Established in France in 1976, Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environment et Solidarités (GERES) is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable development worldwide. In Cambodia, where more than 80 percent of households rely on biomass as the main source of energy for cooking, GERES has focused its efforts specifically on a large-scale biomass-based energy program designed to promote energy efficiency, reduce indoor air pollution and mitigate climate change. The New Lao Stove (NLS) project was born of these efforts. The NLS, an adapted version of the Thai bucket stove, combines traditional stove design with modern technology and engineering and costs between $3.50 and $5 USD per stove. An NLS consumes 22 percent less fuel compared to traditional stoves in real cooking situations, and the lifespan is two to three times longer than traditional stoves. Over one million stoves have been sold since the project began in 2002, and the penetration rate of NLS is a promising 40 percent in Phnom Penh and other urban areas. Average monthly sales have increased to nearly 28,000 stoves and as of November 2010, the NLS program had saved 764,609 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Local potters, most of whom were already producers of traditional stoves, were trained on NLS production and all NLS are subject to rigorous quality control and monitoring systems, including the Clay Shrinkage Factor Test, the Stove Dimensions Test and the Adapted Water Boiling Test. GERES also supported the establishment of the Improved Cookstove Producers and Distributors Association (ICOPRODAC) to monitor the quality and standardization of cookstove production, regulate high standards of stoves on the market, and support the sustainable distribution of stoves. The NLS project has not only improved household cooking efficiency and indoor air quality, it has also created 1,100 jobs, enhanced skills of local craftsmen, increased profits of local stove producers, and enabled households to save both time and money. GERES invested nearly two million Euros in the project between 2002 and 2007; however, since 2007 the project has been fully funded by voluntary carbon funds. This funding steam will continue to fully support the project through 2012. GERES is also in the process of developing a strategy to train representatives in other developing countries on how to adapt clean and efficient cookstove improvements.
Please see the Bulletin 27 Awards Supplement [1] for an interview with GERES' Iwan Baskoro.
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