improved cookstove dissemination
princeton in Asia fellow | research associate, the energy and resources institute (TERI)
new delhi, india
The Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) hired my group at TERI to develop technology dissemination recommendations for the National Improved Biomass Cookstoves Initiative. In order to devise marketing, distribution, financing, and monitoring and evaluation strategies, I interviewed women and observed them cook, conducted literature review of other initiatives worldwide, and held discussions with experts from NGOs, social enterprises, academia, and government.
Several of our recommendations have been implemented by MNRE in a 15,000-family pilot and a subsequent 110,000-family trial. Some recommendations are now being implemented as part of the government's plan to disseminate 2.4 million family stoves and 3.5 million community stoves by 2017.
During my time working on this project, I came to realize that human-centered design was a major missing component in improved cookstove technology development. Most of the improved stoves on the Indian market at the time did not meet women’s needs. For example, many improved cookstove technologies did not have heat control, so women tampered with the new stove, thereby reducing its effectiveness, or abandoned it altogether. Repeatedly, cookstove adoption among women in India has failed—ultimately, no matter how well technology dissemination is planned, women won’t use a stove they don’t want. This realization led to my decision to pursue a mechanical engineering master's degree with a focus on human-centered design, to become a product designer who could create technologies that address the needs and constraints of the target users.
