Innovations and Sustainability: The Case of Improved Biomass Stoves' Adoption and Use in Tanzania

Abstract

The adoption and continued use of improved stoves in the developing countries is of social, economic and environmental concern. In most developing countries, biomass-based energy accounts for more than 90% of all household energy consumption. It is estimated that each year indoor air pollution is responsible for the death of 1.6 million people in dwellings that are poorly ventilated – approximately one death in every 20 seconds. Recent studies are increasingly showing that black carbon, mainly from open and residential burning of biomass, is altering the reflective ability of the atmosphere and ice surfaces hence exacerbating global warming. The invention and diffusion of improved stoves in developing countries is therefore perceived as instrumental in the efforts to combat the negative effects related to the use of traditional hearths. The overall aim of this study was to explore the problems that stove users face after adoption of improved stoves and to suggest what could possibly be done to overcome those problems.

In this study a total of 26 stove users, non-users and promoters in Tanzania were interviewed using semi-structured, unstructured and focused interview methods. Results indicate that, at the field level; lack of appropriate projects’ evaluation, inadequate grassroots (end-users) involvement, capability problems, as well as stoves’ own technical faults and inflexibility are highly undermining the diffusion efforts. In practice; women who are the primary users of stoves are either passively or partially involved in the diffusion process. At the policy-making level; the government is yet to make stove programs a priority and has settled for the NGO-led dissemination efforts. Results from this study will be a useful contribution for researchers, policy makers, NGOs and groups involved in promoting the adoption and use of more sustainable innovations.