Pilot testing of the CleanCook stove and alcohol fuels is underway in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Brazil. In the coming year we will launch pilot studies in South Africa.

Poverty condemns around one half of the world's population to use solid fuels, including wood, dung, and coal, for cooking and heating homes. The smoke from burning these fuels turns kitchens into death traps. —World Health Organization (2006)

Introducing a new stove and fuel
Project Gaia is presently conducting pilot studies of a new fuel-and-stove system in selected developing countries. The reasons for these studies are:
• to test the impact of the alcohol-fueled CleanCook stove-and-fuel system on study participants, households, and environment;
• to compare the CleanCook’s performance against that of other stove-and-fuel systems currently in use (which include a variety of stoves fueled by kerosene, charcoal, wood, and LPG);
• to gauge participants’ desire for the CleanCook stove;
• to prove to ethanol producers that there is domestic, household-level demand for ethanol;
• to familiarize policy makers with the CleanCook stove and fuel system, and to involve them in the entire process of testing and introducing the new technology with the view to securing future policy-level support for our initiative;
• to inform the business planning and commercialization strategy for the CleanCook stove and alcohol fuel in each selected country.

The role of Project Gaia during the pilot studies
• To build relationships with study participants, making frequent visits to each household to discuss satisfaction or dissatisfaction with different aspects of the CleanCook stove-and-fuel system;
• To conduct extensive research to determine the impact that an alcohol-fueled stove will have on the health, environment, and economy of a community that adopts this technology.

The role of households during the pilot studies
• To help the Project Gaia team determine the final design of the stove as it will be manufactured in their country;
• To become entrepreneurs of fuel and stove distribution, and to become an important part of the fuel supply chain; women participants are especially involved in this.

Pilot testing: now and the future
Full-scale studies are currently underway in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Project Gaia Ethiopia is moving into the commercialization phase of the project. Project Gaia Nigeria and Project Gaia Brazil have completed their pilot studies and are in transition into commercialization.

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