Cook electric
Practical Action
Other countries inspired by the Nepal model, such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines and
Afghanistan, are now starting work on hydro in their own rural communities.
Cook electric
Lighting is an important priority for most villages, but electricity can also be used for cooking as
well as economic activities like grain milling, bakeries, dairies, and fruit and vegetable drying. Of
these, there is particular interest in cooking, since this activity uses three quarters of Nepal's
household energy. Electric cooking has the potential to reduce the pressure on increasingly
scarce fuelwood supplies.
Since the existing electric cookers on the market are too 'power greedy' to be viable in most
micro-hydro schemes, two types of electric cooker have been designed in Nepal with rural
communities in mind.
The bijuli dekchi consists of a cooking pot fitted with a low
wattage element. It is used primarily to heat water, and also
for cooking rice, lentils and vegetables. Bijuli dekchis come
in a whole range of sizes (3-20 litres) and colours.
The heat storage cooker has an insulated block of pebbles for
storing up heat from a low-wattage
element. A blast of hot air from the heat store is directed at
the base of the cooking vessel. Because its hob can be used
for frying food as well as boiling water, the cooker may be a
more appropriate choice in some districts, depending on local
cooking practices.
Figure 7: Gbandruk village, with
Annapurna South in the
background.
Evidence is now accumulating to show that, in certain places
and socio-economic conditions, electric cooking from micro-
hydro can have a significant impact on people's lives and a
beneficial impact on the environment. These findings have
important implications for the future of energy generation not
only in Nepal, but in many other countries as well.
The story of the Ghandruk village micro-hydro scheme
illustrates this clearly.
Ghandruk
The village of Ghandruk lies in the Annapurna region of
Nepal, at the heart of the country's most popular tourist
region. Perched upon a steep hillside above the roaring.
Modi Khola river, this tightly packed village of tall, stone
houses is home to 270 families, most of whom are
Gurungs. Although agriculturists by tradition, many
Gurungs have joined the British and Indian armies over the
years, establishing a reputation as the loyal and fearless
Gurkha soldiers. Almost every household has at least one
serving or retired army member.
By Nepali standards, the village is relatively wealthy
because of income from the army, and in the last two
decades trekking tourism has dramatically increased cash
income for some families. In 1993 Ghandruk was visited
by 7,000 tourists, and the numbers are steadily
increasing. But agriculture is still the main occupation.
Most families own land and are more or less self-sufficient
in food: their main crops are rice, barley, millet, maize and
potato.
4
Figure 8: Gathering wood for fuel
is laborious, and increasingly
time-consuming as forest cover
diminishes.