Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group

Mission

The Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group (BSH) is working to provide a viable alternative to open fires, charcoal, kerosene, or gas used for cooking. Specialized in developing world-class home appliances, BSH is dedicated to promoting sustainable living for all members of society around the world. In 2003, BSH acquired the plant oil cooker technology and offered to apply its considerable know-how to further develop the technology and create a market-ready, plant oil stove.

The plant oil cooker with "protos" technology, developed by BSH, was conceived to be more than just another appliance; in addition to fulfilling the basic human need of food preparation, it also has the potential to generate positive ecological, economic, health, and social benefits. The innovative protos technology allows the use of any type of available plant oil as fuel for cooking. BSH is dedicated to making protos available as widely as possible in those places where it is appropriate. Special attention is paid to the availability of a sustainable plant oil supply chain and the selection of protos as the most appropriate improved cooker alternative.

Organization Type Academia

Contact Information

Primary Contact
Mr. Samuel Shiroff
Secondary Contact


Address Carl Wery Strasse 34
Munich, Bavaria
81739
Germany
Website www.plantoilcooker.com
Phone +49 89 4590 3039
Fax
Calling/Fax Instructions

Our Focus

Primary Initiatives, Target Populations, and Scope of Work:

BSH launched its mass production of Protos in May 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The initial projects will focus solely on that country. Production capacity is approximately 2500 units per month, but will be kept below this as roll out is ramped up and markets are developed. Once the stove has established acceptance and supply chains are in place, BSH plans to roll-out the stove to regions beyond Indonesia. Initial discussions are already underway with organizations in other South-East Asian countries as well as Africa and the Caribbean.

Fuels/Technologies: Other
Plant / Vegetable Oils
Sectors of Experience: Other
Research and Development / Manufacturing
Countries of Operation: Tanzania
India
Indonesia
Philippines

Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas

Social/Cultural barriers to using traditional fuels and stoves:

BSH recognizes that our technology is only appropriate for selected target groups in suitable regions and we are working hard to ensure that we identify them and continue to adapt the technology to better service their needs. The development of new technologies is a core part of our corporate competence and will continue to remain so.
Although BSH is running protos as a social enterprise, we do not intend to lose money on each unit. To the contrary, BSH is working on a variety of innovative business models - from CO2 credits to microfinance - to ensure our stove is accessible to as many people who can benefit from it as possible. Although in some circumstances it will be necessary to sell the stove at below production cost, this cost-gap is to be filled by other projects and markets that generate an economic profit. Moreover, BSH expects the other actors along the supply chain (especially the fuel) to earn an economic profit; and although end-users also benefit from extremely low emissions, we work to ensure that their cost-per-meal with protos is also lower than the alternative.
Lastly, by creating a Gold Standard VER methodology for our stove, business has shown its intentions to both introduce and vigorously monitor the sustainable development impact.
In terms of cultural and social barriers, because the stove was designed to mimic a kerosene pressure stove in appearance and use; and because we are selling the stove to customers who are familiar with the former technology, we have not experienced any significant cultural or social barriers to date. Like all projects in remote locations, preparing training materials and establishing contacts with individuals capable of communicating in the local language is challenging. Nevertheless, these obstacles have been overcome and the technology is quite well accepted among trial groups in a variety of regions and countries.


Market development for improved cooking technologies:

BSH remains committed to improving our customers' lives through better home appliances. Protos is an example that we have a broad definition of our customers. BSH remains open to exploring partnerships with other stove producers in establishing supply chains, raising awareness and ensuring that end-users are able to choose the most appropriate technology for them.


Technology standardization for cooking, heating and ventilation:

As the world's third largest manufacturer of home appliances and the #1 in Europe, BSH has wide-ranging and significant experience in the development and negotiation of standards.
We believe that adequate standards for an "improved cook stove" are necessary and would be happy to assist with input in this context.


Indoor air pollution exposure and health monitoring:

Within the context of CO2 credit generation activities, exact monitoring is required. BSH has not yet begun such a project. The primary monitoring activities have been specifically related to the field test of our own cookstove and the usage data for the trial-users.

Relevant Publications or Studies

None noted

Our Contribution to the Partnership

BSH supports the agenda of PCIA and is willing and interested in participating in a manner that is sensible in moving this agenda forward. In addition to the above mentioned items on standardization, BSH would be interested in exploring the possibility of efforts to raise awareness among both end-user and donor target groups. Naturally we are quite focused on providing users with our own technology in those regions where it is suitable. In those regions where it is not we are pleased to provide information about more appropriate alternatives.