Goodbye Coal, Hello Rice Husks: Replacing coal-fired stoves with Biomass Cookstoves in Vietnam

Cooking with coal is seen by many households as a practical and convenient way to ensure a cost-effective lasting fire, while proving to be cheap. Nonetheless, this comes at a cost. Beehive stoves, a traditional coal briquette fired stove commonly embraced by hundreds of thousands of households in Vietnam, takes a toll on users as igniting, and preparing the stove, is a time-intensive task.

SNV takes action

To tackle this issue, SNV implemented the Market Acceleration of Advanced Clean Cookstoves in the Greater Mekong Sub-region project, in cooperation with GIZ under the Energising Development (EnDev) partnership, to develop a sustainable market for time-saving clean smokeless cookstoves during 2015 - 2019.

Throughout the project, SNV studied the use of the Tiến Mạnh stove (TM), a top-lit updraft gasifier stove, in several households. This stove combines the use of forced air draft via an external blower and the utilization of a tightly packed fuel, such as rice husk, to provide a more efficient and cleaner combustion in comparison with the traditional stoves. With the support of SNV’s Results-Based Finance (RBF) approach, the TM Stove has been able to sell over 5.000 stoves since June 2016.

Meet Mr Hoa

This is the story of Mr.Vũ Văn Hoa (68), who works as a food vendor in his local market at An Mỹ Village in Phú Xuyên District.

In the past, Mr Hoa would spend 75.000 VND (~ $3 USD) purchasing 25 coal briquettes per day to prepare the meals he sold with his traditional beehive stove; totalling up to 2.250.000 VND ($ 99 USD) per month.

Mr Hoa decided to test the Tiến Mạnh stove, as an alternative for his beehive stove, several years ago. As of now, he has progressively replaced his beehive stove usage with this gasifier stove. He currently uses two large-sized TM models, each with a cost of 300,000 VND ($ 13 USD), and a small-sized model with a cost of 250,000 VND ($11 USD).

Impact on the household

Mr Hoa has argued that the benefits from using this clean cookstove have been very noticeable. His coal briquette consumption went from 25 to 6 briquettes per day, a 76% reduction of coal usage; representing potential savings of up to 800 kilograms of CO2 per month.

Consequently, his pockets have also seen the benefits of using the Advanced Clean Cookstove. Rice husk is often collected for free and, as the material is often considered to be a worthless agricultural residue, the expenses attributed to the TM stove became nearly negligible. He spends 100.000 VND ($ 4.4 USD) per month to buy wood chips that he mixes in with the rice husk to extend the duration of the fuel during each cooking event.

Therefore, Mr Hoa has been able to save up to 1.500.000 VND ($ 66 USD) per month by changing his fuel and stove from the coal-powered beehive stove to the rice husk-powered TM stove.

Using the TM Stove has allowed him to save up to two hours of his time each day. Before, Mr Hoa and his family would normally wake up at 2 in the morning to ignite the coal briquettes and setup the beehive stoves to prepare the meals. Now, he wakes up at 5 in the morning, giving him more time to sleep and to spend it with his family.

Mr Hoa has argued that the benefits from using this clean cookstove have been very noticeable. His coal briquette consumption went from 25 to 6 briquettes per day, a 76% reduction of coal usage; representing potential savings of up to 800 kilograms of CO2 per month.

Consequently, his pockets have also seen the benefits of using the Advanced Clean Cookstove. Rice husk is often collected for free and, as the material is often considered to be a worthless agricultural residue, the expenses attributed to the TM stove became nearly negligible. He spends 100.000 VND ($ 4.4 USD) per month to buy wood chips that he mixes in with the rice husk to extend the duration of the fuel during each cooking event.

Therefore, Mr Hoa has been able to save up to 1.500.000 VND ($ 66 USD) per month by changing his fuel and stove from the coal-powered beehive stove to the rice husk-powered TM stove.

Using the TM Stove has allowed him to save up to two hours of his time each day. Before, Mr Hoa and his family would normally wake up at 2 in the morning to ignite the coal briquettes and setup the beehive stoves to prepare the meals. Now, he wakes up at 5 in the morning, giving him more time to sleep and to spend it with his family.