Friendly Wood/Charcoal
stoves
No doubt, the global warming is
actively facilitated by action of man in his diverse practices to produce and
creates wealth for human development. Global warming is a
term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the
Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently
changing the Earth's climate. Climate change has serious devastating effects on
the people and the environment; examples of these effects are the floods,
droughts and desertification manifesting globally. The main driver of
global warming is burning fossil fuels for energy – in power plants, in heating
systems, in cars, and everywhere else fuel is consumed. Globally,
fossil fuels are consumed at an unsustainable
rate. While the developed countries have been the major source of greenhouse
gases, many developing economies are on the precipice of unsustainable
emissions. Another major
cause of the global warming is the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2)
into the atmosphere as a result of
burning of biomass. Recent reports indicate that in developing
countries, about 730 million tons of biomass are burned each year, amounting to
more than 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into the
atmosphere.
In
Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, women and young children are exposed to indoor
cooking smoke in small particulates, up to 20 times higher than the maximum
recommended level by World Health Organization (WHO). It is estimated that
smoke from cooking fuel accounts for nearly 4 million annual deaths globally as
indicated by the recent reports WHO and UNDP (2014). This figure is much more
than the deaths from Malaria or tuberculosis. This ugly trend has elicited
efforts by International organizations and governments to address the causes
and remedies of the global warming, which is a serious threat to people and
environment.
Federal Polytechnic Bauchi (FPB),
an Institution of higher learning located in Bauchi, North Eastern region of
Nigeria is among the few organizations working assiduously to address the
challenges of climate change. From 2006 to date, the researchers and their
students from the Department of Agricultural and
Bio-environmental Engineering in collaboration
with their colleagues from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Polytechnic
have produced "Nigeria
improved Energy Efficient Stoves (NIEES)” of various sizes and capacities.
NIEES were subjected to series of tests
and evaluation using international standard and they were proved to be very
efficient in both in fuel consumption and reduction in cooking time when
compared to the ordinary stoves. They reduce fuel
consumption by up to 80%, that is saving 80 % of the kerosene when compared to
the normal stoves. Similarly, NIEES can save cooking time by up to 60 %, example;
a cooking that can take one hour using ordinary stove will take only twenty
four minutes to be accomplished. NIEES
employs an innovative technology that ensures adequate air for complete
combustion to take place and draft air to neutralize smoke under the pot
leaving the stove with little or no visible smoke.
So far, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi has
produced five different sizes and capacities of NIEES targeted at different
needs for the various communities; They include:
1. Institutional (Mega) for boarding schools and community clinics, this
can cook meal for 500 plates at a time
2.
Institutional (A1) for large families and
commercial eateries, this can cook meal for 200 plates at a time
3.
Super Stove (Jumbo) for IDPs, large families and
eateries, this can cook meal for 80 to 100 plates at a time
4.
Super Stove (SD) for average families of 5 to 9 plates
5.
Save 90 for bachelors, students, campers and newly
weds
Some of these stoves are ideal for school feeding programs, feeding fo humanitarian
intervention (IDPs), hospitals, prisons, and other institutional feeding
arrangements.
Another
interesting angle to the NIEES project is the ability of the Polytechnic to develop
alternative to the use of wood charcoal. This is done by converting biomass
such as shrubs and small branches into briquettes that serve as fuel for the
stoves thereby eliminating the need to fell trees for firewood. This singular
commitment of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi of providing a lasting solution
to the traditional inefficient stoves attracted international recognition when
in 2011 the Polytechnic won the prestigious ‘Best innovated invention award‘ for Nigeria. The award was the
result of assessment of the popular ‘Save 80 stove’ (NIEES), which was rated as
the "best stove" for emission
reduction, multiple pot supports, saving fuel, time and a touch of African
culture.
This breakthrough of the Federal Polytechnic
Bauchi was not kept on shelves within the Polytechnic premises, efforts were made
in making the stoves available to the users. This was done through partnership
with Development Initiative for African Women (DIFAW), an NGO based in North
East. Through this partnership, over 3,000 stoves
of different capacities were made and distributed to people nationwide.
Specifically, DIFAW sponsored the training of women/youths on charcoal making
as well as the operation and maintenance of the NIEES. Thereafter, the trainees
from Imo state received 1,250 stoves, Rivers state received 1,015 stoves and
from Gombe state received 780, respectively.
This means that the Polytechnic has trained more than 2,000 people for
the charcoal
making as well as the operation and maintenance of the NIEES
Thus, through NIEES project, The Polytechnic has provided an easy and cost-efficient method
of cooking, which simultaneously improve maternal and child health, protect the
environment and contribute to social and economic benefits for communities
through the use of low-cost, energy-efficient cooking stoves in addition to the
increase in productivity.
The need to promote the use of NIEES among the Nigerian households as a strategy
to address effects of climate change cannot be overemphasized in addition to
various advantages to the users. Reputable organizations like "The Nigerian Great Green Wall"
should come forward to support massive production and use of NIEES as a
strategy to checkmate desertification, which has emerged as a major planetary
threat. Government at all levels
(Federal, State and LGA) in collaboration with NGOs have to provide support to
Nigerian families to acquire the energy saving stoves while the Polytechnic has
to be ready to provide necessary training on operation and maintenance to the
users through collaboration with the NGOs like DIFAW
The newspaper published version
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