In this posting, we cover a 6-week long user test of the Leo Double Pot stove from Prakti Design. During this test, we deployed the brand new stove and tracked the subject’s use of the stove twice a week for six weeks. We then followed-up with Prakti Design to compare the insights gained during our urban field test with the insights they have gleaned from extensive user research in rural areas. Below are the main takeaways from the test. (Prakti Design, located in Tamil Nadu, designs innovative commercial and household biofuel cook stoves for use around the world. www.praktidesign.com)
Our Subject: Rani (name changed for confidentiality), age 45, uses an outdoor wood-burning chulha to cook traditional Tamil Nadu cuisine for her and her husband twice a day. She collects fuel wood* for free from discarded packing crates and a nearby waste lumber pile.
User Perspectives: From our observation, we identified 3 key elements where user perception differed from our assumptions. For Rani, smoke is supposed to be good and not bad, because she views smoke as a repellant for the mosquitoes living in the nearby waste pile. Leftover ash from the cooking is either used for cleaning vessels or just discarded, so unless there is a big pile of ash inside the chulha, preventing the entry for the firewood, there is no incentive to clean it and thereby improve the efficiency of the stove. Rani insists on using more firewood because for her Prakti Leo stove is taller than a traditional chulha and so you need a bigger fire to reach the pot.
Click the image below for better resolution
User Modifications: Through frequent follow-ups, we were able to track the evolution of user modifications. First it started by her saying that she didn’t like the metal ‘pot reducer’ ring (which is used to reduce the flame from reaching the pot in the primary burner and enables some heat transfer for the secondary burner). Next Rani placed 3 stones above primary burner to raise pot and let the fire go around the pot. Finally, she purposefully broke the metal pins off of the exhaust plate, and placed that over the primary burner, resulting in flames exiting the primary burner, but making the secondary burner useless.
Potential reasons for modification could be that the user is used to cooking on a single-burner chulha and didn’t understand the thermodynamics of the stove.
Follow-up with Prakti Design: We presented our findings to the fine folks at Prakti Design and asked them the following questions
• Did the users use too much firewood?
• Did the users not remove the ash?
• Did the users modify the vent over the primary burner?
Although we only tested this stove on one user, we were happy to see that we gained similar user insights during urban testing as they had during their rural tests. In terms of user modification, this was the first time they had seen users placing 3 stones around the primary burner.
Impact on Strategy: Both single and double-burner chulhas are prevalent in rural southern India. This user resisted changing her behavior to cook on a double-burner. All modifications were to make it function like her old single-burner chulha. Perhaps Prakti’s single-burner stove, the Leo Single Pot have been a better fit for this user, and require less behavior modification.
The user also gets nearby fuel-wood for free, cooks outside, thinks that smoke is a good thing, and values traditional stoves at around Rs. 50 ($1USD). Although this user provided great user feedback, she would not be a likely purchaser for this stove.
*Note:
According to NSS data (2004-05), approximately 22% of urban families in Tamil Nadu, India, use firewood as their primary cooking fuel. This fuel is most often used in a traditional single or double-burner chulha (cook stove). In Chennai, urban chulha users commonly collect rectangular scrap wood that is freely available as waste from lumber stores, construction sites and shops throughout the cities. This wood often contains nails and is occasionally treated or painted. Also, as observed elsewhere in India, cooking fires in Chennai are often started by igniting a plastic bag and placing the burning bag on top of the firewood. This method is very effective, and is seen as a less expensive fire starting method compared to the established method of dousing the wood with kerosene. However, the concentrations of airborne chemicals resulting from the indoor combustion of plastics and treated lumber can be especially toxic.
Click on the following links to read the previous postings in this series Background, Volume 1, and Volume 2
This series follows the activities of two researchers as they design, prototype and/or conduct user-testing of new and existing Base-of-Pyramid (BoP) consumer energy products among low-income urban households in Chennai. The theory is that urban spaces can be used to gain relevant design insights and user feedback on rural-targeted BoP products due to its rich diversity and ease for researchers and designers to quickly turn those insights into functional design changes.
Selvan Thandapani and Richard Woodbridge are researchers for the Rural Market Insight team at the Centre for Development Finance, IFMR, located in Chennai, India. http://ifmr.ac.in/cdf/
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