April 2012: The World Bank administered Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) has published a book, titled “Cleaner Hearths, Better Homes: New Stoves for India and the Developing World,” which documents India’s improved biomass stove programmes and recommends ways that the international community can promote commercially viable energy efficient stoves that are also user appropriate.

The book highlights that effective improved stove programs, along with efforts to promote petroleum-based cooking fuels, can help avoid the significant public health costs associated with the use of unventilated biomass stoves and. It contains case studies from across India describing various approaches, innovations, and actor roles in promoting the uptake of improved stoves. Case studies cover: commercial approaches for local entrepreneurs selling products to a national programme for improved stoves; the role of women in successful programmes; the importance of technical innovations and institutions and the need for cooperation among various levels of government, traditional potters, and NGOs; rural development approaches; and the involvement of NGOs in implementing a national programme for improved stoves.

The book also discusses the future of the stove, including suggesting the adoption of stoves that use liquid fuels, such as kerosene or LPG, which are cleaner to use than most improved biomass stoves; the introduction of subsidies for improved stoves; the need to develop technical backup units to support the design and testing of various improved stove models and parts; and the need for coordination among stakeholders without government support.

The book also draws attention to lessons learned from the national programme for improved stoves that might be useful to other parts of the developing world, including the need for: field monitoring and evaluation measures; greater interaction between stove users, builders and designers; supporting technical and design infrastructure; better quality control; well-targeted subsidies and equitable pricing; and effective implementation, marketing and customer focus, including integration with social and health objectives, and effective decentralization. [Publication: Cleaner Hearths, Better Homes: New Stoves for India and the Developing World]