Posts Tagged ‘lpg’
Cooking in Mbeya
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
A 800km+ drive on a highway which moved along through a beautiful and richly diverse countryside which included the lush Uluguru and Udzungwa mountain ranges, Mikomi game reserve (yes, giraffes, zebras and elephants do hang out along the highway), a baobab tree forest, and finally to the beautiful southern highlands of Tanzania that is the Mbeya region.
I travelled with Abraham (the owner of Afrozone Ltd – a Liquefied Petroleum Gas “LPG” distribution company) with the goal to further our understanding the energy consumption cooking profile of the city. Armed with a short questionnaire (in English & Swahili) and Abraham’s son to help me translate my still poor Swahili, we set out to the streets to speak directly with the consumers. After speaking with individuals of various income and education levels, generally we learned the following:
- everybody we spoke to cooks with charcoal at home
- most ‘established’ restaurants were cooking with LPG
- although in each instance the cook was not cooking with LPG at home
- the average monthly cost of charcoal was 15,000 to 30,000 shillings, on par with the cost of LPG without considering burn efficiencies
- the average number of hours spent cooking one meal was about 2 hours
- many sited that indoor air pollution from their current energy source was a concern to them
All but two people told us, that they had been considering a move towards LPG, however the consistently stated barriers were as follows:
- high upfront costs of cylinders and appliances
- fear of use; LPG is still perceived as unsafe particularly when there are children in the home, or the cooking is being prepared by a ‘housegirl’
- a belief that traditional foods such as beans and rice, as well as boiling water are better prepared using charcoal
- a lack of knowledge of how to source LPG
The Tanzanian Government has attempted (more than once) unsuccessfully to devise a plan that would see the prohibition of charcoal being sold in city centres, as well as attempting to prohibit the felling of trees, both initiatives have resulted in increased prices of charcoal throughout the country. However, I suspect these initiatives have failed as no alternative fuel choices were offered alongside the regulations. Given the lack of information in general on energy choices, and specifically with only a handful of LPG dealers in a city of over 400,000 residents, you can understand why their choices are limited.
Last week, I visited the LPG storage facility in Dar es Salaam (the only operational storage facility in the country) to find that they were awaiting a shipment. I was told yesterday that it was an entire week before a delivery was received. This doesn’t do much for consumer choice, forcing those already using LPG as their primary cooking source to revert to charcoal or other fuel sources as they wait to exchange their empty cylinders for full ones.
So gradual change is possible, given the right incentives to industry to increase storage capabilities and thus ensure an adequate supply, an affordability scheme to address the upfront cost, as well as education and awareness programs to promote gas as a safe, cleaner and efficient choice. Much effort will be needed from the private sector companies to be able to reach the eager market, however I believe much effort will also need to be generated at a government level – making clean energy a basic urban service, as well as ensuring an adequate supply is available to fill this right.
Tags: lpg, tanzania
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