REDI - sharing renewable energy

by François Rueff, Head of the Technical Unit at the General Relief Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Day by day the economies of most of the world's developing countries are sinking into deeper trouble. And for those among them in the grip of an armed conflict the situation is far more serious: people lack food, water, adequate housing and heating, medical care and many other basics. The ICRC's assistance programmes do what they can to alleviate such situations.

But there are other problems - deforestation, desertification and other forms of environmental degradation - which must be addressed if we really want to help the victims of conflict or natural disaster. Indeed, one of the inherent risks of humanitarian assistance is the possibility of negative secondary effects. The beneficiaries may, for example, become dependent on the relief provided, losing any incentive to improve their lot since aid organizations are meeting their vital needs. The environment itself can suffer as a result of humanitarian assistance operations; it is up to the organizations providing aid to ensure that the best possible use is made of local resources with the least possible damage to the environment. Bearing this in mind, the ICRC has been looking at several new approaches.

One of the ICRC's concerns recently has been finding fuel-efficient ways of cooking and heating. In most countries where the ICRC works, wood is generally the fuel used for both. Large-scale wood consumption obviously contributes to deforestation and desertification. To avoid this, it was essential to develop means of cooking and producing heat which would require less wood, could be made locally, and would be simple to use and acceptable to the people concerned.

In Somalia, where the widespread insecurity and constant pillaging of humanitarian aid convoys have made it impossible to ensure delivery of relief to those who truly need it, the ICRC concluded that the only way of feeding famine victims in the short to medium term was to set up "community kitchens". The food is usually prepared and cooked by Somali Red Crescent workers and then distributed under ICRC supervision. A source of energy had to be found to operate these kitchens without cutting down the few trees and bushes that remained in the region, so the ICRC consulted a number of experts, including REDI (the Renewable Energy Development Institute), to seek alternatives.

REDI's experience in designing energy efficient ovens and heating stoves proved very useful. ICRC specialists visited the Institute to watch the construction and testing of new designs for Somalia.

At the same time, a number of trials were being conducted in camps for displaced persons to see whether the different prototypes worked on the spot and were acceptable to camp residents. Key factors such as ease of operation, the types of fuel available and the need to cook food quickly made it necessary to conduct trials in field conditions.

Technical advice from Mr. Waclaw Micuta of REDI and testing in the field led to the development of models suitable for various requirements. Some of them are more appropriate for rural areas and village refugee camps, while others are designed for large groups of displaced people in urban areas.

This has already resulted in considerable savings in firewood, and the lessons learned will doubtless find very useful applications in other situations, particularly in Africa and Asia, where environmental degradation is often compounded by armed conflict and over-population.

A REDI stove has also been used in the framework of the ICRC's relief programme in the former Yugoslavia, where many thousands of people have been displaced by conflict. Those who manage to return to their homes often find their houses badly damaged or even completely destroyed. Last year the ICRC set up a "winter relief" programme to help the returnees survive the region's harsh winter. As most of them had no means of keeping warm, stoves were included. These stoves are different from those tested in Somalia, their main purpose being to produce heat, although they can also be used for cooking. They can run on either wood or coal.

What these stoves have in common with those tested in Somalia is that they can be produced cheaply using locally available materials, they are simple to use and are very economical in terms of fuel. Some 15,000 such stoves have been made by companies in Zagreb. Paid for with European Community and British Government funds, they have been distributed to families, schools, hospitals and other institutions.

Source: ICRC Bulletin, 1 March 1993