Stove Design and Performance Testing Workshop 9-13 September 2013

13 September 2013

Participants getting ready for the  group photo

Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC), Center for Rural Technology, Nepal (CRT-N) and Renewable Energy Test Station (RETS) jointly hosted a 5-day Training on Cook Stove Design and Performance Testing at RETS Premises, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Compound in Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal from 9-13 September, 2013.  The training was sponsored by Winrock International and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and was led by Aprovecho Research Center.  Altogether 41, including 10 female and 31 male, participants from 26 organizations involved in improved cooking stove (ICS) development, dissemination and testing participated in the training.

Trainees conducting CCT with modified stoves

The primary objective of this capacity building training was to equip the organizations with cook stove design principles and cookstove testing knowledge to inform and improve stove design, performance and use. Participants in the training had the opportunity to learn how to test, evaluate and improve their stove models that use solid biomass as a fuel.

More than 4 million households in Nepal continue using solid biomass as the usual type of cooking fuel. So far, with the involvement of a number of organizations, AEPC has successfully disseminated more than 744,000 ICS, nearly 300,000 biogas and 600+ solar cookers in the country. In January this year, while celebrating Renewable Energy Week 2013, Government of Nepal made an ambitious announcement "Clean Cooking Solutions for all by 2017 (CCS 2017) thereby ensuring indoor air pollution free Nepal" with aims to provide cleaner cooking technologies to more than 3 million households by 2017. In addition, as more than 3 billion people around the world use solid fuels for their home cooking and heating, Nepal’s experience, expertise and achievements will contribute to the goal of 100 million homes using clean and efficient stoves by 2020.

At the closing 

The hosting organizations believe that this training will help in designing and selecting quality stoves suitable for Nepalese context and hence support in the dissemination of better quality stoves in the country ultimately supporting the mission of CCS 2017.

 (This was the press note sent to the newspapers on the closing of the workshop)