Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia

Abstract

The rural population of Ethiopia entirely depends on biomass for everyday energy needs except for light. The traditional system, particularly during cooking, incurs among others huge energy loss that could have been used otherwise. The system has been recognized as having significant effect on natural resource degradation, harmful health hazards and negative economic consequences. As a result, the government has been encouraging the use of energy saving technologies. Mirt and Gonze stoves are the two most dominantly promoted technologies. Promotion and efficiency evaluations were conducted. The result of the evaluation confirmed that households that use Mirt and Gonze stoves can save more than 33% and 20% of wood biomass that could have been used if traditional open stove was used, respectively. The time efficiency, length of time the stoves gave energy to bake additional Injera for Mirt and Gonze was increased by 63% and 50%, respectively. Thus, Mirt and stoves are efficient than the traditional open stoves. Due to durability, farmers preferred Mirt stove over Gonze. Utilization of Mirt stove can save 15% of wood biomass over Gonze. Promotion of Mirt stove in rural Ethiopia is vital to enhance biomass energy efficiency.

Full text

Journal
of Energy and Natural Resources
2015; 4(2): 27-33
Published online April 8, 2015 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/jenr)
doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20150402.11
ISSN: 2330-7366 (Print); ISSN: 2330-7404 (Online)
Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households
of Ethiopia
Dagninet Amare, Asmamaw Endeblhatu, Awole Muhabaw
Bahir Dar Agricultural Mechanization and Food Science Research Centre, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Email address:
dagnnet@gmail.com (D. Amare), asmaende@yahoo.com (A. Endeblhatu), awolemuhaba@gmai.com (A. Muhabaw)
To cite this article:
Dagninet Amare, Asmamaw Endeblhatu, Awole Muhabaw. Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia. Journal
of Energy and Natural Resources. Vol. 4, No. 2, 2015, pp. 27-33. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20150402.11
Abstract:
The rural population of Ethiopia entirely depends on biomass for everyday energy needs except for light. The
traditional system, particularly during cooking, incurs among others huge energy loss that could have been used otherwise. The
system has been recognized as having significant effect on natural resource degradation, harmful health hazards and negative
economic consequences. As a result, the government has been encouraging the use of energy saving technologies. Mirt and
Gonze stoves are the two most dominantly promoted technologies. Promotion and efficiency evaluations were conducted. The
result of the evaluation confirmed that households that use Mirt and Gonze stoves can save more than 33% and 20% of wood
biomass that could have been used if traditional open stove was used, respectively. The time efficiency, length of time the
stoves gave energy to bake additional Injera for Mirt and Gonze was increased by 63% and 50%, respectively. Thus, Mirt and
stoves are efficient than the traditional open stoves. Due to durability, farmers preferred Mirt stove over Gonze. Utilization of
Mirt stove can save 15% of wood biomass over Gonze. Promotion of Mirt stove in rural Ethiopia is vital to enhance biomass
energy efficiency.
Keywords:
Wood Biomass, Local Stove, Gonze, Mirt, Charcoal, Efficiency
1. Introduction
The use of wood as fuel source for heating and cooking is
as old as civilization itself. Almost all African countries still
rely on wood to meet basic energy need. Wood fuels account
for 90-98% of residential energy consumption in most sub-
Saharan Africa. Ethiopia consumed 0.566 million m
3
of wood
accounting for 9.1% of total African cooking and heating
wood consumption
[1]
. Fuel wood accounts for around 78% of
the total energy demand in Ethiopia
[2]
.In general, average
energy consumption of African households is significant. The
average per capita firewood consumption in some African
countries for families of 2-6 members was estimated at 1.14-
1.36 tons. Families with seven and greater members consume
on average 1.12 tons per capita with the annual to total
consumption for an average family of 4.7 persons being 6.4
tons
[3]
.
1.1. Local Energy Consumption and Sources
Biomass fuels (firewood, agricultural residues, animal
wastes and charcoal) account for up to 90 percent of the
energy supply of Ethiopia
[1]
.The households of Zege, on
average, had a total annual tree based wood harvest of 3.12
tons per annum where 1.31 tons per annum is extracted for
fuel wood by families of 4.2 individuals. The average annual
tree based wood consumed was 0.34 tons on adult equivalent
and 0.32 tons on per capita bases
[4]
. In Dega and moist
Woina Dega agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia, the annual
per capita fuel wood consumption is estimated to be
609kg
and 882kg respectively
[5]
.
1.2. Source of Fuel Wood
In a study undertaken in Dera woreda, fuel wood was used
as source energy for 87.3% of the households while in
combination with animal dung for 12.2% of the households.
Homestead eucalyptus plantation was the major (56.6%)
source
[6]
.Church forests also provide fuel wood for the
population while trees in the farm land provide part of the
demand. In other studies, approximately 48% of the
households collect fuel wood from common areas
[2]
.
1.3. Impact of Traditional Energy Utilization System
Energy utilization in the developing world is a major threat
to the environment and health aspects occurring in the rural

28 Dagninet Amare, et al.: Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia
and poor urban households. Lack of clean and affordable
energy is recognized as a significant barrier to development
and major contributor to a host of environmental and human
health problems
[1]
.Reliance on traditional energy sources of
biomass brought threat from overuse, creating additional
environmental challenges ranging from local land use to
global climate change and applications in smoky
kitchens
[1]
.If current fuel wood utilization trends continue,
most developing countries are predicted to experience severe
shortage of fuel wood by 2025. In sum, it leads to depletion
of tree stocks or threat to biodiversity, desertification,
reduced water quality, sedimentation, dust storms, air
pollution and health problems such as respiratory illnesses
and allergies
[1] [2] [5][7]
.
1.4. Energy Utilization and Efficiency
In a scenario of climate change adaptation and biodiversity
degradation, reducing the burden on forests is a truthfully
critical intervention given the proportion of the population
dependent on fuel wood extraction for household energy
consumption. At the moment it is impossible to avoid the
dependence on wood repay to the lack of alternative energy
sources especially electricity. However, increasing the
efficiency of the available resource or maximizing the energy
available
[8]
will be a considerable contribution to the agenda
of the UN’s biodiversity conservation as most are produced
from natural forests of indigenous species. It is also
important for the country to catch up the rapid development
through facilitation of the conservation and management of
the natural resource base.
1.5. Defects of Traditional System
Given the available traditional energy utilization system,
there is extravagancy in energy utilization
[8]
. High biomass
energy consumption along with inefficient utilization has
contributed for deforestation, biodiversity loss and land
degradation
[2]
. In Ethiopia the common and dominant energy
system is the open stove system. This system has been
described as having several defects. For example much of the
energy is lost without purposes owe to its openness and wind
condition. Women are exposed for dual health problems. At
first the smoke coming from the stove does not have a
specific direction, it moves all ways resulting in open
exposure of the women for the smoke heat. It is not
uncommon to see significant population of the rural women
with leaking eyes. Moreover the heat coming from the stove
does heart the front leg of the women. It is also common to
see darkened and dry front legs of women. The family is also
in danger of the health effect as most are done inside or
around the house where baby children are also victims of this
technology. Thus, the traditional energy production system
for baking and cooking is a basic economical and health issue
problem at the household level.
1.6. Strategies Recommended
Household energy is one of the major problems to the
deforestation and subsequent degradation rural areas. Hence,
an appropriate energy supply and utilization should be part of
the development strategy of a project intervention
[1][5]
.Therefore, large-scale distribution of improved stoves
will help to reduce pressure on the biomass resources, eases
the conservation of forests, increase land productivity by
reducing crop residue and dung usage for fuel wood, and
helps to avoid rural health problems arising from smoke and
heat during food preparation. The way out is provision of
cheap and affordable fuel, afforestation and environmental
consciousness through environmental education
[1]
. Further,
policies that enhance integrated rural development and
promote sustainable energy utilization in rural communities
need to be put in place and implemented
[9]
.Increasing
efficiency of biomass energy utilization and reduction of
wastage in Ethiopia is an important intervention
[8][10]
.Hence,
this research activity was designed to evaluate, select and
promote the most viable energy saving technology to the
rural population of the country.
2. Objectives
The objective of this research was to evaluate, select and
promote the most efficient energy saving technology to the
farmers
2.1. Materials and Methods
The demonstration and evaluation was conducted in
Enqulal watershed of Dera woreda, Amhara region, North
West Ethiopia. Overall 29 female farmers were selected
randomly and trained. Out of which 3 female farmers were
selected based on accessibility and willingness for evaluation
of the stoves.
2.2. Technology Description
The Mirt and Gonze molds has totally eight different
materials each, it was manufactured from 1.5mm sheet metal,
round iron, flat iron and square pipe. It has two half circles,
the external diameter of the circle has 325mm and the
internal side of diameter 285mm which manufactures the
sides of the stoves. The mold also has two materials the wood
intern and the smock exit.
Mirt stove: A Mirt stove has groves that the components fit
to each other. The average price of the Mirt stove in much of
the markets in the region is 100 ETB. The components of
Mirt stove energy saving stove mold are side mold, exit
smock mold, wood intern mold and mold for dish.
Gonze stove: Gonze is made with mold but with no groves
rather each closing another component. Thus the Gonze thou
has a maximum diameter, to the size of the mold, does not
have a minimum diameter. It can be reduced to suit the
purpose or size of the stove.
Local stove: it is an open stove where three medium sized
stones are used to put the “Mitad”. It is open except the
spaces occupied by the stones.

Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 2015;
Fig.1.
“Gonze” wood saving stove
Fig. 2. Mirt” wood
saving stove
2.3. Methodology of Training and Evalu
ation
2.3.1. Initial Survey
Assessment on the status of kitchens and the availability of
local materials and other improved fuel saving technologies
will be carried out.
2.3.2. Selection of Farmers
As to the plan a site was selected in Dera woreda. The area
selected is Enqulal watershed whereby 29 female farmers
from both male and female headed households from 7
kebeles were selected. Women
were selected from Enqulal
watershed comprising 7 kebeles (29
) with
project technicians
. The women selected were from both men
(90%) and women headed households (
10%
2.3.3. The Experimental Women’s Ki
tchens
The women selected for this evaluation were
40 years of age on average. They ar
e experienced bakers of
Injera
spanning for more than half of their age. They were
selected due to their houses accessibility (nearest to the road)
and willingness to undertake the evaluation by sacrificing
their time. The procedure provided to the
were installing in their kitchens
, prepar
according to the tradition and
acquaintance
stoves for two weeks.
2.3.4. Test Condition
Given the requirements of the test the team decided to take
major energy using stages like the first firing and the last heat
that still helps to bake. Thus, it was reached that a sample
each of the three stoves on three women for
Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 2015;
4(2): 27-33
“Gonze” wood saving stove
.
saving stove
.
ation
Assessment on the status of kitchens and the availability of
local materials and other improved fuel saving technologies
As to the plan a site was selected in Dera woreda. The area
selected is Enqulal watershed whereby 29 female farmers
from both male and female headed households from 7
were selected from Enqulal
) with
the help of the
. The women selected were from both men
10%
).
tchens
The women selected for this evaluation were
married and
e experienced bakers of
spanning for more than half of their age. They were
selected due to their houses accessibility (nearest to the road)
and willingness to undertake the evaluation by sacrificing
evaluation women
, prepar
ation of yeast
acquaintance
with the new
Given the requirements of the test the team decided to take
major energy using stages like the first firing and the last heat
that still helps to bake. Thus, it was reached that a sample
for
each of the three stoves on three women for
Injera baking,
the mo
st energy consuming activity,
vital
[2][5]
.
Besides, the least energy consuming activities like
coffee and stew “wot” preparation were not considered
separately. This is due to the priority that much of the energy
consumption and health proble
which is the sole dominant bread for the Northern Ethiopian
population.
2.4. Data Collection and Anal
ysis
2.4.1. Data Collection on
Measurement
During data collection
, three replications for
model were conducted. E
ach stove
bake 10 Injera
but time was recorded when there is also
additional heating value. Consequently, with the acqu
of Mirt and Gonze stove, evaluations were done one after the
other in two cases and two para
of wood before baking
at first
wood left and amount of charcoal obtained after the time
where there was not possible to bake any more
measured
using a spring balance
of time of energy available for baking additional
Farmers feedback was collected both
evaluation sites.
2.4.2. Data Analysis
D
ata was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics on
excel 2007 and
Stata 11 software.
3.
Result and Discussion
3.1. Household
Energy Source Conditi
The area belongs to the highlands of Ethiopia, and from
observation it is highly degraded. Thou mixed farming takes
place, due to the feed problem, the amount of dung extracted
fro
m animals is barely enough. The major energy source in
the area is eucalyptus tree. As a result, the women
participants expressed the presence of acute shortage of fuel
wood for cooking. The energy source for lightening in most
households, is gasoline thou
rural electrification all over the country. Besides, it is
optimistic
[5]
to assume that the rural community will use
electricity for cooking activities given the supply of kitchen
appliances along with a price level deemed an
knowledge of utilization that is also low in the urban areas.
3.2. Energy Shortage
The vast majority of rural people who are also dependent
on traditional fuels use primitive and inefficient technologies
[1]
.As a result,
25.4% of the respondents indi
shortage is a problem in the area. However, only 4% of the
respondents use energy saving technology (fuel stoves made
from mud) as a means to compensate for energy shortage.
Focus group discussion participants, in Dera woreda,
demanded de
livery of cement made energy saving stoves.
Locally
made energy saving stoves
some households but they break up within days resulting in
29
st energy consuming activity,
was considered
Besides, the least energy consuming activities like
coffee and stew “wot” preparation were not considered
separately. This is due to the priority that much of the energy
consumption and health proble
ms occur in Injera baking,
which is the sole dominant bread for the Northern Ethiopian
ysis
Measurement
s and Time
, three replications for
each stove
ach stove
was given a chance of to
but time was recorded when there is also
additional heating value. Consequently, with the acqu
isition
of Mirt and Gonze stove, evaluations were done one after the
other in two cases and two para
llels in one case. The weight
at first
for each stove, the size of
wood left and amount of charcoal obtained after the time
where there was not possible to bake any more
Injera was
using a spring balance
of size 50kgs and the length
of time of energy available for baking additional
Injera.
Farmers feedback was collected both
during the training and
ata was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics on
Stata 11 software.
Result and Discussion
Energy Source Conditi
on in the Area
The area belongs to the highlands of Ethiopia, and from
observation it is highly degraded. Thou mixed farming takes
place, due to the feed problem, the amount of dung extracted
m animals is barely enough. The major energy source in
the area is eucalyptus tree. As a result, the women
participants expressed the presence of acute shortage of fuel
wood for cooking. The energy source for lightening in most
there is extensive expansion
rural electrification all over the country. Besides, it is
to assume that the rural community will use
electricity for cooking activities given the supply of kitchen
appliances along with a price level deemed an
d the
knowledge of utilization that is also low in the urban areas.
The vast majority of rural people who are also dependent
on traditional fuels use primitive and inefficient technologies
25.4% of the respondents indi
cated that energy
shortage is a problem in the area. However, only 4% of the
respondents use energy saving technology (fuel stoves made
from mud) as a means to compensate for energy shortage.
Focus group discussion participants, in Dera woreda,
livery of cement made energy saving stoves.
made energy saving stoves
, mud, has been used by
some households but they break up within days resulting in

30 Dagninet Amare, et al.
: Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia
reluctance to use them.
3.3. Training of the Women Farmers
3.3.1. Theoretical
House hold and hus
banded females were trained on the
concepts of fuel wood crises and its effect on
displaying other region or country’s experience supporting
with pictures photos and movies using laptop and LCD
the training manual prepared.
3.3.2. Practical Production of the Stoves
Two models of Mirt and G
onze wood saving
used for training.
During the practical training, the team
produced six Mirt and four
Gonze stoves. Ultimately, the
Variable
Total fuel wood available at first (kg)
Amount of fuel wood burnt (kg)
Amount of time burnt ( minutes)
Amount of fuel wood saved after burning (kg)
Size of charcoal obtained after the burn ( kg)
3.3.4. Amount Wood Consumed
The following graph shows the performance of the stoves
under three sample households (women).
Fig. 3.
Weight
The weight of wood burned i
n the first woman’s kitchen,
the amount of wood burned by Gonze and local stoves looks
more of equal while the weight was more than half by Mirt
(I) type of stove (J) type of stove
Mean Difference (I
Traditional Gonze 0.933
Mirt 1.50
Gonze Traditional -0.933
Mirt 0.567
Mirt Traditional -
1.50000
Gonze -.56667
In the third woman’s kitchen the weight of wood burnt
0
1
2
3
4
5
Kitchen 1
: Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia
banded females were trained on the
concepts of fuel wood crises and its effect on
ecology, by
displaying other region or country’s experience supporting
with pictures photos and movies using laptop and LCD
using
onze wood saving
stoves were
During the practical training, the team
Gonze stoves. Ultimately, the
stoves were
given to farmers training center for dis
including one model made of local material.
of encouragement some 33
“Mitad”
Zemen
and given to them for further works.
3.3.3. Stove
Energy Efficiency Evalua
The type of energy used in this locality is biomass energy
resources except for lightening at night which is either
kerosene or electricity for some households.
dependent on wood
biomass. The energy biomass from dung
is insignificant due to
herd and feed
table shows the evaluation condition at the beginning of the
experimentation.
Table 1. Fuel efficiency of the stoves.
Observation Mean Std. Dev.
9 8.49 0.75
9 3.76 1
9 59.11 15.01
9 4.88 1.09
9 0.10 0.09
The following graph shows the performance of the stoves
under three sample households (women).
The weight of
wood burnt by three stoves to bake ten
tradition flat breads) was evaluated at three different kitchen
cells of by three women.
Weight
of wood burnt by the respective stoves in each woman’s kitchens.
n the first woman’s kitchen,
the amount of wood burned by Gonze and local stoves looks
more of equal while the weight was more than half by Mirt
stove. In the second woman’s condition the amount of wood
burnt using local stove and
M
while Gonze was the smallest.
Table 2. LSD of wood burnt in kg.
Mean Difference (I
-J) Std. Error Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound
0.709 0.236 -0.801
0.709 0.079 -0.234
0.709 0.236 -2.667
0.709 0.454 -1.167
1.50000
.70868 .079 -3.2341
.70868 .454 -2.3007
In the third woman’s kitchen the weight of wood burnt
progressively increased from Mirt to Gonze and then local. In
Kitchen 1
Kitchen 2 Kitchen 3
weight of wood in Kg
: Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia
given to farmers training center for dis
play
including one model made of local material.
For the purpose
“Mitad”
s were bought from Addis
and given to them for further works.
Energy Efficiency Evalua
tion
The type of energy used in this locality is biomass energy
resources except for lightening at night which is either
kerosene or electricity for some households.
They are entirely
biomass. The energy biomass from dung
herd and feed
reduction.The following
table shows the evaluation condition at the beginning of the
Min Max
7 9.2
2.4 5
39 80
3 6.6
0 0.24
wood burnt by three stoves to bake ten
Injera (Ethiopian
tradition flat breads) was evaluated at three different kitchen
stove. In the second woman’s condition the amount of wood
M
irt was comparably similar
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
2.667
3.234
0.801
2.301
.2341
1.1674
progressively increased from Mirt to Gonze and then local. In
local
gonze
mirt
weight of wood in Kg

Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 2015; 4(2): 27-33 31
general, the amount of wood burnt to bake 10 Injera was
averagely low for Mirt and the highest for local stove. One
way ANOVA showed the absence of statistical difference
(F=2.28, p= 0.1829) on the weight of wood consumed both
by the three stoves and the women’s kitchens. In general,
Mirt and Gonze consumed 67.15% and 79.56% of the wood
consumed by traditional stove. Mirt burned only 84.40% of
the amount of wood consumed by Gonze stove.
3.3.5. Length of Time
The length of time refers to the number of minutes the
three stoves under the three experimental women have
performed. Gonze stove was providing heat for baking Injera
for longer periods in the second woman’s kitchen.
More importantly, the length of time Mirt stove provided
heat to bake additional Injera after the 10
th
Injera was baked
and the wood is avoided was almost constantly similar.
Similarly, the length of time the local stove provided heat to
bake additional Injera was comparatively the lowest in all
three conditions. This condition does not considered the
amount of heat the stove provided parallel to stew making
and water boiling in adjacency.
Table 3. ANOVA for burning time.
Source SS df MS F Prob > F
Between groups 1216.22 2 608.11 6.22 0.0345
Within groups 586.67 6 97.78
Total 1802.89 8 225.36
Bartlett's testfor equal variances:chi2(2) =2.0244Prob>chi2 = 0.363.
ANOVA showed the presence of significant difference in
length of time the wood burned among the three stoves.The
length of time the stoves gave energy sufficient to bake
additional ‘Injera’ was 1.63 and 1.5 times the length of
traditional stove burned, for Mirt and Gonze respectively.
Mirt gave a burning time of 0.08 times longer than Gonze.
Fig. 4. Length of time of burning after baking of the 10
th
Injera.
3.3.6. Amount of Charcoal Extracted
Fig. 5. Amount of charcoal extracted.
The amount of charcoal extracted after termination of the
evaluation was measured. The local stove for Injera baking
has no charcoal extract. The weight of charcoal extracted
from Mirt stove was averagely higher than that of Gonze.
The amount of charcoal extracted from burned wood of
traditional stove was nil due to the use of small size sticks
that are highly blazing. This is due to the inability to
continuously flap the heat to burn that the wood should be
mostly sliced thinly. This incurs damage to what would have
been saved as a by-product (charcoal) to be used for stew and
coffee making. Thou, the amount is zero here, it is extracted
in most cases however very grainy in observation from
experience.
Table 4. ANOVA for charcoal extracted.
Source SS df MS F Prob > F
Between groups
0.051 2 0.026 7.99 0.0204
Within groups 0.019 6 0 .0032
Total 0.071 8 0 .009
Bartlett's test for equal variances:chi2(1) =0.0102Prob>chi2 = 0.920
One way ANOVA showed the presence of significant
difference (F=7.99, p=0.0204) in amount of charcoal
extracted from the three stoves among the three stoves.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Local Gonze Mirt
Time of burning (mins)

32 Dagninet Amare, et al.: Enhancing Biomass Energy Efficiency in Rural Households of Ethiopia
3.3.7. Overall Evaluation
Fig. 6. Overall efficiency.
According to Dagninet et al. (2012)
[1]
, the annual wood
consumption for fuel will be 0.22 tons and 0.26 tons per
capita bases. On adult equivalent bases the annual wood
consumed will be 0.23 tons and 0.27 tons respectively for
Mirt and Gonze stoves. On the other hand annual
consumption efficiency can be calculated by considering the
area as a moist Woina Dega livelihood zone
[11]
. Thus, annual
per capita fuel wood consumption will roughly be 596kg and
703kg for Mirt and Gonze stoves respectively. It helps to
save 290kg and 180kg of fuel wood annually on per capita
bases. In general Mirt stove showed a comparatively better
performance in terms of burning time and charcoal extracted
relative to Gonze and traditional stoves. Gonze has a
comparatively energy efficiency and wood reduction
advantage compared to local stove. The Mirt stove has a
better energy efficiency compared to both traditional and
Gonze stoves.
Table 5. LSD of length of time wood burnt in minutes.
(I) type of stove (J) type of stove Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound Upper Bound
Traditional Gonze -21.33
*
8.07 0.038 -41.09 -1.58
Mirt -27.00
*
8.07 0.016 -46.76 -7.24
Gonze Traditional 21.33
*
8.07 0.038 1.58 41.09
Mirt -5.67 8.07 0.509 -25.42 14.09
Mirt Traditional 27.00
*
8.07 0.016 7.24 46.76
Gonze 5.67 8.07 0.509 -14.09 25.42
*Mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
3.4. Women’s Feedback
The test women reflected during the trial on the benefits
and shortages of each stove. They preferred the Mirt stove
due to longevity of age and ability to contain the heat for
longer periods. Dissatisfaction on Gonze stove rose mainly
due to loss of energy and breakability. Compared to the local
stove, Mirt requires longer heating period and more solid
wood while it is possible with leaves and thin wood slots that
Injera is baked in local stove. All of the women preferred
Mirt stove due to the benefits of energy saving, avoidance of
smokes and front leg burning. Alongside women, male
partners showed a heightened interest for the Mirt stove.
Overall, they ranked from first to last Mirt, Gonze and
traditional according decreasing trend of preference.
3.5. Opportunities for Promotion
The most valuable opportunities for promotion and
adoption of the technology are the ever increasing shortage
of biomass energy resources, the consciousness of the male
partners about the health problems faced by their wives,
especially their eyes and legs and the willingness to pay the
market price of the stove (100-150birr). The policy
inclination towards stall feeding is forcing people to own
fewer sizes of cattle than used to be. This reduces the amount
of dung available for energy. Thus, the importance of energy
saving technologies will be crucial that makes promotion
easier. However, for this specific area, there was mismatch in
diameter of “Mitad” available in the local market and the
diameter of the stove. Hence there is a need to modify to the
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Burnt wood (kg) Time of burning (mins) Size of charcoal extracted(kg)
local
gonze
mirt

Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 2015; 4(2): 27-33 33
required size.
4. Conclusion
The stoves increase efficiency of available energy
utilization. Mirt and Gonze stoves help to save 33% and 20%
of the average annual energy consumption per household,
respectively. Efficiency could also be improved since there
was a slight difference between the “Mitad” and the Mirt
stove. Hence, reduction of the diameter of Mirt stove for that
particular locality to encourage more adoption is vital. The
farmers explained that while Gonze is useful as it does not
permanently occupy a space, there is a problem of loss of
heat and hence uses more fuel wood. In the case of Mirt
stove, they explained that it takes longer time and relatively
high amount of wood at the beginning for heating but after
heating it helps to bake more than that can be done with local
stove while the avoidance of smoke is considered vital.In
general, the supply of a mold or Mirt stove design that fits to
the diameter of the local “Mitad”s (averagely 56cm from a
sample of 28 “Mitad”s compared to 62cm of the Mirt mold
availed) helps to improve rural energy efficiency in Ethiopia.
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