November 2011

We are delighted to welcome Liz Bates as our most recent associate. She will be assisting HED in delivering a busy schedule of baseline studies and stove testing programmes across Africa in coming months.

Liz worked for the NGO Practical Action for many years, where she was international manager of a DFID-funded programme of work on Smoke, Health and Household energy. For several years she was editor of the journal 'Boiling Point', and occasionally edits household energy materials for GIZ. Liz is also involved with the HEDON household energy network.

October 2011

HED is in talks with two major players in the carbon finance industry looking to roll out improved stove programs. We will be working with these groups as a group of improved cookstove specialists, now almost exclusively focused on carbon-finance programs. We will be developing, implementing and delivering baseline surveys and non-renewable biomass (NRB) studies, as well as more qualitative insights into user behaviour and market reaction to a range of technologies. Our project portfolio that stretches across the African continent.

In the race for registration of PoAs in non-'least developed countries' (LDCs) before the end of 2012, there is much competition in this field - as well as commercial sensitivity. We will announce these partnerships as we are able in due course.

September 2011

HED Consulting has been leading a series of controlled cooking tests (CCTs) on a range of stoves in urban areas in West Africa, to determine fuel savings compared with traditional cooking methods. Data from the tests are contributing to an improved stove CDM POA in the region.

These tests have provided further opportunity for HED to refine our tools for data collection and reporting; remote-management of these complex protocols; and analysis of data to meet specific precision requirements.

2 August 2011

HED Consulting has designed and implemented a wide range of household energy surveys in 2011 mainly for carbon finance programmes. One of the key questions asked by validators has been about the number of stoves used simultaneously, and the degree to which efficient stoves replace traditional stoves or three stone fires. We now have a body of learning on this, and Kirstie Jagoe and Jonathan Rouse are consolidating this into a short working paper for publication.

Issues encountered include definitions of "the household"; sometimes many stoves sit next to one another in a compound but are used by a number of discreet families, giving the impression of multiple stove use when in fact individual families (households) use only one. In other instances, households own multiple stoves in various locations (for example in the home, and outside), but only use each at certain times. Stove use patterns can also vary seasonally. Accounting for seasons is important and ensuring validity of survey questions is particularly critical.

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15 June 2011

HED Consulting's work with C Quest Capital LLC continues with further work on the Project Development Documents (PDDs) and on the ground in Nigeria. The project plans to introduce 2 million rocket stoves across Nigeria, subsidised with CDM finance. Our studies have shown a dearth of clean-burning stoves in Nigeria, though a high rate of wood fuel use, and high household expenditure. In addition to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, the project should result in substantial socio-economical and health benefits to users.

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25 May 2011

We are pleased to be continuing building a relationship with CO2 Balance here in the UK, undertaking baseline assessment work on a range of Gold Standard improved cookstove programmes in East Africa. Specifically we have been designing & planning kitchen surveys and kitchen performance tests to provide data to feed into project development documents (PDDs).

Further details on their activities may be found at the CO2 Balance website.

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20 Apr 2011

In April HED Consulting began working with Carbon Impacts, a UK-based renewable energy and carbon asset developer, on a feasibility analysis of a proposed activity in South Asia. Specifically we are looking at the NRB non-renewable bimass 'case'; fuel & stove behaviours, and potential market scale and technologies.

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7 March 2011

A recent partnership has been forged between the Shell Foundation, CQuest Capital LLC and Envirofit International, to scale a carbon-financed improved stove project in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country that has the largest household wood-burning population in Africa. However the high costs associated with developing affordable 'cleaner' stoves that cut these emissions, and getting these to market in a country of Nigeria's size, has meant that for centuries people have had no widespread solution to this problem.

The partnership between Envirofit, Shell Foundation and C-Quest seeks to solve this problem by using cutting-edge stove technology and carbon financing to distribute stoves throughout Nigeria at prices that consumers can afford. The work will begin in villages in Kano State in the north of the country in March 2011 and is then planned to extend to other parts of the country based on market demand. Importantly the solution has already been validated in India, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

HED Consulting undertook much of the technical work for this project, including baseline surveys and stove performance testing.

Further information from the Shell Foundation website.

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21-26 February 2011

Jonathan and Kirstie joined more than 200 attendees at the PCIA Forum in Lima, Peru. Thanks to all who made this such an invaluable opportunity to hear about advances in technologies, monitoring and testing approaches, climate-impact science, and innovative large-scale and carbon financed initiatives. Great to catch up with old colleagues, put a face to others' names, and meet many new professionals for the first time.

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8 November 2010

Jonathan Rouse has been invited to sit as a core member on the M&E Working Group. The objective of the Global Allinace is to work collectively with its partners to stimulate a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels. This will help it achieve - and ideally surpass - its target of 100 million stoves by 2020 (coined "100 by '20"). The M&E working group's main objectove is the development of an M&E framework, providing key guidelines for monitoring progress towards the achievement of the output target (100 by 20), as well as achievement of the outcomes and sustainable impacts that are central to the GACC mission. The working group aims to propose a framework that is both highly credible and pragmatic.

Keep in touch with progress through cleancookstoves.org

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8 November 2010

Many months of work establishing the Nigeria PoA baseline and project documentation for CQuest Capital LLC have now culminated in the final project development documents, now published on the UNFCCC website for public consultation. Download from the UNFCCC CDM pages

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October 2010

HED Consulting has been working on developing baseline materials for E+Carbon in Togo. We have partnered with Raffaella Bellanca of HEDON who is assisting with data collection on the ground.

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September 2010

We are pleased to be working with CO2 Balance, a carbon management company based here in the UK, as advisors on a range of mainly Gold Standard improved cookstove programmes around the world.

Further details on their activities may be found at the CO2 Balance website.

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This publication marks the end of a three-year research programme in Bangladesh led by Priti Kumar of the World Bank, Delhi, with M. Khaliquzzaman, Doug Barnes, Jonathan Rouse, and Vani Kurup.

Despite a number of initiatives to introduce improved cookstoves to Bangladesh during the last thirty years, some 25 million households in Bangladesh still use traditional stoves or open fires for cooking. Indoor air pollution remains a major public health issue.

By contrast, the 'Total Sanitation Campaign' has seen an increase of about 55% in sanitation coverage since 2003, and now stands at nearly 88%. This has been achieved through a range of approaches, sharing common themes of community consultation and mobilisation, little subsidy, and participation local government, civil sighting and entrepreneurs. The government mainly played the role of providing policy support, as well as provision for the ultra-poor.

This report presents findings from a review of water, sanitation and household energy programmes in Bangladesh as well as household energy programmes from around the world. It particularly considers what the energy sector might learn from and build on from the 'Total Sanitation Campaign'.

Winrock International and the Village Education Resource Centre (VERC) also contributed to this work. Doug Barnes has also Blogged about this report here.

Download a full copy of the report (PDF 2.49MB).

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Research Centre on Appropriate Technologies and for Environmental Management in Developing Countries (CeTamb)
8-9 July, Brescia, Italy.

Jonathan Rouse has been invited to present a series of lectures on household energy to a group of development professionals and students. Topics will include 'Improved cookstoves in low-income countries: do they still matter?' and 'Carbon finance versus donor-funded household energy interventions; implications on implementation, monitoring and sustainability'.

Further details may be found at the CeTAmb website.

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World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh
June 2, 2010, 10:00 - 13:00pm.

Jonathan Rouse will join Priti Kumar and Dr Khalequzzamman to facilitate this World Bank-led workshop presenting findings from a 3-year review of lessons for the sector. The review focused on lessons from within the household energy sector in Bangladesh and around the world, as well as from the Total Sanitation campaign, which has enjoyed remarkable success. Sanitation and household energy also have some notable similarities, exlored in this work.

The final report will be published later this year, and will be linked to from this website.

Workshop by invitation only; contact us if you are interested in attending.

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HEDON London Regional Interest Group
Thursday 25th of March, 18:30 to 20:30, The Carpenters Arms Pub, London

Despite their low cost and decades of initiatives developing and promoting them, improved stoves remain a low priority for millions of potential users globally, and few are disseminated through viable business models. Commercial approaches are increasingly being recognized as a way of achieving greater scale. Applying marketing approaches (including analysing the market and competition, and careful product development, pricing and promotion) are key for success.

What has this got to do with compost? The issues of promoting compost and stoves are notably similar: both are often low-cost, under-valued products with great environmental and human benefits, but which lack ready-made markets. A recently published book on marketing compost presents the basic steps of a marketing approach in an accessible form. Jonathan Rouse will present some of the key principles and consider, with your help, whether and how these may be applied to our work of developing viable, robust stove projects and businesses based on a valued product.

This LondonRIG evening will also contribute to HEDON's thinking on marketing, and whether there is a need and demand for similar bespoke marketing resources for the household energy sector.

The short handout from the evening can be downloaded here

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10 February 2010

We are pleased to announce that HED Consulting and Berkeley Air have formed a partnership enabling us to more easily share resources and expertise. Berkeley Air is a California-based corporation whose mission is to protect global health and climate by providing high quality, scientific monitoring of household energy innovations.

This move builds on five years of collaboration between individuals in the organisations on a range of household energy training, monitoring and pilot activities in Africa and Asia.

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6 January 2010

As part of its carbon finance activities, HED Consulting has been awarded a contract by US-based C-Quest Capital LLC to undertake a due diligence assessment for a stove programme in Africa. It involves assessing the market and biomass sources, and testing the performance of the stoves in-situ.

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14 December 2009

An outline proposal has been shared with a range of potential funders, publishers and users. Please take a look and let us know what you think.

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10 November 2009

Commercial approaches have much to offer stove projects. These involve identifying and engaging markets, and ensuring that your product is designed, priced and pitched appropriately. In other words, applying a marketing approach.

A breakout-group consultation at the PCIA Uganda Forum in March 2009 identified a demand for a stove marketing resource. The purpose would be to provide a practical guide to marketing for organisations looking to build successful markets for improved cook stoves in developing countries. It would focus on:

• the marketing environment;
• how to undertake a market assessment;
• product positioning and location;
• pricing; and,
• principles of promotion.

Many marketing resources are available, though few are geared towards low-value goods in low-income countries. Jonathan Rouse recently published a handbook on marketing compost (see Publications). This could be adapted for stoves, as promoting compost and stoves is quite similar; often both are low-cost, under-valued products with great environmental and human benefits. HED Consulting, with the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA), is exploring how to take this forward.

Get in touch to comment or contribute.

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12 October 2009

Many excellent resources are available to household energy practitioners in the field, including information on technical issues, implementation and monitoring. However, there is no substitute for tailored advice from experts.

A household energy technical enquiries service could provide support to southern partners on many topics including how to

• improve the design of a fuel-efficient cooking stove;
• design a monitoring and evaluation strategy;
• measure impact on indoor air pollution;
• choose a stove for a refugee situation;
• access carbon finance for your project.

HED Consulting is presently exploring the need for this service, and how it could best be delivered. Ideally, qualifying organisations and individuals would access up to one day of an expert's time, for free. The cost would be covered by a third-party funder.

Is there a demand for this service? How could it be funded? Could it fit in with any existing services or networks? Contact Jonathan Rouse if you are a potential user, contributor or funder of this service.

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9 July 2009

The World Health Organisation Catalogue of Methods was published a year ago, consolidating tools and methods for evaluating household energy and health programs from around the world. This was intended to be a dynamic resource, accounting for new and amended tools. How can this best be achieved? A revised printed version? An online wiki?

Get in touch to have your say.

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