Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta Original article Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Iva Peša Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa, African Studies Centre, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received October 2016 Revised 26 January 2017 Accepted February 2017 Available online xxxx Keywords: Improved cook stoves Charcoal Market organisation Consumer preference a b s t r a c t In urban Zambia one initiative for sustainable energy provision has been the introduction of micro gasifying cook stoves and sawdust pellets to replace cooking on charcoal From 2010 onward several commercial companies – with various organisational structures – have been trying to market these stoves to low-income households, with varying degrees of success This paper will explore the value chain dynamics of these improved cook stove initiatives to see whether organisational set-up influences stove adoption and market penetration It is argued that initiatives to market improved cook stoves can, paradoxically, learn a lot from the existing charcoal value chain and its marketing structure Improved cook stove initiatives have to be understood within a technical, social and economic context, as people, markets and locality matter and one size does not fit all Ó 2017 The Author Published by Elsevier Ltd This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Introduction Zambian urban cooking has been dominated by charcoal (malasha) and iron braziers (mbaula) since at least the 1930s [14] Even if among some wealthier households cooking on electricity has gained sway, charcoal braziers are still retained as a backup in case of electricity outages and for cooking ‘slow’ dishes, such as beans or dried fish [6] Nonetheless, due to the health hazards posed by indoor air pollution and the environmental effects of high levels of deforestation, charcoal use has started to receive severe criticism from various ‘social innovations’, which have aimed to substitute charcoal with sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves [7,6] Although improved cook stoves (ICS) have been tested and disseminated in Zambia since the 1970s, a new impetus was given from 2010 onward when the combination of sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves was first successfully marketed (Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Lusaka, 01 October 2014) Several commercial companies – in collaboration with NGOs, charity foundations, donors and government institutions – have been trying to market this technology to low-income households, claiming environmental, health and financial benefits upon adoption (Interview with Samuel Bell, Lusaka, 05 October 2014) The introduction and promotion of ICS has been framed within discourses of ensuring ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ [6; www.se4all.org] These initiatives can be seen as examples of ‘social entrepreneurship’, as they create ‘new models for the provision of products and services that cater directly to basic human needs that remain unsatisfied by current economic or social institutions’ [24: p 243-4] Because ICS promotion primarily aims to create social, rather than purely economic, value, it requires novel business models, organisational structures and strategies [13] ICS promotion necessitates social innovation, which entails multistakeholder partnerships, networks and value chains, as well as innovations in organisational form and operational models [22] Yet attempts to promote ICS in urban Zambia have enjoyed varying degrees of success Zambia thus provides an excellent case to study whether institutional infrastructure and organisational set-up influence the adoption of ICS initiatives [7] Looking at organisational aspects is important for understanding the adoption of an innovation, because an innovation must always ‘integrate itself into a network of actors who take it up, support it, diffuse it’ [2: p 203-4] Essentially, ‘the fate of an innovation depends on the active participation of all those who have decided to develop it ( .) [This is an] immense collective undertaking which assumes the active support of all participating actors’ [3: p 208] It is useful to follow the ICS value chain, as this ‘describes the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the intermediary phases of production (involving a combination of physical transformation and the input of various producer services), delivery to final consumers, and final E-mail address: iva.pesa@history.ox.ac.uk http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 2213-1388/Ó 2017 The Author Published by Elsevier Ltd This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Please cite this article in press as: Peša I Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 I Peša / Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx disposal after use’ [15: p 8] Zambian examples endorse that ‘the sustainable adoption of low-carbon technologies is conditioned not only by the technologies themselves, and on how they are provided, but also depends on how processes of technology development, financing, transfer and adoption connect with the institutional infrastructures at the local level’ [19] Whereas technologically Zambian ICS initiatives not differ markedly from one another, they differ in organisational set-up and value chain dynamics [16] It is therefore crucial to examine how initiatives to introduce ICS attempt to ‘build the social structure of a market’ [20] Whereas one company has focused on becoming a forprofit, self-sustaining business by marketing high-quality but expensive stoves, another company has partnered with NGOs and donors and has tried to serve the low-income market (www emerging.co.zm; www.aaaa.no/home-energy) Despite their very different approaches, these initiatives face numerous struggles This paper will explore the value chain dynamics of several ICS initiatives to see whether organisational set-up influences stove adoption and market penetration Initiatives to promote micro gasifying cook stoves and sawdust pellets strongly denounce charcoal, labelling it the ‘old’, ‘unhealthy’ and ‘environmentally polluting’ fuel [28] Yet charcoal is the main competitor to ICS adoption, as the charcoal value chain is organised in a highly efficient manner and it generates livelihoods for numerous people [12] ICS initiatives have not yet managed to replicate such a value chain and this organisational limitation is the main reason behind the non-adoption of ICS so far [8] Micro gasifying cook stoves and sawdust pellets have insufficiently managed to create their own value chains which can generate local employment and profits By adopting ICS, consumers would put charcoal burners, transporters, retailers and market women out of business [12] Thus, even though adopting sawdust pellets might save costs when compared to cooking on charcoal, sawdust pellets have not managed to socially construct a marketplace which is able to compete with the moral economy of charcoal [8] Whilst sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves might be economically rational from an individual consumer perspective, they are not rational when viewed from the perspective of the economic and social logic of the market as a whole [10] The NGO SNV understands this paradox and has tried to market ICS and charcoal briquettes through the charcoal value chain (mbaula producers now manufacture ICS and market women who sell charcoal additionally offer charcoal briquettes) (http://www.snv.org/theme/sustainablemarkets-energy) This paper aims to understand how the organisational infrastructure of charcoal influences the adoption and marketing of micro gasifying cook stoves and sawdust pellets The approach taken in this paper differs from existing studies on ICS, firstly by placing technology in a broader societal setting [18,11] It will be argued that technology is only a small part of ICS adoption ([1] warns for ‘technosaviorism’) Secondly, various organisational approaches and alliances to promote ICS, which can be more or less effective, are outlined, without suggesting that there is one best practice (i.e a market-led approach or social entrepreneurship) [7] Thirdly, it is suggested that economic rationality and organisational efficiency might be located in unexpected places – that charcoal provides an example of an efficient value chain, moral economy and market logic from which ICS initiatives have much to learn [8] ICS initiatives have to be understood within a technical, organisational, social and economic context, as people, markets and locality matter and one size does not fit all [16] This paper is based on research conducted in Zambia, in the cities of Kitwe and Lusaka, during September–November 2014 and July–September 2015 Next to a study of unpublished reports and secondary literature, this research has relied heavily on interviews with representatives of ICS companies (social entrepreneurs), ethnographic research among users and non-users of ICS technolo- gies and a study of actors in the charcoal value chain.1 The paper is organised as follows: The section ‘‘Organisational models for introducing ICS in urban Zambia” will provide an overview of two distinct initiatives to promote ICS, focusing on their different organisational structure and questioning whether organisation, technology or business models influence market penetration ‘‘The Charcoal value chain as a competitor to ICS adoption” examines the charcoal value chain to see how it influences ICS adoption The concluding section will bring ICS and charcoal together, analysing the importance of value chain dynamics to understand fuel adoption decisions The conclusion also reflects on the developmental relevance of this study and provides some suggestions for future research on ICS Organisational models for introducing ICS in urban Zambia From the 1930s onward, when fast rates of urbanisation made cooking on wood impractical, charcoal and braziers started to dominate Zambian urban cooking [9] Charcoal is easier to preserve and transport than wood logs, but to produce kg of charcoal as much as 6–10 kg of wood are required [23] Charcoal has thus been blamed for widespread and rapid deforestation, as well as for other social ills, such as indoor air pollution and persistent poverty and marginalisation, especially of female charcoal users [28] Starting in the 1970s universities, government departments and NGOs have experimented with alternatives to reduce charcoal use in Zambia Coal briquettes and various improved cook stoves (with more efficient combustion principles or less smoke production than mbaula stoves), such as the Kenya Ceramic Jiko, have been tried (Interview with John Banda, Kitwe, 21 November 2014) These initiatives were of limited scope, though, remaining stuck in the test phase or reaching only a handful of households In 2007 one environmentally minded Zambian social entrepreneur noticed that the wood processing industry on the Copperbelt produced large amounts of sawdust waste, which has limited use On a training course abroad he learnt that sawdust can be converted into cooking energy Realising the potential of sawdust waste as cooking energy, he got in touch with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), who have expertise in pelletising technologies (Interview with Sonta Kauti, Lusaka, 05 October 2014) SIDA contacted a Swedish company interested in pelletising sawdust in Zambia and together these Swedish and Zambian entrepreneurs started to experiment with producing fuel efficient sawdust pellets (Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Lusaka, 24 October 2014) In 2010, after prolonged experimentation and testing, the commercial company Emerging Cooking Solutions started to cater for 40 households: ‘By pelletizing agro- and forestry waste we upgrade unwanted waste to a 100% renewable biofuel – and sell it cheaper than the competing unsustainable alternative: Charcoal’ (http://emerging.se) The company has forged numerous partnerships, relying on funding from NGOs, charities and government institutions, to create a truly social innovation (http://emerging.se/partners/) Although the company aims to reach financial self-sustainability, it equally pursues environmental, social and economic value creation [7,13] From the outset the target community consisted of low-income consumers in an area where charcoal use is high (St Anthony’s compound Kitwe; Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Lusaka, 24 October 2014) Highend Philips stoves (costing USD100) were marketed, but attempts were made to subsidise high stove costs through profits from pellet sales (http://www.africancleanenergy.com/) A charitable donation enabled subsidised stove sales for USD60 and payment in Interviews have been conducted by the author in Lusaka and Kitwe in English and/or iciBemba Maria Kankondo and Lyness Mumba Lubemba provided research assistance and translated from iciBemba to English Please cite this article in press as: Peša I Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 I Peša / Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx installments allowed even low-income households to afford expensive stoves (Interview with Sonta Kauti, Lusaka, 05 October 2014) Yet after 18 months sales lagged behind expected levels and profits proved to be minimal or even non-existent The company shifted its focus from the secondary city of Kitwe to the capital city Lusaka Furthermore, middle-income households of salaried employees, such as teachers and nurses, became a new target market (Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Lusaka, 24 October 2014) Through payroll deduction these households could pay off even the most expensive stoves in three installments Yet different from the low-income market, middle-income households did not use the stoves and pellets as a primary source of cooking energy, but as a backup in case of electricity outages (Interview with Joseph Lungu, Lusaka, 17 August 2015) Apart from this, the company discovered a distinct market niche in the production of larger institutional stoves Restaurants, boarding schools, hospitals and other institutions can experience marked cost reductions by adopting sawdust pellets, saving up to 40% on fuel expenditure (Interview with cook at Olympic Stadium, Lusaka, 17 August 2015) Despite these shifts, the original low-income focus was not abandoned and the company rationale remained to ‘create and sustain social and not just private value’ [13: p 785], as institutional stove sales and pellet sales to middle-income households were meant to subsidise sales to low-income households Yet among low-income households uptake of pellets and ICS remained very slow (Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Kitwe, 14 August 2015) Notwithstanding innovative financing models and marketing strategies (including sales demonstrations in church groups and door to door marketing), low-income consumers could not be sufficiently convinced of the (economic) rationale for adopting sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves (Interview with Bernadette Mwaba, Kitwe, 27 October 2014) Users complained about issues such as the flame being too hard and difficult to regulate, the battery running out or that the pellet stove is unsuitable for cooking slow dishes, such as beans More importantly, low-income users doubted whether cost savings from adopting sawdust pellets would truly be as pronounced as the company claimed in its marketing campaign When questioned, most users responded that pellets and charcoal are approximately equally expensive, or even claimed that charcoal is cheaper than sawdust pellets (Interviews with households in St Anthony’s, Kitwe, 27 October 2014) Thus, this social innovation failed to gain a solid market share among the lowest-income consumers it initially intended to serve Even though the company continues to serve middle-income and institutional markets, it is still struggling to gain inroads among lowincome households (Interview with Mattias Ohlson, Kitwe, 14 August 2015) (see Fig 1) A different attempt to market micro gasifying cook stoves and sawdust pellets was initiated by a Zimbabwean sawmill owner in Kitwe, who teamed up with Norwegian environmentalists in 2009 to found a commercial company, Home Energy Ltd (Interview with Nick O’Connor, Kitwe, 12 October 2014) After an initial experimentation phase, Home Energy started marketing its stoves and pellets at extremely low costs in 2014 This was possible because the sawmill owner produced an abundance of free sawdust waste and the Norwegian engineers and marketing specialists designed a cheap, well-functioning stove and business model (Interview with Terje Hoel, Kitwe, 14 October 2014) Moreover, prison labour was used to produce the stoves (sold at USD10-15, depending on the quality and model) and the fuel was marketed at rock bottom prices (ZMW13 for 13 kg of pellets, which is much cheaper than charcoal)2 (www.aaaa.no/home-energy/) In August 2014 a marketing container In October 2014 ZMW13 was approximately USD2,5 A 45 kg bag of charcoal – which burns approximately as long as a 13 kg bag of sawdust pellets – cost ZMW50 was established in one of Kitwe’s low-income, high-density compounds (Chamboli) and innovative marketing techniques (including demonstrations, door to door marketing and community promotions) were deployed to promote the stoves and pellets (Interview with Victor Nyirenda, Kitwe, 30 October 2014) The low prices and innovative marketing techniques make Home Energy a social innovation, which exclusively targets low-income households whilst simultaneously pursuing a range of environmental and health benefits Home Energy is a social innovation in the organisational sense as well, as it has established a partnership between a for-profit social entrepreneur, a NGO from Norway, the Zambian government (forestry officers and prison staff) and other actors Integrated sector development is thus crucial: ‘Home Energy’s mission is to establish new cross cutting value chains for efficient and clean burning cookstoves and new value chains for cookstove fuel’ (www.aaaa.no/home-energy/about-us htm) Although the stove and pellet technology of Home Energy not differ radically from that of Emerging Cooking Solutions, the organisational structure, production techniques and marketing strategies Yet despite its focus on low-income households, Home Energy has had little success in penetrating this market The company withdrew its marketing container from Chamboli after six months, because sales proved disappointing and profits negligible (Interview with Nick O’Connor, Kitwe, 17 August 2015) Despite the low-cost strategy, households complained that the cost savings from adopting sawdust pellets were not pronounced enough Furthermore, consumers doubted that this social innovation would be there to stay and feared adopting a new technology in vain (Interviews at Chamboli Market, Kitwe, 30 October 2014) Two very different organisational approaches, by Emerging Cooking Solutions and Home Energy, thus faced similar market penetration challenges What can these two examples say about the importance of organisational structure for ICS adoption? After all, an organisational approach analyses ‘all the actors who seize the object or turn away from it and it highlights the points of articulation between the object and the more or less organised interests which it gives rise to’ [2: p 205] (see Fig 2) Entrepreneurship is about creating technological, economic and social value [27] Attempts to market ICS in urban Zambia can be seen as examples of social innovation, being a ‘novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals’ [22: p 39] Sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves can generate environmental, economic and social benefits for consumers, by reducing CO2 emissions, indoor air pollution, saving costs and by establishing sustainable value chains This social innovation has employed ‘novel types of resources’ and has combined these in new ways to address complex social and environmental problems, to serve low-income households and to build resources and capabilities [24: p 242] Furthermore, ICS technology is promoted through innovative organisational alliances, combining for-profit businesses, NGO efforts and government institutions Business effort alone proved insufficient to achieve desired results, as businesses need ‘not only to rethink their resource and activity configurations but also to develop and acquire new resources and capabilities and forge a multitude of relationships and alliances with local non-traditional ( .) partners’ to penetrate the lowincome market [25: p 51] Because sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves are new (unfamiliar) technologies, both companies had to engage in opportunity and market creation before social and economic benefits could be achieved [4: p 164] The introduction of a product or technology (ICS to replace charcoal) to a consumer market does not automatically succeed, no matter how beneficial its value proposition is Consistent with the primarily social, rather than economic, goals of social innovation, the adoption of ICS relies ‘on building the social structure of a market wherein market participants ( .) [can] negotiate relationships Please cite this article in press as: Peša I Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 I Peša / Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 2012: Sales in St Anthony's, Kitwe, subsidised stoves and intensive marketing campaign 2007: Idea of using sawdust as cooking fuel 2009-2010: Emerging Cooking Solutions founded, experimentation with pelletisation and trial with first 40 households 2014: Focus shifts to Lusaka, middleincome households (payroll deduction) and institutional stoves 2013: Change from Philips stoves to Peko Pe, permanent marketing outlets established in Kitwe 2014-2015: Due to electricity shortages ICS have become increasingly popular (especially among middleincome households) Fig Timeline of Emerging Cooking Solutions activities 2009: Home Energy Ltd founded, Zimbabwean and Norwegian partnership 2015-2016: Continued experimentation to produce lowcost stoves and pellets August 2014: Marketing container established in Chamboli, Kitwe 2012-2014: Experimentation phase, testing stoves, pellets and business models February 2015: Closure of marketing container in Chamboli, Kitwe Fig Timeline of Home Energy Ltd activities and norms of production and exchange and embed them in practices and technologies’ [20: p 1063] Building the social structure of a market involves ‘the renegotiation and legitimation of values and beliefs surrounding the economic potential of the commodity on which the value chain’ depends [20: p 1087] Yet, so far, ICS attempts have not managed to develop a comprehensive value chain to compete with charcoal Although both companies advocated a commercial approach, potential users did not recognise the financial benefits which could be derived from ICS adoption (Interviews in St Anthony’s and Chamboli, Kitwe, October 2014) As Bailis et al [7] noted: ‘in Africa there have been dozens of improved cook stove programs since the 1980s, but few have seen sustained support over long periods of time and there are few success stories to discuss.’ Apart from smaller complaints, consumers primarily denounced ICS technology as expensive compared to charcoal Only institutional stove users recognised price advantages from ICS adoption, whereas household users continued to favour charcoal (Interviews in St Anthony’s and Chamboli, Kitwe, October 2014) A situated approach is required to understand the preference for charcoal over ICS technology The charcoal value chain as a competitor to ICS adoption Attempts to introduce ICS technology in Zambia have denounced charcoal as the ‘old’, ‘polluting’ and ‘harmful’ fuel [12] Nonetheless, charcoal in urban Zambia remains of paramount importance and its use has even been increasing in recent years [23] By attempting to displace charcoal, ICS social innovations aim to overcome socio-economic system failures, stressing that: ‘existing value chains must be redesigned, corporate strategies realigned and marketing management adapted’ [1: p 175] Yet it has insufficiently been recognised that by building value chains around sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves, ICS initiatives have been competing with the functioning and efficient charcoal value chain [6] Therefore, the charcoal value chain first has to be understood before an assessment of the performance of ICS as social innovations can be made (see Fig 3) Charcoal ‘provides urban households with an affordable, convenient and reliable source of energy ( .) at relatively stable prices’ [28: p 128] Moreover, charcoal is an important source of income for individuals all along its value chain, from charcoal burners, to transporters, wholesalers, retailers, market women and stove producers [12; Interview with John Banda, Kitwe, 30 August 2015] Even if charcoal sometimes fulfills a ‘safety net’ role, which does not lift people out of poverty, it can generate much needed income and profits, especially in otherwise economically depressed periurban areas and among low-income groups, such as market women [28: p 135] Overall, ‘the charcoal economy is extensive and links to numerous enterprises’, as ‘[s]table urban demand for charcoal, ease of access to forest resources ( .), and low initial investment costs attract large numbers of people to engage in the commercial production and sale of charcoal’ [28: p 131] By generating employment and income charcoal plays an important role in the national economy, as high demand ensures high profits which are controlled by a politically influential group of charcoal dealers, transporters and wholesalers [23: p 122] Although much economic activity surrounding the charcoal sector remains illicit and untaxed, charcoal benefits the national budget in the form of forestry levies, council taxes and police road blocks [23: p 116] The economic profitability of charcoal directly influences the (un)willingness of consumers to adopt sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves.3 ICS marketing initiatives argue from the perspective of individual economic rationality, based on ‘neo-classical economic models which hold that consumers as individuals make a choice of fuels The social aspect of charcoal consumption is illustrated by the fact that even highincome households buy charcoal on the street corner, rather than in supermarkets Informal charcoal marketing mechanisms cement social relationships, as they allow buyers and sellers to chat and exchange information (Informal correspondence by author with several high-income households) Please cite this article in press as: Peša I Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 I Peša / Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Tree felling Charcoal burning Packaging Transport (bicycle, canter, truck) Regulation (licences, fines, roadblocks) Trade (wholesale, retail) Repackaging and consumer sales Fig The charcoal value chain based on particular functional requirements, exercising rational decision-making techniques to maximise their self-interest’ [8: p 158] Emerging Cooking Solutions, for example, calculates that by adopting sawdust pellets a household can save as much as 40% on fuel expenditure (http://emerging.se/our-impact-2/) Whilst this might be true,4 households not necessarily adopt the same calculations When questioning consumers whether sawdust pellets or charcoal are cheaper, most answered that charcoal is more costefficient (Interviews in St Anthony’s, Kitwe, 24 October 2014) Yet these claims about the ‘cheapness’ of charcoal usually remain untested, as very few people can specify exactly how the price of charcoal relates to the price of sawdust pellets [6] The perceived cheapness of charcoal, firstly, has to with patterns of use, as inexperienced households use more pellets than required under test conditions or during demonstrations Secondly, the cost of a micro gasifying cook stove is high compared to a mbaula (which costs USD2-4)5 and sawdust pellets thus have to compensate for the difference (Interview with Samuel Bell, Lusaka, 28 November 2014) Thirdly, in the urban Zambian context economic rationality is rarely perceived from an individual household perspective, but rather social and market rationality as a whole is considered [10] Charcoal, by means of its value chain, generates income for numerous individuals, ranging from rural charcoal burners to bicycle transporters and market women Sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves, on the other hand, only generate income for a handful of individuals, most of whom are foreigners.6 Even though charcoal might thus be slightly more expensive than sawdust pellets per unit-of-use, the cost of charcoal is cheaper in the long run, as it pumps back money into the local economy through employment generation and profits which accrue to traders, government officials and stove producers [12] In sum, ‘many users have simply failed to sufficiently value the advantages of the improved stoves on offer to spend scarce money on these stoves or to discard traditional cooking methods’ [26: p 7544] This has little to with consumer ‘irrationality’ and more with the inability of ICS social innovations to market their alternative or to convince users of their value propositions This also underlines that ‘opening the segment of the poor should not be measured with short-term figures of market share, revenue, profit or return on investment Instead, investments need to be gauged in light of long-term objectives, with special attention to assessing whether the transaction capacity of the poor was successfully enhanced’ [17: p 183] Social innovation studies underline that organisational efficiency and the social construction of a marketplace are crucial to the adoption of technologies among low-income users [22] Through social innovation, which involves innovative organisational partnerships, business models, financing, marketing and distribution, ICS initiatives have attempted to build capabilities, enhance welfare and empower low-income households in urban Zambia [5: p 824] ICS initiatives have utilised ‘innovations to realise commercial ( .) opportunities in penetrating deeper into lowincome markets and serving the poor by providing goods and services that enhance human development’ [21: p 428-9] Moreover, ICS initiatives have engaged in ‘acquiring and building new Such calculations are likely to be based on experimental test settings in a controlled environment, rather than on real-life cooking There is also a life-span difference, though, as a mbaula lasts for only months, whereas the high-end Philips stoves might last up to 10 years The perception of sawdust pellets and ICS as being ‘foreign’ is widespread among consumers Foreign involvement is indeed considerable in all ICS initiatives (Swedish, Norwegian, Zimbabwean and US entrepreneurs are involved in setting up and running ICS companies) whereas local employment remains limited resources and capabilities and forging a multitude of local partnerships’ [25: p 49] as ‘partnerships with governments, large domestic corporations, and business groups [can] ( .) help mitigate the risks of entering ( .) markets’ [27: p 556] In this sense, the social innovation of ICS did not ‘discover opportunities but rather create [d] them’, by exploiting ideas, incorporating feedback, learning and transforming ‘ideas into opportunities through what can be a lengthy, iterative process’ [27: p 574] From an organisational perspective, ICS social innovations have thus established partnerships and introduced a new technology to urban consumers The question remains why Zambian households have ‘not made more effort to diversify their fuel-use strategies [away from charcoal] and experiment with new combinations’ which might save money and provide a healthier alternative [8: p 158] The answer lies in the fact that charcoal has acquired a specific and situated meaning which is deeply embedded in Zambian urban culture and society, even though ‘the meanings and value that commodities acquire are always the product of power struggles and are everywhere open to contestation and change’ [8: p 159] Moreover, charcoal is economically rational due to its highly efficient value chain, which generates livelihoods and ensures a ‘cheap’ source of fuel for urban households Fuel choice and cooking constitute ‘a complex social space that is both critical to the material well-being of the household and imbued with deep cultural meaning’ [7: p 1694] If ICS technology were to completely displace the charcoal value chain, it might even ‘disrupt traditional community self-reliance, while enhancing debt dependence and reliance on retailers’ [5: p 817] The concluding section will view charcoal and sawdust pellets side by side, to assess what ICS initiatives might learn from the charcoal value chain Conclusion: The value chain dynamics of ICS initiatives and charcoal ICS initiatives in urban Zambia, by promoting a combination of sawdust pellets and micro gasifying cook stoves, have attempted to provide a more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable cooking solution through social innovation In order to so, a new value chain surrounding ICS had to be constructed, which had to take the existing charcoal value chain into account Home Energy acknowledged that this is a difficult endeavour: ‘Inherent to such a new innovative concept is the development of new value chains Charcoal’s dominant use is based on this fuel’s attractive price performance characteristic Replacement of charcoal is a long term effort, but will start with new value chains for waste biomass and for manufacturing and distributing clean burning and fuel efficient stoves’ (http://www.aaaa.no/home-energy/doc/Fact-sheet.pdf) The dominance and profitability of charcoal thus impedes the introduction of alternatives, such as ICS The NGO SNV has recognised this and attempts to introduce incremental ICS technology via the charcoal value chain SNV’s organisational structure is a social innovation in itself, as mbaula producers are now spurred to produce ICS and market women who sell charcoal are encouraged to offer sustainably produced charcoal briquettes for sale (http://www.snv.org/sector/energy; Interview with Sue Ellis, Lusaka, 28 September 2014).7 Working alongside and learning E-mail correspondence with Sue Ellis of SNV Zambia on 13 January 2017 provided the following update: ‘SNV Zambia stopped working in cook stoves ( .) as we had no further funding to invest from donors ( .) Zambia did not have the density of population to get the market to self-sustain.’ Please cite this article in press as: Peša I Sawdust pellets, micro gasifying cook stoves and charcoal in urban Zambia: Understanding the value chain dynamics of improved cook stove initiatives Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.010 I Peša / Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments xxx (2017) xxx–xxx from the charcoal value chain might ultimately prove to be a more effective strategy for ICS promotion than trying to displace charcoal altogether So can ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ be promoted, organisationally, through social innovations such as ICS? This paper has argued that in urban Zambia ICS initiatives, despite different organisational structures, have faced numerous struggles Notwithstanding whether these initiatives were based on partnerships between NGOs, for-profit businesses, governments or donors, and whether ICS technology was ‘efficient’, consumers proved hesitant to adopt ICS It has been suggested that this reluctance is due to the absence of viable ICS value chains compared to the profitable and efficient charcoal value chain Economic rationality in urban Zambian household fuel choices is not calculated for individual households, but considers the market and society as a whole Charcoal generates profits all along its value chain on a long-term basis It therefore remains the fuel of choice for households, even if individuals might save a bit of money by adopting sawdust pellets ICS initiatives could thus learn from how the charcoal value chain is organised and how profits are ploughed back into household budgets and the local economy Yet this is not to suggest that ICS initiatives cannot find a market in the future, ‘if a few of these ambitious entrepreneurs are able to break through with scalable, sustainable and replicable business models to serve’ urban Zambian households (Shrimali et al., 2011: 7555) What this case study has suggested is that technology adoption does not depend solely on the efficiency of a technology, but rather on the social construction of a marketplace and on value creation, on social innovations to generate lasting market demand Value creation is, however, context specific and subject to change Different markets might require different approaches, as one size does not fit all The Zambian example suggests that ICS initiatives require a contextualised and situated approach What works in urban areas might not work in rural areas and what works for middle-income households might not appeal to low-income households [7] ICS technology is imbued with meaning and values Technology therefore has to economically embed itself and socially construct the marketplace it wishes to penetrate Without efficient value chains, which can take a long time to build, technologies will not be adopted, no matter how environmentally friendly or cost efficient they are It has been argued that, paradoxically enough, social innovations to introduce a new fuel can learn a lot from the ‘old’ and ‘polluting’ fuel, charcoal Future research could focus on following ICS initiatives over time, to see whether progress has been made in market penetration More user-centred research would also be welcome, to better understand the reasons for (non-) adoption of ICS technology and to see whether ICS appeal differently to various market segments ICS technology should not be viewed in a social or cultural vacuum, or through a lens of Western ‘rationality’ [1], but should be understood as socially and economically situated within local fuel economies, because only then can household fuel choices be adequately understood Interviews All interviews have been conducted by the author between September–November 2014 and between July–September 2015 Interview recordings and transcriptions can be requested from the author (iva.pesa@history.ox.ac.uk) Acknowledgements This research was funded by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Centre for Frugal Innovations in Africa, a collaboration between Leiden, Delft and Erasmus Universities I would like to sincerely thank Maria Kankondo and Lyness Mumba Lubemba for their excellent research assistance I would also like to thank the participants of the workshop of the Centre for Frugal Innovation (2015) and of the Tech4Dev conference (2016) for their useful feedback on an earlier version of this paper Lena Kruckenberg and the two anonymous reviewers provided most constructive comments on earlier drafts References [1] Abdelnour S The cookstove-rape prevention myth and the limits of technosaviorism In: Hostettler S, Gadgil A, Hazboun E, editors Sustainable access to energy in the global south: Essential technologies and implementation approaches New York: Springer; 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