Time to escape from grip of fossil fuels

No gas, no kerosene and now no electricity, too, to cook your daily meal

By Eng Parakrama Jayasinghe

Past President – Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka

parajayasinghe@gmail.com

Sri Lanka is in the throes of multiple economic difficulties. Its increasing dependence on imported energy resources is the crux of the problem. This is nothing new, or unexpected, as shown (See Figure 1.)

At least in the present context, the problem is the lack of necessary foreign exchange to import the coal and other fossil fuels, which, concurrently have increased in price. In spite of promises and protestations on increasing the utilisation of indigenous renewable resources, the actions by various ministries and state institutions point in the opposite direction.

In these circumstances the problems faced by every householder, by the shortage of LPG, the preferred cooking fuel, may be the most urgent to be resolved. While the disruption, which occurred some three months ago, was mostly focused on the safety issues, on the heals of a price hike, the present problem appears to be one of shortages due to the inability to raise the dollars needed for the imports. This problem can only be further exacerbated due to the world energy price escalation, requiring even more dollars for future purchases. Naturally, a further price hike will be on the way, signalled by the huge price increase of both petrol and diesel, hard on the heels of the massive depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee. The pacifying words of politicians who do not have any understanding or pays no heed to the dire situation faced by Sri Lanka, is of no value to resolve this situation. On the same count the vociferous protests by the consumers or the opposition politicians, demanding subsidies and other none sustainable actions, are equally useless.

It is time to recognise that the solution lies in our ability to develop sustainable indigenous alternatives which are not buffeted by the global circumstances on which we have no control. The much-quoted saying ” Light a Candle Instead of Cursing the Darkness” is of relevance here.

Fortunately for us in Sri Lanka, we have such options for all our energy needs, if only we have the wisdom and the courage to utilise them, as illustrated in previous articles by the author and others. A more urgent and important need is to find such an alternative to Liquid Petroleum Gas ( LPG) foisted on the unsuspecting householders , with high powered advertising , aided and abetted by the short-sighted and ignorant political leaders, who cannot see beyond their noses.

No doubt LPG is an attractive and convenient cooking fuel. But such benefits come at a cost, and as seen at present, even those who are ready to pay the price cannot access it. This was inevitable due to the mindless dependence on imported LPG, in addition to the other fossil fuels, without any consideration on the means of earning the dollars for paying for same.

Options available

It may be recalled that under similar but less severe circumstances, back in 2012, when the only issue was the peaking of the price of LPG, and not the question of availability, the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERDC) came forward with a design for a wood-fired cooking stove and issued licences for its manufacture to several parties. While it caught the attention of some consumers, the market collapsed causing much financial distress to the manufacturers. This was on one hand, due to the then government providing a subsidy to lower the retail price of LPG. This was a very short-sighted move. Thus, consumers could not be weaned from the unsustainable dependence on an imported resource. Perhaps, the more relevant cause may have been the failure to develop, concurrently, a sustainable supply chain for the fuel wood necessary to use with the stoves. Once again while the NERDC was engaged in the introduction of the technical development, there was no one, or no state agency, to grab the opportunity and develop the supply chain of fuel wood which would have yielded many spinoff benefits. But let us hope that lessons have been learned in addressing the current dire situation.

I think the original design by NERDC acceptable only to a limited segment of the householders as its basic design lacked the convenience of use expected by some members of the public. Also the use of wood directly as the fuel has some disadvantages when compared to the alternative offered by LPG, even at a much higher cost.

There has been a silent revolution in the intervening years, but the problem has resurfaced. Some enterprising individuals and companies have addressed the problem unlike our so-called leaders and the experts surrounding them.

These innovators have independently developed several models of cooking stoves that use coconut shell charcoal, which broadly resolves the problems encountered with the early designs of the wood-burning stoves such as smoke and soot, and controllability to match the cooking methods of Sri Lankans.

While the use of coconut shell charcoal for cooking cannot be recommended both due to its high cost (Now about Rs 150.00 per kg in retail markets) on the one hand, and the fact that it is too valuable a resource to be just burned. Coconut shells are the primary raw material for manufacture of Activated Carbon, a major export product earning very valuable foreign exchange, particularly in these difficult times.

Some models of stoves in market

However, the value of the new designs introduced as well as the new upgraded designs of the NERDC stove work equally well with wood charcoal. (Figure 2) Of course, the wood charcoal must be manufactured with sustainable sources of bio mass. Fortunately, Sri Lanka is blessed with such natural resources with short rotation coppicing species such as Gliricidia, IPIL IPIL (leucena leucosephala ) Caliandra, etc., and many species of bamboo, and even some invasive species such as Julie Flora Prosipis (Kalapu Andara) and Diyapara, all of which produce excellent charcoal.

Sri Lanka has not traditionally adopted wood charcoal as a common fuel, perhaps due to hitherto easy access to other forms of biomass, which by and large have not been unsustainable. Furthermore, contrary to common myths used to promote LPG, such practices have not been a cause of any health risks. As such there is no established supply of wood charcoal, unlike coconut shell charcoal.

Price Advantage – The Driver for the Change

But as described above our adoption of this sustainable indigenous resource will help not only resolve the current and future dependence on imported LPG or LNG for that matter, but also overcome any such health risks if present in the more congested urban dwellings. We will forever be free from the vagaries of world market price and supply volatility, and the need for foreign exchange, as well as the ever present fear of price hikes locally. The chart below illustrates the comparative costs of the usage of different fuel options, which is the main driver for this change. (See Table 1)

It is important to note that the option of using fuelwood directly is still open to those who have well ventilated kitchens, particularly with the advent of the ANAGI LIPA to replace the traditional three-stone hearth, with a three-fold increase in efficiency and thereby the wood consumption. The value of this most effective and very low cost innovation cannot be overstated for those who can have the ready access to the fuelwood, perhaps from their own homestead at absolutely no cost.

Barrier to Overcome

The major barrier which prevented the initiation of this change in 2012 will remain if reliable and convenient access to the fuel resource such as wood charcoal in the present context is not developed speedily.

Sri Lankans must learn not to expect anything sensible to be done by the State. The two synergic opportunities of manufacture and marketing of well-designed and constructed charcoal burning stoves, some models of which are already in the market and the business of charcoal manufacture, distribution and sales, are well within the means of individuals or SMEs, without any significant initial capital.

The least the state agencies should do is to create public awareness so as to attract more users to both segments of manufacture of stoves and the establishment of the sustainable supply chain. The mandate of the Sustainable Energy Authority is clear on their responsibility in this regard.

The Way Forward

While the NERDC will support the manufacturers of stoves with technical assistance, the Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka is willing to share the simple technologies and business plans for the manufacture of wood charcoal at any scale of engagement.

Both ventures, feasible at small and medium scale is a good example of the concept of “Prosumers”, wherein the consumers themselves can contribute to the development of the energy resource, similar to the rooftop solar systems currently in high demand and can easily be expanded greatly in the short term to help contain the power crisis.

Moreover, Sri Lanka would gain the advantage of achieving the highly desirable status of none dependence on external sources to serve this vital segment of energy services and regain a modicum of the national pride, which is in tatters at the moment, instead of going round the world begging.