Clean Cookstoves and Fuel
Truck delivering bags of charcoal
Useful Links:Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves:PPAF is a partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private initiative led by the United Nations Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and preserve the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions.
Click here for its FAQ. |
Our Work:Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, PPAF gives special attention to helping overcome the poverty – respiratory disease – deforestation trap of families’ heavy reliance on charcoal for cooking. This includes research, seminars and recommendations, and steps toward commercialization of low-cost cookstoves, especially those fueled by ethanol from Haitian sugarcane.
The Haitian-American business group SIMACT and non-profits including Project Gaia helped launch fieldwork. PPAF has collaborated with Haitian businesses, farmers and distillers in the Southeast & around Port-au-Prince. An Inter-American Development Bank consultancy enabled PPAF to focus on farmers and distillers and on fuel production, cookstove use, and building awareness of possibilities. A UN Environment Programme grant enabled PPAF to collaborate with Haitian company D&E Green Enterprises for design and testing of a locally-made ethanol stove, and to prepare a business plan for roll-out of stoves and fuel. PPAF is currently working on the fuel side, to improve production methods, capacity and profitability of small-scale distillers through consultancy and training programs. |
Background:Worldwide three billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking and heating. The World Health Organization emphasizes that this causes 2 million premature deaths annually, with women & young children most affected.
Clean, efficient, durable, safe, and affordable cookstoves are – along with clean fuels – central to most solutions to the health, environmental, and other risks inherent in cooking with fire. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was established in September 2010. It counts as members many leading foundations, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, corporate leaders, governments and UN agencies, and it is hosted in the UN Foundation. The Alliance aims to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. In Haiti 75 % of total energy use is wood and charcoal for cooking. This has contributed to massive deforestation, leading to erosion and hurricane mudslides. Moreover the fumes from the 4 million tons of firewood consumed each year produce health hazards and reinforce the cycle of poverty. Clean-burning cookstoves will help solve these problems. Many are needed. |
Speech from the CEO of D&E Green Enterprises at the Clinton Foundation- September 2016
Congratulations to Duquesne Fednard and D&E Green! As stated at CGI this week, 103 K improved stoves sold in 5 years, 215 jobs created, 1 million trees saved, 400 K tons CO2 saved and significant marketing innovations. Keep on keeping on!
Click here to watch the speech. |
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Haiti's Cooking Crisis -
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Update on Work at a Guildive in Haiti- April 2016
PPAF entered a new effort for work with small-scale distillers to develop ethanol fuel from sugarcane. Senior Fellow Tom Setchel undertook a consulting trip in April to initiate Phase One of the upgrade of the small-scale distillery “Guildive Roche Blanche.” He and the owner worked for a week with guildive staff and met several people who could become involved in future. Phase One covers establishing a monitoring system for weight, moisture content and sugar content of the sugarcane received at the guildive, and actions to improve productivity. Phase Two will deal with fermentation and Phase Three with distillation.
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Improving Cooking at a Haitian Orphanage- March-April 2016
Thanks to a serendipitous meeting with Ms Danielle Morron in February at the UN, a Haitian orphanage is now benefiting from clean cookstoves. The meeting led to purchase of Eco Recho (reduced charcoal) cookstoves from PPAF's partner D&E Green, and regular purchases through D&E of briquettes from sugarcane bagasse, made in Haiti by Carbon Roots International. Ms. Morron heads the Foundation Marie Haiti, which supports the Children of Mary Mother of the Divine Mercy orphanage in Port-au-Prince. She wrote to PPAF: "I'm happy to let you know the clean cookstoves from D&E Green are in full swing at my orphanage, and the cooks absolutely love them! They appreciate the non-hazardous nature of these stoves especially in the tight, enclosed room where they cook. The briquettes look just like black charcoal, but are made with sugar cane waste and produce 90% less soot than traditional charcoal. AND, the briquettes are cheaper than charcoal! “
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PPAF's Go Fund Me Campaign-
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Working on Ethanol and Stoves Production- October 2015
Tom Setchel, Senior Fellow/Energy Consultant traveled to Haiti in October to work with distillery (guildive) owners and with D&E Green Enterprises staff on development of local production of ethanol and on results of ethanol stove testing. His findings would help shape our business plan for the future.
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Ethanol Stove Trials Proceed- September 2015
Since award of the grant UNEP, PPAF has worked with D&E Green Enterprises, a Haitian stove manufacturer, to refine our jointly designed ethanol stove. The PPAF team worked with D&E Green CEO Duquesne Fednard, Manufacturing Manager Al Shelton and their staff to undertake stove kitchen tests with 30 families in June and September. The stove was named the "Recho EcoVit," which ties into other stoves D&E makes. The team also met with government officials, guildive (distillery) owners, business people, researchers and academics. (See Newsletter of September 13, 2015 for more details.)
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Public Health Master's Students Assist PPAF- May 2015
For the past several months, under the direction of Dr. Padmini Murthy, a team of graduate students from New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practice researched and wrote about our work in Haiti for their Master's Degree Capstone project. Their excellent efforts will benefit our work throughout this year. In addition, an environmental science Capstone team led by Dr. Diane Heck and Dr. Michael Sharkajian studied the implications of the recent Ebola crisis in West Africa and the potential for ethanol cookstoves. Both teams presented their work at a School event on April 28. |
UN Environment Programme Grant for PPAF - May 2015
We were pleased to announce that the United Nations Environment Programme awarded PPAF a grant to expand our work in Haiti on Ethanol Cookstoves and Fuel. Since 2014 PPAF has worked with D&E Green Enterprises, an award-winning Haitian company that manufactures and sells "improved" cookstoves that burn less charcoal or wood than traditional stoves. We will collaborate to refine the design of our new ethanol stove, test it with families of potential customers and develop a business plan for commercial rollout. Working with women is an important component.
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New Ethanol Stove-
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Video: Haitian Ethanol, Fuel and Cookstoves - June 2014
Posted under Media- Videos is a video that summarizes the work and findings of PPAF’s consulting assignment for the Inter-American Development Bank a few months previously.
The video illustrates how Haiti’s poverty, respiratory disease, and environmental problems relate to burning wood and charcoal for family cooking and small businesses, and the possibilities for fuel ethanol from Haitian sugarcane. PPAF and associated organizations are currently developing actions to address these issues. |
Putting it Together Conference -
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PPAF at IDB-hosted Haitian Bioenergy Workshop – Dec. 2013
On the basis of the PPAF consultancy results, the IDB invited David Stillman to participate in a workshop on developing a national bioenergy action plan for Haiti. This took place December 10 in Port-au-Prince.
PPAF is working with various organizations to build upon the findings and recommendations from the consultancy with the IDB. |
PPAF Completes IDB Consultancy – December 2013
In its work for the Inter-American Development Bank PPAF sent two teams, including a microbiologist, agronomist and distillation specialist to work with local organizations in Haiti. They assessed current practices and the means to improve alcohol production for cookstove fuel.
They continued pilot programs with families and organizations, advocated support for improved distillery equipment, promoted improvements in sugarcane farming and studied price elasticity for both stoves and fuel. A distiller who began implementing the experts' recommendations immediately noticed improvements. |
IDB Supports New Work by PPAF- September 2013
The Inter-American Development Bank agreed to a three-month consultancy by PPAF for work in Haiti. A summer of preparations preceded this next phase of the project. The assignment focuses on steps to increase the volume and decrease the price of ethanol for fuel; maintain and grow PPAF’s cookstove pilot efforts; and build greater awareness of the stove and fuel possibilities.
Activities include continuing pilot programs with families and organizations, building financial support for improved distillery equipment, encouraging improvements in sugarcane farming, and price elasticity assessments. |
Distillation and Ethanol Investigations- September 2013
In the September visit to Haiti under the IDB consultancy, the PPAF team of David Stillman and George Garland worked with consultants Anthony Bouchereau and Cara Mullen and with Fritz Clairvil of Path to Haiti. In addition to visiting smaller operations, they toured Rhum Barbancourt, the oldest and most successful continuously operating company in Haiti, and the Darbonne Mill, a major sugar enterprise in Leogane.
The team examined local distilleries, tested sugar levels in cane samples, met with representatives of the Association of Farmers and Distillers of Leogane and of community and women's organizations, and met with women in the pilot project based at the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel. |
Field Testing and Analysis-
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PPAF New Video- May 2013
A new video “PPAF: Putting Policies into Practice” gives a 5-minute overview of the Foundation's activities and achievements. It highlights the origins and priorities and showcases the work on ethanol cookstoves and fuel in Haiti. The Acknowledgements at the end list many of the partners with whom PPAF collaborates. Special thanks go to Stevie Rosenfeld of Gateway Media, who volunteered to create the video.
View it in the “Media” section of the PPAF website. |
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Project on the Ground in Haiti-
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Cookstoves & UN Women's Commission -
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Disaster Response & Recovery -
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Fuel Distilleries & Cookstove Meetings - January 2011
PPAF organized meetings in January for representatives of Blume Distillation, LLC and Project Gaia on small-scale distilleries for alcohol (ethanol) from sugarcane and similar feedstocks to fuel cookstoves, motorbikes, etc.
Meetings were held with potential investors, UN Ambassadors from Madagascar and Haiti, and UN officials. The Haitian-American investment group SImACT Inc. organized a related session in Brooklyn with over 50 participants. |
Fuel Production International Forum- Nov.29-Dec.1, 2010
PPAF's David Stillman and Fritz Clairvil of SImACT, Inc. participated in the “Clean Indoor Air Cookstove and Alcohol Fuel Production International Forum” organized by the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) and Project Gaia, and held in Atlanta, Georgia from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 2010.
Click here for more information under the section News and Events. |
Stoves & Fuel at Jacmel Workshop - June 2010
PPAF partnered with the Haitian-American investment group SImACT to hold the Workshop “Reconstruction and Business Opportunities in Southern Haiti” at the Cap Lamandou Hotel in historic, damaged Jacmel Haiti, on June 12-13, 2010. The working group on ethanol cookstoves (in photo above) drew lively participation.
Click here for more information under the section News and Events. |
Presentations at Haiti Summit - March 2010
The "Haiti – Resources for Reconstruction & Humanitarian Assistance Summit," was held March 9 and 10, 2010 in Miami. The event stressed the role of the private sector in Haiti's long-term reconstruction. It was organized by Global Investment Summits and the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA). PPAF Executive Director David Stillman was an invited speaker and hosted one of the discussion tables.
Regine Barjon (BioTek Solutions, Inc.), Harry Stokes & Ms Brady Luceno (Project Gaia), and David Stillman began developing ideas for collaboration on stoves & fuel in Haiti. |
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