BVCO is working with Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire (ADES) and the University of Tulear, Madagascar, to distribute energy efficient stoves to the community of Andavadoaka. These stoves provide economic, environmental, and health benefits.

Currently the community primarily uses wood and charcoal in three-stone open fires.  These simple stone-based stoves allow the fire, heat, smoke, and energy to escape around the sides. They are inefficient, unstable, and are the cause of multiple burns and smoke related illnesses.

Our solution is to introduce a combination, or choice, of recycled or solar-powered energy efficient stoves that are manufactured and maintained locally. These energy efficient and solar stoves can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 2 tonnes for each stove installed.

The Yoyo stove

The Yoyo stove is an energy efficient stove made from recycled materials that ADES and have been trailed in Madagascar. Using the Yoyo cuts fuel requirements by up to 3.5 times compared to the traditional three-stone design. Cooking using the stove works in the same way as with the traditional designs, it is simply more energy efficient and provides a safer cooking environment.  To find out more about the Yoyo stove, please see the information leaflet here.

Solar Stoves

The solar ovens and parabolic stoves both reduce the wood fuel requirement to zero if they were to be used all the time. Both these stoves require only the sun to fuel the cooking. However, as they are ineffective between dusk and dawn, households require an alternative cooking means for these periods. A combination of the solar stoves, solar ovens and the Yoyo stove can achieve the maximum energy and fuel savings. For example, the evening meals can be cooked in the afternoon by a solar stove and kept warm in the solar oven. ADES recommends that the Yoyo stove be used in the early morning and on cloudy and rainy days to get the best energy efficiency. It can be used without or in combination with the solar stove.

User comments on the Solar Parabola Stove "Before we used 6 sacks of charcoal per month. With the parabole, our charcoal consumption decreased to 2.5 - 3 sacks per month." "It will be good if the parabole is available in the village because people can economize firewood and charcoal, and thus spend less money and also preserve the surrounding forests. Clearing up forests will make the area drier."

Both stoves types are being constructed locally in the nearest large port of Tulear within the ADES workshop. The workshop trains local people to construct the stoves, who then train others themselves. Training is then provided for local villagers to use and repair the stoves as they are installed. BVCO will fund this training and construction, ensuring long-term sustainability of this project. Continual monitoring is being conduct to ensure evaluation of the stove and wood use, and to accurately confirm the carbon offset. Review our monitoring procedures in our methodology, here.

The stoves will thus provide:

Economic Benefits

This offset project provides employment opportunities for local people, as well reducing the amount that local households require to spend on fuel. The additional money released can then be used for financing educational aspirations, and other activities. By using even just the Yoyo stoves, a household can reduce its fuel expenditure at least 3.5 times.

Environmental Benefits

The spiny forest ecoregions of southern Madagascar are a truly unique environment with over 95% abundance of endemic plant species. The provision of efficient fuel stoves will significantly decrease the rate of deforestation.   

This region is home to the Mikea forest. Over 16% of the Mikea’s original forest cover has disappeared since 1962, and the annual rate of deforestation is increasing by 0.93% per annum, increasing from a steady 0.35% from 1962 to 1994. As it is unlikely that the population will decline by 20% over the next three generations, significant desforestation will continue unabated. (Figures from Seddon et al, 2000; Tobias and Seddon, 2002a)

Energy efficient stoves can provide a means of reducing the pressure on these areas by reducing deforestation, wood foraging, and the associated habitat degradation, by reducing the requirement for it.

Health Benefits

There are also distinct health-related benefits to using these energy efficient and solar stoves. With less smoke produced, the incidence of respiratory infection is likely to decrease. Recent research indicates that cooking smoke, and the resulting indoor air pollution in poorly ventilated homes, claims 1.6 million victims in developing countries every year. Cooking-related smoke is thus the fifth most lethal killer in developing countries, and accounts for 2.7% of the global disease burden. The introduction of safer cooking methods is vital in improving the quality of life for villagers in developing countries (All facts from WHO report: Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health (2006)).