ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION: BIOGAS AND IMPROVED COOK STOVES IN THE VILLAGE OF CHHALING, BHAKTAPUR DISTRICT, NEPAL BY MARJORIE D. ELY Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY Michigan Technological University 2005 The thesis: “Analysis of Renewable Energy Project Implementation: Biogas and Improved Cook Stoves in the Village of Chhaling, Bhaktapur District, Nepal” is hereby approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY. School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Signatures: Advisor:______________________________ Blair Orr Dean:______________________________ Margaret Gale Date:______________________________ ii PREFACE After completing my Bachelors degree, I knew I was not destined for the business career it was assumed I would follow. I moved to the Sierra Mountains in California and began working outdoors. It would have been difficult for me not to become impassioned about the environment there. When I found the Master’s International Program in Forestry at MTU, it seemed the program was created for me. I was ready to learn how to make a difference in both community development and natural resource conservation……. A Community Development Story: Once upon a time, a development office helped build grain storage sheds in a community. Field workers observed rats getting into the sheds and spoke with the villagers about killing the rats. The villagers did not believe it was worth the effort. The agency staff decided to give a small fee for each dead rat as an incentive to kill them. So, people began killing rats and getting paid by the office. With more and more rats killed, the agency allowed the villagers to bring only the rat’s tail for payment. Again, there was an increase in the number of rats killed and the agency staff was perplexed. Eventually, one development worker observed rat-tails that looked alike. He returned to the village to investigate and found they were breeding rats for the money! The moral of the story: incentives, especially financial, may not cause the desired outcome. During my Peace Corps service in Nepal from September 2002 to September 2004, I learned lessons similar to this one, but most importantly I learned flexibility and patience. I found that some people might try to manipulate, but most are honest and hardworking. Accepting change was a lesson I tried to teach others and then realized I had to understand for myself. In September 2004, I had extended my service to complete the research for this thesis. I had the next eighteen months of my life planned. Then a bomb was dropped, literally, and I was being evacuated from Nepal. It felt like I was being torn away from my own family. All my plans were in ruins and I was devastated. However, I had to quickly accept our evacuation and coordinate with the village group so they could continue working. Two weeks later, no longer a Peace Corps volunteer, I was on a tropical island in southern Thailand still a bit dazed. Six months later, I was completing the research for this thesis. Fear of change keeps us from realizing our dreams. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Nelson Mandela We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face ... we must do that which we think we cannot. Eleanor Roosevelt Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. John Lennon iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES …….….……………………………………………………………vi LIST OF TABLES ……….…………………………………………………………….vii ACRONYMS AND PSEUDONYMS ………..……………………………………….viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….…………………………………………..………..ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …….……………………………………….………...1 CHAPTER 2: NEPAL …….….………………………………………………….………6 General Background …….…………………………………………….……...…8 Geography and Climate …….………………………………………………….12 Forest Degradation of the Mid-Hills ……………….………………………….15 People of Nepal …...……………………………….…………………………..18 History of Nepal …………………………………….………………………….26 CHAPTER 3: BIOGAS AND IMPROVED COOK STOVES IN NEPAL …….……..36 Present Situation of Energy Consumption in Nepal ……….……………..……36 Traditional and Improved Cook Stoves ….…………………………………….38 Biogas Technology …………………….………………………………………43 CHAPTER 4: CHHALING, BHAKTAPUR …….…………………………………….50 Kathmandu Valley …..………………………………………………………….51 Chhaling ………………….…………………………………………………….53 Agricultural System …………………….……………………………………...56 Community Forest User Groups …………...…………………………………..60 CHAPTER5: GENERAL METHODOLOGY: CASE STUDY DESIGN AND PROTOCOL …….……..……………………………………………………………….64 Research Strategy: The Case Study …………………………………………...64 Participant Observation …….…………………………………………………..65 Case Study Design and Protocol ….…………………………………….……...69 CHAPTER 6: IMPLEMENTATION COMPONENTS OF A RENEWABLE ENERGY COMMUNITY PROJECT …….…………………………………………...84 Community and Social Issues ………………………………………….……...88 Project Management and Design …………………….……………………….106 CHAPTER 7: DATA COLLECTION METHODS ………………………………….129 Formation of the “Biogas Project” …....………………………………….……..129 Data Collection Principles …………….....……………………………..…….132 Data Collection Methods …………………………………………………….133 iv CHAPTER 8: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION COMPONENTS IN CHHALING COMPARED TO THE PROPOSITIONS ……………………………..142 Project Implementation in Chhaling: A Three Phase Process …..……………142 Comparison of Implementation Components to the Propositions ……..……..150 Other Components of the Implementation Process in Chhaling ……………..184 Summary: Successes and Failures of the Case Study’s Propositions ….……..187 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT WORKERS ………………………………….………..189 LITERATURE CITED …………………………………………………………….….195 APPENDICES: Appendix A: Case Study Design and Protocol ………...……………………..206 Appendix B: Bhaktapur Biogas Renewable Energy Project Proposal ………..243 Appendix C: Study Proposal …..…………………..…………………………259 Appendix D: Documents of the Case Study ………..…………………………264 Appendix E: Community Knowledge Pre-Survey and Post-Survey Questions ..290 Appendix F: Community Knowledge Pre-Survey and Post-Survey Data Tables ……………………………………………………..304 Appendix G: Biogas Recipient Survey Questions ………………...…….……337 Appendix H: Biogas Recipient Survey Data Tables …………………………339 Appendix I: Pearson Correlation Coefficient Statistical Data Sets .…...…..…348 Appendix J: Improved Cook Stove and Biogas Recipient Cattle Information ...439 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Social context must be learned for successful project implementation …….7 Figure 2.2: Map of Nepal in Asia ………………………………………………………9 Figure 2.3: Map of major administrative and topographical regions of Nepal .……….10 Figure 2.4: River in Terai flatlands of Nepal …………………………………………13 Figure 2.5: The terraced mid-hills of Nepal …………………………………………..14 Figure 2.6: The high mountains and Himalayas ………………………………………14 Figure 2.7: Cattle dung cakes drying in the sun ……………………………………….16 Figure 2.8: Household shrine for Hindu gods …………………………………………19 Figure 2.9: Worshipping the cow as an incarnation of the Hindu goddess Laxmi ……20 Figure 2.10: This low caste tailor cannot enter the home of the people for whom she works ….………………………………………………………22 Figure 2.11: Women’s social mobilization increases by attending village meetings …25 Figure 2.12: Political protesters prepare for a rally in a busy Kathmandu area ……….30 Figure 3.1: Traditional stove with open fire used to brew alcohol ……………………38 Figure 3.2: Typical two cook-hole mud improved cook stove ………………………..39 Figure 3.3: Inside a two cook-hole mud improved cook stove ………………………..40 Figure 3.4: Bricks for four improved cook stoves drying in the sun ………………….41 Figure 3.5A and B: Building an improved cook stove ……………….……………….42 Figure 3.6: Methane flame from biogas plant …………………………………………43 Figure 3.7: General biogas plant design ………………………………………………44 Figure 4.1: Kathmandu Valley district boundaries and headquarters …………………50 Figure 4.2: The city of Kathmandu is congested due to mass internal migration ……53 Figure 4.3: Chhaling Village Development Committee ……………………………….54 Figure 4.4: Toilet, washroom, and veranda constructed from bamboo …...……………54 Figure 4.5: Village girls attend school, but are often absent to perform farm work …..56 Figure 4.6: Typical scene of agricultural terraces and homes in Chhaling ……………57 Figure 4.7: Lower, irrigated rice fields .……………………………………………….59 Figure 4.8: Leaflitter is harvested from the forest …………………………………….60 Figure 4.9: Seti Devi Community Forest User Group Committee monthly meeting …62 Figure 5.1: Working with and learning about villagers is participant observation ……66 Figure 5.2: Villagers performed work as usual as I participated and observed ……….68 Figure 5.3: Biogas recipients are intermediate players of the case study ……………..73 Figure 6.1: Girls learn their place is at home or on the farm, not in the public sphere ...92 Figure 6.2: Community assets: labor, materials, and money ………………………….98 Figure 6.3: All female groups increase girl’s skills and management capacity ……...108 Figure 6.4: Information exchanged orally while working in fields …………………114 Figure 6.5: Preparing for biogas plant construction …………………………………117 Figure 7.1: Data was collected by interviewing biogas recipients and company staff ....134 Figure 7.2: CFUG members and project managers at a monthly CFUG meeting …..136 Figure 8.1: Field workers and villagers at the