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Mayon Turbo Stove

Mayon Turbo Stove: Philippine Case Study

Reducing Poverty and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Philippines

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One of the most commonly available, low cost and easily accessible residues in the world is rice hulls. In the Philippines, there are more than 1.5 million tonnes of available rice hull that could provide sufficient fuel for 1 million households. Commonly, rice hulls are discarded and burned in large piles, creating local air pollution problems and releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Using local rice hulls in household cookers is therefore an ideal way to utilize this widely dispersed resource that is low in energy (on a weight basis), as well as small and uniform in size (allowing for increased stove efficiency).

One of the most commonly available, low cost and easily accessible residues in the world is rice hulls.
REAP-Canada and the University of the Philippines at Los Banos recently completed a bioenergy assessment of the Philippines that identified the opportunity to develop a low cost household stove to utilize the rice hull resource. An economic analysis indicated that an improved rice hull stove could provide the lowest annual cooking cost amongst all purchased fuel systems available in the Philippines. In 2001, REAP-Canada received support for the project from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to introduce an improved rice hull stove into households in the Philippines as a means to reduce both poverty and greenhouse gases.



More than 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted rice hulls are being discarded or burned in the Philippines
More than 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted rice hulls are being discarded or burned in the Philippines


A stove users study of 100 households in January 2002 in the upland areas of Negros Occidental found an improved rice hull stove (the LT-2000 ?|an enhanced version of the Lo Trau stove and forerunner to the MTS) dramatically reduced household cooking costs for impoverished families. The households in the survey had an average annual income of $756 USD and a per capita income of $126 USD. The stove was found to largely displace gathered and purchased fuelwood, as well as some charcoal and LPG use. On average, the introduction of a $7 USD (although the stove is currently being produced at $10 USD) rice hull stove reduced the annual fuel expenditures for cooking (fuel and firestarter costs) from $35.58 to $13.17 (De Maio et al., 2002). The annualized cost of owning the rice hull stove was estimated to be only $2.92. Additionally, the stove reduces the laborious task for women of fuelwood gathering, which typically requires 60-120 days per year of work in upland communities in Negros Occidental. The economic savings increased when the analysis projected the costs of stove users who were entirely purchasing their fuel supplies. Rice hull stove users were estimated to have annual cooking costs of only $4.87 USD per year compared to $61.98, $67.54 and $77.32 for cooking with purchased firewood, charcoal, and LPG respectively. The projected savings from 100% displacement of rice hulls for other purchased fuels represented 7.6?|9.6% of the total annual family income. For impoverished families suffering from malnutrition, these are critical household savings that can improve family income and wellbeing. The rice hull stove user survey found on average the LT-2000 stove had a 76% displacement of conventional fuel use in households. The average per household impact was to reduce the quantity of firewood, charcoal and LPG used by 1734 kg, 54 kg and 7.2 kg respectively per year. It was projected that a more advanced rice hull stove could increase market penetration by increasing user convenience, reducing rice hull consumption and increasing the conventional fuel substitution impact of the stove in individual households.

The Mayon Turbo Stove was developed by REAP-Canada in partnership with local workshop artisans in the Philippines in December 2001. It was designed as a low cost and clean-burning fuel stove to efficiently burn porous crop residues like rice hulls and coffee shells. Other available biomass residues like sawdust, corn cobs, peanuts shells and crushed coconut shells can also be mixed in with rice hull as a supplement.

Traditional biofuel cooking methods use 2 tonnes of firewood per year.
Traditional biofuel cooking methods use 2 tonnes of firewood per year.
The Mayon Turbo Stove provides an unmatched combustion quality to any stove in its class by producing a non-luminescent flame from a low quality crop residue in a non-electric fan assisted appliance. It is simple technology that is highly replicable because it doesn't change traditional cooking methods, has a modest construction cost, and has the ability to significantly reduce household cooking expenditures for households purchasing fuels. Considering the widespread abundance of low cost rice hull, this inexpensive household energy device could be widely used as a poverty reduction strategy for the rural poor in many of the world's rice producing nations.

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Additional information on the MTS can be found in the on-line library.





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