Xiaoliandian village is located in the town of Changchi, 30 kilometers northwest of downtown Yu County, in the Eastern part of Shanxi province. Not including the young people who leave to find work, the village has approximately 180 households and 420 permanent residents, most of whom are elderly, women or children. Daily cooking and heating fuels mainly include lump and other types of coal which are sometimes mixed with straw, the burning of which creates serious pollutant emissions. In addition, the rising price of coal is an increasing economic burden to villagers.
Main problems: 1) Existing cooking stoves within the project village are 1980s era, hand-piled traditional stoves which use coal as the primary fuel. In the present day this technology is crude, and during combustion the mixture level of fuel and air is inadequate. The majority of carbon in the fuel is converted to products of incomplete combustion and thermal efficiency is low at only around 12%. 2) Household annual fuel costs are over ¥2,000 RMB, which creates a financial burden to villagers. 3) Owing to prolonged exposure to smoke pollution from the old-fashioned coal burning stoves, many of the local elderly have oral and dental health problems, persistent coughs and other symptoms of poor health.
Solutions/activities: The project will provide a subsidy to the village?s 180 households to promote the new biomass stove use. The project will aim for a high performance with a thermal efficiency of 41.4% and a capacity of 4.2kW. The project team will arrange for residents to receive adequate training in the use and post-use monitoring of equipment, to ensure it is properly used and the desired positive effects realized to the full extent.
Anticipated results/outcomes: 1) Energy and emissions savings: Each household is expected to save over 1 ton of coal every year, with associated savings of over 2.6 t/CO2 a year. Total CO2 savings will be approximately 390 tons annually. 2) Reduce living costs: Annual fuel cost savings of over 1,000 RMB per household. 3) Improve the health of local residents: reduce concentrations of CO and PM resulting from indoor cooking activities, CO <0.2%, PM <50mg/m3. 4) Carbon trading subsidies: through the sale of Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reduction credits. This will provide post-installation finance for the project, including future maintenance and training costs, to ensure benefits are realized long into the future. 5)Promote the successful cooperation of organizations from the non-government, university and commercial sectors in other parts of China where conditions permit.