Nepalgunj, 30 September 2013, a cooking demonstration at the Batika Hotel in Nepalgunj showcasing highly efficient, portable, pre-fabricated large scale improved biomass stoves marked the start of a 3 months test for institutional improved cooking stoves (IICS). The testing has been launched here today amidst a ceremony attended by close to one hundred people, key representatives of local government bodies and private sector organizations. The event was organized and hosted by the Nepal Energy Efficiency Programme (NEEP) and the Support of Measures to Strengthen the Peace Process (STPP). Both programmes are supported through German Development Cooperation - GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The cooking demonstration with highly efficient wood fired institutional cooking stoves will serve as a kick-off event for a test of these stoves in 3 districts in the southern part of the Midwestern and Far Western region of Nepal. The test shall give initial information on field performance, level of user satisfaction, and economic aspect of the pre-fabricated stoves. It is expected that the generated test data will give indications on how to enhance the national IICS dissemination practice. In the five southern districts of the Mid- and Far Western development regions there are around 184 market places of various sizes with approximately 2000 hotel/restaurants. Apart from that there are roughly 2500 schools and barracks. However, within the national programs for the dissemination of improved cooking stoves the promotion of IICS has always played a subordinate role compared to household ICS. With no data on field performance available potential fuel and cost savings through IICS cannot be quantified, furthermore user satisfaction and the possible economic and marketing feasibility of IICS still remain in the dark. Against the backdrop of diminish forest reserves and increasing prices for LPG and kerosene it is expected but still to be proven that IICS are economically feasible and may have a hitherto untapped but viable place in the cooking sector of Nepal. More than 4 million households of Nepal are still using solid biomass as the main cooking fuel. Energy is vital for economic and social development. In Nepal, wood and other biomass fuels are still the primary source of energy for the majority of people. Nearly 80 percent of the nation’s cooking energy is supplied from biomass. The traditional use of biomass in households, institutions and commercial establishments creates serious health problems for their users. Data from the World Health Organization states that harmful smoke from cooking with biomass fuel is the fifth worst overall health risk in developing countries. The inefficient use of biomass contributes to deforestation and environmental degradation and it is estimated that cook stoves account for approximately 20 percent of global black carbon emissions which makes them highly climate relevant. The support by German Development Cooperation - GIZ for the promotion of improved cooking stoves is within the framework of bilateral development cooperation between Nepal and the Federal Republic of Germany through NEEP executed by Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) with Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) as implementing agency and STPP executed by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.

Further information:

Click here for more information on NEEP activities on Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS).

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