Re-thinking china's densified biomass fuel policies: Large or small scale?

Shan, Ming; Ding-kai, LI; Jiang, Yi; Yang, Xudong

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2016.02.050

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Other distribution models require that households travel to the biomass processing facility using their own means of transport to purchase pellets. Distribution systems for pellets in rural areas are a challenge, particularly in cases where the density of users is relatively low (Shan et al, 2016). In addition to often limited road infrastructure, seasonal fluctuations in the time and effort required to deliver pellets, and availability of reliable vehicle fleets, simple economies of scale make distribution of pellets to rural areas often untenable.…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supply Considerations for Scaling Up Clean Cooking Fuels for Household Energy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

et al. 2019

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Promoting access to clean household cooking energy is an important subject for policy making in low-and middle-income countries, in light of urgent and global efforts to achieve universal energy access by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 7). In 2014, the World Health Organization issued "Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion", which recommended a shift to cleaner fuels rather than promotion of technologies that more efficiently combust solid fuels. This study fills an important gap in the literature on transitions to household use of clean cooking energy by reviewing supply chain considerations for clean fuel options in low-and middle-income countries. For the purpose of this study, we consider electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), alcohol fuels, biogas, and compressed biomass pellets burned in high performing gasifier stoves to be clean fuel options. Each of the clean fuels reviewed in this study, as well as the supply of electricity, presents both constraints and opportunities for enhanced production, supply, delivery, and long-term sustainability and scalability in resource-poor settings. These options are reviewed and discussed together with policy and regulatory considerations to help in making these fuel and energy choices available and affordable. Our hope is that researchers, government officials and policy makers, and development agencies and investors will be aided by our comparative analysis of these clean household energy choices.

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Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supply Considerations for Scaling Up Clean Cooking Fuels for Household Energy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

et al. 2019

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“…Current rural energy policies in China support the production of processed biomass fuels (e.g. pellets or briquettes) (NDRC 2007, Wang et al 2015, which are most efficiently burned in gasifier and semi-gasifer stove designs (Shan et al 2016, Roth 2013. While the supply of processed biomass fuel in China is promising, the widespread acceptability and effectiveness of semi-gasifier interventions amongst China's rural population are largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption and use of a semi-gasifier cooking and water heating stove and fuel intervention in the Tibetan Plateau, China

Clark

Carter

Shan

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Improved cookstoves and fuels, such as advanced gasifier stoves, carry the promise of improving health outcomes, preserving local environments, and reducing climate-forcing air pollutants. However, low adoption and use of these stoves in many settings has limited their benefits. We aimed to improve the understanding of improved stove use by describing the patterns and predictors of adoption of a semi-gasifier stove and processed biomass fuel intervention in southwestern China. Of 113 intervention homes interviewed, 79% of homes tried the stove, and the majority of these (92%) continued using it 5-10 months later. One to five months after intervention, the average proportion of days that the semi-gasifier stove was in use was modest (40.4% [95% CI 34.3-46.6]), and further declined over 13 months. Homes that received the stove in the first batch used it more frequently (67.2% [95% CI 42.1À92.3] days in use) than homes that received it in the second batch (29.3% [95% CI 13.8À44.5] days in use), likely because of stove quality and user training. Household stove use was positively associated with reported cooking needs and negatively associated with age of the main cook, household socioeconomic status, and the availability of substitute cleaner-burning stoves. Our results show that even a carefully engineered, multi-purpose semi-gasifier stove and fuel intervention contributed modestly to overall household energy use in rural China. Environ. Res. Lett. 12 (2017) 075004

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“…The household energy intervention package included a semi-gasifier cookstove and a pelletized biomass fuel. It is beyond the scope of this specific study to address the production of a reliable supply of pelletized biomass, and the feasibility of developing this energy supply at scale in rural China has been discussed in greater detail elsewhere (Shan et al 2016). However, the importance of a reliable fuel supply should not be overlooked.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the 16 homes where THU stove emissions and fuel use were measured, daily consumption of biomass pellet fuel by the semi-gasifier stove did not exceed 1 kg, and household gross annual cooking fuel consumption for the semi-gasifier stove would be estimated to not exceed 0.5 t (calculated under the assumption that the same amount of fuel is used all 365 d of the year), representing a ∼80% reduction in fuel consumption relative to the daily average fuel use observed with traditional wood-burning cookstoves alone (Shan et al 2016, Carter et al 2016. Rural homes may save time and effort that was previously spent collecting firewood, a benefit mentioned by many stove users and their family members during interviews (table S1).…”

Section: Stove and Fuel Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rural homes may save time and effort that was previously spent collecting firewood, a benefit mentioned by many stove users and their family members during interviews (table S1). If the processed biomass fuel were produced at a village-level factory, we estimate that a household's annual expenditure on pelletized fuel for cooking would be ∼US$25 or less, roughly equivalent with daily cooking with LPG for one month (Shan et al 2016).…”

Section: Stove and Fuel Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A user-centered, iterative engineering approach for advanced biomass cookstove design and development

Shan

Carter

Baumgartner

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Unclean combustion of solid fuel for cooking and other household energy needs leads to severe household air pollution and adverse health impacts in adults and children. Replacing traditional solid fuel stoves with high efficiency, low-polluting semi-gasifier stoves can potentially contribute to addressing this global problem. The success of semi-gasifier cookstove implementation initiatives depends not only on the technical performance and safety of the stove, but also the compatibility of the stove design with local cooking practices, the needs and preferences of stove users, and community economic structures. Many past stove design initiatives have failed to address one or more of these dimensions during the design process, resulting in failure of stoves to achieve long-term, exclusive use and market penetration. This study presents a user-centered, iterative engineering design approach to developing a semi-gasifier biomass cookstove for rural Chinese homes. Our approach places equal emphasis on stove performance and meeting the preferences of individuals most likely to adopt the clean stove technology. Five stove prototypes were iteratively developed following energy market and policy evaluation, laboratory and field evaluations of stove performance and user experience, and direct interactions with stove users. The most current stove prototype achieved high performance in the field on thermal efficiency (ISO Tier 3) and pollutant emissions (ISO Tier 4), and was received favorably by rural households in the Sichuan province of Southwest China. Among household cooks receiving the final prototype of the intervention stove, 88% reported lighting and using it at least once. At five months post-intervention, the semi-gasifier stoves were used at least once on an average of 68% [95% CI: 43, 93] of days. Our proposed design strategy can be applied to other stove development initiatives in China and other countries.

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Re-thinking china's densified biomass fuel policies: Large or small scale?

Cited by 28 publications

References 17 publications

Supply Considerations for Scaling Up Clean Cooking Fuels for Household Energy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Supply Considerations for Scaling Up Clean Cooking Fuels for Household Energy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Adoption and use of a semi-gasifier cooking and water heating stove and fuel intervention in the Tibetan Plateau, China

A user-centered, iterative engineering approach for advanced biomass cookstove design and development

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