The Bureau of Mines and Energy controls national mining, calcareous and energy resources. Its main mission consists to promote research and clean-living and efficient exploitation of these resources. It also encourages technology development for the rational use of energy sources. The Bureau of Mines and Energy has realized several projects in this domain. One of these is "Relieving of the pressure on timber resources."
Contact Information
Our Focus
My institution tasked many projects, like "Relieving of the pressure on timber resources", mentioned above. In this project, we developed a cooking stove model: "Mirak Stove". This stove allows a 40% reduction in wood charcoal consumption. It is also able to keep ashes coming from combustion and in doing so preserve the ambient environment's cleanliness. But, economical and cultural targets are always big obstacles in the project's success.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
Social and cultural barriers are very important in this sector in the Haitian marketplace. This difficulty is met with both the consumers and producers. Producers, even certified, don’t respect quality standards because they think that you must give them an extra gratification. A large proportion of consumers are not able to buy equipment because they don't have economical capacity required. Those who can purchase the stove are not interested in demanding a quality label from the producer. The quality label certifies that stove is good.
Market development of improved cooking technologies would allow significant reduction of pressure on timber resources and maybe reduce toxic gas coming from combustion. This would have a positive impact on environment and health.
Many stoves models are sold in the Haitian marketplace like improved stoves. Those are not tested and certified. A technology standardization program would permit production of standardized stoves and enable respect for cooking, heating and ventilation standards.
About 80% of the Haitian population use wood energy for cooking. During the combustion, there is emission of CO that is a toxic gas dangerous for the health. So, I'm particularly interested in indoor air pollution exposure and health monitoring.
Relevant Publications or Studies
Journal "Synergies".
Our Contribution to the Partnership
My organization will participate by sharing its experiences and expertise in the domain.