Dear Stovers, especially to the GACC leaders and Testing Centers,
(Sorry if my message is long, but if it is not important enough for you to read it, you probably are not so serious about stove testing.) Ranyee, please forward this to the directors of all the Testing Centers.
As we gather in 8 days in Cambodia for the GACC Forum, and with all of the Testing Centers represented there, here are some questions (and comments and requests) that I hope are addressed. In short, stove testing issues are not just about protocols. It is also about the realities of getting tests done.
0. Preface: Let's start with positive recognition of the GACC and the associated Testing Centers and their leaders for all of the hard work that is being done about stove testing. THANK YOU!!! We know that many issues remain un-resolved. But perhaps the questions below can be answered.
1. Please provide a full listing of ALL of the Test Centers, with indication of what testing (efficiencies, CO, PM, safety, etc) each one actually can conduct. It is hard to imagine that this does not already exist, so really I am asking for a URL link if it exists. But this is just the starting point.
2. What is the cost (the price, the charges) for having each of those tests done at each Testing Center? Estimates and ranges of fees are accepted information. These Centers are to be independent of the companies that make stoves, and they are financially assisted by the GACC. So who charges what prices? Is there competitive bidding? Or are prices fixed by whom?
3. [ ALSO it would be interesting to know how many tests of which types are actually conducted at each Center in 1 month or 6 months or yearly, but that is perhaps prying too much into the operations of the Centers. Maybe one or two centers could give us those numbers. But I suspect that the GACC that is financing these Centers should require at least that much accountability from each Center. If so, then perhaps some averages or ranges of numbers could be shared, without naming the Centers. ]
4. And what arrangements are possible to have financial assistance to those of us who would like to have stoves "tested" informally (to learn about how to improve the stove) and formally (to have results that can be published.)?? Without financial assistance (as in a subsidy via the Testing Center that has GACC assistance), the little guys will not afford the test costs, and the big operations (and recipients of grants) will.
5. Because of the appropriate objectives of independent testing, and the need for replication testing in multiple Test Centers, the costs will escalate. What assistance is being arranged for this? NOTE: Everyone wants his/her stove tested by Jim Jetter of the EPA. This is becoming the "diamond standard". Great. But only if the stove gets accepted into the group to be tested, and then the results take 1 to 2 years to be released because it is such a massive task for one place to accomplish. ...
6. Meanwhile, where are any results from the other Testing Centers? Very few and far between. Why? Partly because when a person or company pays to have a stove tested (seems to be in most cases except via Jim Jetter and sometimes via CSU with funding for testing), the stove owner controls the results. And it seems that almost all of the owners are not sharing their results. We can say "That's business." But were is the progress? So if the GACC financially assists (supports) the Testing Centers, and especially if "subsidized testing" can be offered, then there could be requirements that the Testing Centers could release some or all of those results. Perhaps the stove name and the maker name are not released. But at least we could know about Rockets and TLUDs and charcoal and "fan-forced" and simple bucket-stoves and etc. Perhaps with some further subdivisions so that, for example, poor charcoal stoves and the advanced/improved charcoal stoves are not lumped into one category. And encourage the stove maker to agree to have the actual stove named if the stove is somewhat reasonable or representative.
See many of you in Cambodia at the Forum. Paul -- Paul S. Anderson, PhD aka "Dr TLUD" Email: [email protected] Skype: paultlud Phone: +1-309-452-7072 Website: www.drtlud.com _______________________________________________ Stoves mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site: http://www.bioenergylists.org/
