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Una reciente evaluación realizada por los refugiados de la Mujer de la Comisión en Haití constató que el precio del carbón ha aumentado en un 40% (CMR y el PMA 2010). Cómo ayudar a las poblaciones sujetas a desarrollar la capacidad de producción de biocombustibles líquidos puede ofrecer una importante solución a la pobreza energética en las comunidades desplazadas de Haití y contribuir a su desarrollo a largo plazo de la autosuficiencia energética.

Proyecto Gaia ha estado trabajando en Haití para promover el etanol y la Estufa CleanCook - una estufa a base de alcohol - como alternativa a las estufas que queman biomasa sólida (es decir, madera, carbón vegetal y briquetas.) El etanol es tan limpia como gas licuado de petróleo, más barata que el carbón, más seguro que el queroseno y tiene más potencial que las briquetas de basura. En África, el Proyecto Gaia ha acumulado más de 2 millones de días de cocinar con la estufa CleanCook sin un solo accidente de cierta importancia.

La pregunta más común que aparezcan durante nuestras conversaciones con los responsables políticos y los empresarios sociales es: ** "¿El suministro de etanol, sea sostenible? Y ¿dónde estaría la oferta provienen de donaciones después tocaban a su fin? "**

Esta es la pregunta clave de la sostenibilidad y la razón de por qué estamos tan interesados en Haití. No sólo fue Haití una vez al líder productor de azúcar y una destilería de etanol de bebidas para la exportación, así como el mercado local, pero también Haití existe en las rutas comerciales durante el cual miles de millones de litros de etanol cada año el flujo de camino a un mercado de combustibles en el los Estados Unidos. Este etanol, sobre todo de Brasil, generalmente el precio más competitivo en el mercado de materias primas, proporcionará una fuente de combustible para Haití-más barato que el petróleo-como Haití acumula su propia producción local (Etiopía Petróleo de datos empresariales). De hecho, el Gobierno brasileño se ha comprometido a donar más de 100.000 litros y un litros otros 400.000 en los próximos dos años.

Doug Barnes, at the World Bank June, 2010

There are 3 billion people in developing countries that rely on solid fuels for almost all of their cooking. The question can be asked how many of these over 800 million households cook with an improved stove? The answer comes from a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Like any good mystery story you will have to skip to the end for the answer. All I will say is that the results may surprise you.

Doug Barnes Complete Article: Improved Stoves in Developing Countries by the Numbers


The statistics in Doug Barnes' article are drawn primarily from this WHO United Nations report, which has some Great Information about Biomass Energy use and the Health Impacts of that use.

The "Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries - A Review focusing on the Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa" report draws attention to the energy access situation beyond the conventional focus on electricity, especially in poorer developing countries where access is the most constrained.

Main topics covered by the report include:

  • Energy access situation in LDCs and Sub-Saharan Africa, including access to electricity and modern fuels
  • Fuels and improved stoves used for cooking in developing countries
  • Health impacts attributable to indoor air pollution from household use of solid fuels for cooking and heating
  • Developing countries with modern energy access targets, and
  • An analysis of different energy access scenarios for 2015, to estimate the progress in energy access that will be needed for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Some Key Points from the report

Access to modern energy services is still low in developing countries and
this lack of access disproportionately affects Least Developed Countries (LDC)s and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

  • Three billion people, i.e. almost half of humanity, rely on solid fuels –traditional biomass and coal – as the available modern energy services fail to meet their needs. More than 80% of people in LDCs and SSA primarily rely on solid fuels, compared to 56% of those in developing countries as a whole.
  • Two million deaths per annum are associated with the burning of solid fuels indoors in unventilated kitchens. Children bear 44 percent of this toll, and among adults women bear 60 percent of the burden.
  • Almost a quarter of the world’s population still lives in darkness; over 80% of them in South Asia and SSA. More than 70% of people in LDCs and SSA lack access to electricity, compared to28% of those in developing countries as a whole.

World Food Program sets out to start the save stoves initiative. The initiative is focused on refugees and other poor women, and highlights the need for stoves to reduce time spent gathering firewood.

Initiative highlights:
"WFP’s Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (SAFE) project will scale up distribution of fuel-efficient and “improved mud” stoves to assist almost 100,000 women in North Darfur. These stoves consume less firewood and lower health risks associated with smoke."

"In Uganda, WFP will focus on refugees and pastoralists in the drought-hit Karamoja region. It will provide more than 35,000 households and 50 schools with fuel-efficient stoves, as well as helping women to find other sources of income."

http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-launches-safe-stoves-initiativeNike

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