustion chamber materials must resist temperatures up to 1100 degrees Celsius

Table 5 – Additional specification requirements.

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Communication Once a fully functional stove has been completely specified it becomes imperative to communicate the design and transfer the knowledge to the actual manufacturers as well as inform the coming users, of the construction, use, and benefits.

To this end we imagine drawing up a manual directed at the manufacturer(s) in which all the elements are thoroughly explained and the construction specified. There may very well be different manufacturers within different trades working together to produce the elements of the stove and these needs to understand the interaction of the different elements they produce. In the local rural context aimed at in this project, it will also be the manufacturers who sell the stoves, which makes it important that they are given information on how to run a sound business and make the ends meet economically. To this purpose we propose conducting short courses in business-management through a local organisation. By creating sound business we also ensure that the local economy will get a positive and much need boost.

When it comes to the users, these must learn to use the stove optimally in order to have the promised effect on indoor air pollution. As stated earlier the new Sapana Stove will involve a certain degree of new practices being formed and exactly the time where these are formed will be critical. To ensure different techniques and rule of thumbs are passed on in an understandable manner we aim at having a Nepali illustrator draw out a small handbook describing different situations and consequent techniques. Currently all posters and manuals from the Nepali NGOs are illustrated by Nepalese as to enhance the understanding. Also the proper installation should be described in this way. The need for an illustrated explanation springs from the low literacy rates found in rural Nepal and among low caste women in particular.

On a broader level the effective implementation of this new stove solution will need to be coordinated with relevant Village Development Centres (VDC) in the area and some sound local organisations interested in promoting the Sapana Stove.

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Reflection

Experiences Gained from Analytical Phase

Managing Large Quantities of Knowledge Accessing such a complex, and to us unknown area, as the indoor air pollution problem, has involved great amounts of different types of knowledge to be obtained, assessed, and used. Knowing from previous projects how important it is to retain the knowledge quickly after acquiring it, we commenced the Knowledge Mapping shortly after initiating the literature study. However, the map looses its value when not in active use and is hard to go back to after a couple of months. By then the memory of the story behind the quotes and discussion that followed have fated and it takes time to retrace the steps. As a consequence it has proved important to compile the knowledge in worksheets regularly. In practice once a cluster of post-its had reached a certain level of 'completeness', the information was processed and retained in a worksheet, where the information was more easily available later on. In effect this also marked the temporary closure of research within this one area, opening up for focus on new areas. This has enabled us to keep a wide scope in the research, but still keeping it narrow enough to manage.

It has been very important for our work process to have easily accessible information visually represented on the walls around us. As such the Knowledge Mapping wall with its quotes and figures along with different posters acquired from ESAP in Nepal have played active roles in most of the discussions we have led, also much further along in the process than the Analytical phase.

Working with Developing Countries As anticipated working on a project for another country, and a very culturally and socioeconomically different country that, has given cause to new challenges compared with a traditional development project. First and foremost we meet a language and cultural barrier that makes things run less smoothly and which complicates some otherwise simple things. Even though this can be cause of some frustration at first, it also forces you to take nothing for granted and really acquaint yourself with the situation in the other country, which will prove useful in the end.

The Nepali people are used to taking things one day at a time, which possibly stems from living so many years in poverty and uncertainty. But as a result planning anything ahead as we are used to here in Denmark is virtually impossible. This has proved quite challenging when only having a limited amount of days to

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get the job done. E.g. when making the flight reservations we had no idea if we would be able to meet with any of the people we wanted to see at this time. This being said, the Nepalese are also extremely helpful and will gladly go out of their way to help or assist you, so if in any way possible, and with a persistent attitude, you will eventually get your meeting!

Being a Disturbing Element When in the field observing user behaviour you strive to get as natural and realistic impressions as possible. In this case we must admit there were a number of elements disturbing this, first and foremost ourselves. Our mere presence in the Nepali home as: 1. Strangers, 2. Foreigners (Caucasian), and 3. ‘Rich people’, significantly influenced our host's actions. Due to the aforementioned Nepali hospitality we, as guest, were given the 'royal treatment' including more advanced dishes than regularly served. In continuation of the caste system, the Nepali people are also very focussed on skin colour, considering dark skin as 'impure' (usually found in the low castes) and light skin as 'pure'. Being Caucasian and basically having very little resemblance of the Nepali people, we thus attracted quite a lot of attention in a small rural Nepali village! As a consequence we were not able to simply walk through the village and quietly observe the life around us. Instead people generally stopped what they were doing when we were spotted and either just stood there and stared or came over to try and have a conversation. Being rich people (in the Nepali context) only added to the interest and attracted both beggars and salesmen. On top of this we were always carrying our camera equipment to be ready to capture the action we came across, but this affected the subjects. Especially the children were drawn to the cameras like moths to a flame, lining up to get their picture taken. Though very charming this made it difficult for us to capture the real life of Chitwan that we had come to see, but all in all we learned so much more than we ever could have from Denmark.

Experiences Gained from Creative Phase Overall the second field trip proved very helpful for the project and some of the success can be ascribed to the careful planning and very helpful people in Nepal. However, there were still some lessons to be learned on our part, which will be very good to keep in mind the next time field studies are conducted in foreign countries.

During our fieldtrip when we presented the 7 concepts we discovered, that despite our efforts to make the concepts as different as possible some of them were still quite similar. This came to our attention when trying to explain the concepts on a very easy-to-understand level where the overall concept was in focus and not

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the details. As an example, the Upgradable stove and the Multi purpose stove were both upgradable in some way, which made it hard to explain the difference between the two concepts. Next time it would be very good to try and explain the concepts to some friends or family pretending that they were the Nepali interviewees. This way the modifications needed could be made before taking off for the field trip.

Also we learned that it would have been nice for us to line up some examples of choices of materials for the seven concepts because it was very difficult for the interviewees, both Danish and Nepali, to cope with the fact that the materials were not selected yet. It was easier for the interviewees to grasp and understand the concepts when given some indications of the materials. On the other hand it also helped us explain to the interviewees that the concepts was not fixed at all but still more like loose ideas that could be changed accordingly. The conclusion is thus that it would be a good idea to discuss the choice of materials beforehand and then later tell about the thoughts regarding this process instead of giving the impression that the building materials were already chosen and fixed.

As for the communication between the project group and the Nepali people we experienced some difficulties in gaining the knowledge we wanted because the questions were posed to the local Nepali people by the means of Kishor Pariyar. It was so very nice of Kishor to act as an interpreter but sometimes we felt like he was very biased in his interpretation of both the question and the answer. The optimal solution would be to have an interpreter who speaks both Danish and Nepali. This way fewer misunderstandings would take place as one link of interpretation would be removed from the equation (the translation of the initial question into English and then into Nepali).

Regarding the development of the final solution we experienced the difficulties in designing a solution within an area where no specific theory exists and thus we had to make a lot of diverse approaches. It proved very difficult to determine and predict the behaviour of the many elements involved in stove design. This em- phasises the importance of conducting a range of experiments, which was not possible within the scope of this project. The experiments should be done “on location”, as the external factors in terms of temperature, humidity, and the quality of local materials, are all of great importance and vary a lot from the relatively cold and dry climate in Denmark and to the hot and humid climate of Nepal.

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Conclusion The overall aim of this project has been to design a solution, which would be possible to implement in the nearest future, meaning bigger and more ambitious solution strategies has been ruled out relatively early. Fact is, that the indoor air pollution problem is an intermediate stage when passing from solid fuels to electricity, but the road is long before electric kitchen utensils will be widely available and used in Nepal. Hence the solution sought after in this project has been a stepping-stone on the way to even better kitchen facilities in the future.

At the conclusion of this master thesis project we have developed a new type of improved cooking stove aimed at the Terai region of Nepal. This new conceptual Sapana Stove has been developed using participatory design placing the user in the centre, and we believe it has the potential to be the first in a new generation of improved cooking stoves focusing not primarily on the technical aspects, but ensuring that the intended users actually get a product, which will aid them in their everyday life and not complicate the cooking practice unnecessarily.

The Sapana Stove is first and foremost an emission-reducing stove designed to eliminate the dangerous levels of indoor air pollution found in the rural kitchens today. But it does much more than that. It reduces the need for firewood through reduced cooking times, improves the cook's ergonomics, and reduces the risk of burns for both grown-ups and children. Even though the stove contains much more sophisticated elements than the current improved cooking stoves, the Sapana Stove will still be affordable for the low caste population due to the upgradable nature. Manufacturing it locally will furthermore aid the local economy and competition will keep the price low and the quality high.

Through our extensive research and two field trips to the Chitwan district in Nepal we have build an extensive understanding of the Nepali culture in general and cooking culture in particular. This has enabled us to adapt the Sapana Stove to the specific needs of the rural population in the southern Nepal, which will significantly assist the domestication process when the concept is hopefully realised some day. The essence of the Nepali cooking practice will not have to change when taking this new stove in use, and only a few new habits will have to be adapted, most of which resulting in a more effective and safe kitchen. Such elements have never before been actively integrated in the development of a new stove, but we believe it is of vital importance to ensure an actually functional stove on all levels, not just the technical level.

Focus has been on designing for the Chitwan district of Nepal, but there is a possibility that the dissemination of the stove can later on be expanded to other

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areas in Nepal or maybe even to other parts of the world. However, this needs to be thought through very carefully so that the right modifications are made to meet the needs of the new target areas. The modularity of the stove eases this modifi- cation-aspect as it may be possible to create new modules fitting the new context and then simply substituting these into the Sapana Stove, creating new possibilities.

If the Sapana Stove is to gain a footing in Nepal, we have uncovered that it is essential to collaborate with the NGOs currently working in this area, such as ESAP or Practical Action Nepal. At the time of writing, Niels Juhl Thomsen and Rojan Pandey from ESAP have both been introduced to the Sapana Stove concept and both of them express great interest in the concept. Rojan sees great promise in the design and has already offered to make room for testing and piloting in next years planning. Presupposing we find the necessary funds, we thus see great potential for further development and testing as described in this report.

But even if this should not become a reality, we still have contributed the established stove developers with some new inspiration. Niels has conveyed to us that he himself along with other members of the ESAP staff are very enthusiastic regarding our discovery that the Nepali women would like to cook standing. This aspect has been completely overlooked until now and we believe that our fresh eyes and alternative background in design engineering has been the reason we are the first to articulate this need. In taking up the challenge of indoor air pollution in Nepal we have also challenged ourselves, as we have dealt with a completely different context and culture. This has resulted in an approach filled with curiosity and an ability to question all the norms and habits encountered without presupposing anything, leading to a new way of developing improved cooking stoves.

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