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June 2010

So, you wanna deploy cookstoves to every corner of the world? McKinsey & Co. has one word for you: networks

In a meeting this week with the folks from Acumen Fund, we were asked what was holding up the large-scale deployment of improved cookstove worldwide?

The truth is there is no simple answer. Take your pick: low levels of capital investments, tariff barriers, lack of incentive policies, fluctuation price of oil, poor social marketing, instability in the carbon credit market, absence of standards, etc.

Looking for solutions, the folks at McKinsey and Co. think stakeholders would do well to focus on networking and sharing resources.

Listen to the Harvard Business Review and they’ll tell you the US needs to spend more time investing in social entrepreneurs in the developing world and less playing the role of incubator.

So, you wanna deploy cookstoves to every corner of the world? McKinsey & Co. has one word for you: networks Read More »

Haiti RFP stove announcement: Quick wins environmental health project with community benefits

We’ve received the following announcement: Dear Improved Stoves Working Group, In the framework of the Environmental Health Protection and Management platform, we would like to let you know that IOM (International Organization for Migration, not to be confused with Institute of Medicine of the National Academies) has funding available for quick wins environmental health project

Haiti RFP stove announcement: Quick wins environmental health project with community benefits Read More »

Now we’re cooking: USAID to grant some $20m for indoor air pollution over 5 years

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to award a five-year $100 million Cooperative Agreement, Supportive Environments for Healthy Households and Communities. Approximately 20 percent of the proposed work will focus on indoor air quality. The RFA lists “increased use of alternatives to cooking with biomass fuels using traditional stoves and/or increased use of housing improvements to improve indoor air quality” as a key environmental health intervention.

Now we’re cooking: USAID to grant some $20m for indoor air pollution over 5 years Read More »

Energy Obesity vs Energy Poverty: Will US Corporate CEO’s address them simultaneously?

Bill Gates last week joined the CEOs of GE, Bank of America, Xerox, Lockheed Martin, and others, in calling for the United States to modernize its energy systems with investments in cleaner, more energy efficient technologies.

What seemed especially eerie is how the group’s exhortation could easily have been uttered by the top CEOs of companies based in developing countries.

Energy Obesity vs Energy Poverty: Will US Corporate CEO’s address them simultaneously? Read More »

Charcoal Production Wreaks Environmental Havoc in Somalia

By Amanda Wheat Although Somalis are no strangers to devastating droughts, uncertainty about weather patterns are rising with the temperature. As the climate changes and crops dwindle, many Somalis are forced to find alternate means of income. The result is an increase in charcoal production, which further compounds the degradation of Somalia’s forests and livelihoods.

Charcoal Production Wreaks Environmental Havoc in Somalia Read More »

To achieve cookstove scale we need standards

What’s more important: reducing fuel consumption or reducing emissions of black carbon and other toxic gases?

The answer is, of course, both, but designing a stove that meets the highest current ratings in emissions reduction and energy consumption at a reasonable cost has so far proven elusive.

Coming up with the right standards will be critical to getting cookstove projects to scale, especially since carbon-credit financing will be vital for some projects to make financial sense, says Dean Still of the Aprovecho Research Center.

To achieve cookstove scale we need standards Read More »

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