SUMMARY
This report presents the activities and the main findings of the consultancy conducted during nearly a month in Khorog area of Tajikistan, in order to help the local GTZ team in the development of efficient cooking and heating technologies. The consultancy aimed at finding locally manufacturable ceramic solution for energy saving cooking and heating stoves.
After surveying the local knowledge and skills available in the area about ceramics, three solutions have been explored and tested. The first solution focused on the possibility of manufacturing insulating bricks, either locally or in Kuljab factory. The second aimed at firing bricks directly inside the stoves. The third one is using the strawbale technique as an insulating option.
A surviving local ceramic craftsmanship centred on the making of kitsores and tannoors, traditional stoves used for cooking the local bread, is an ideal base to design, test and spread the proposed solutions.
These local skills were a very important source of inspiration and primordial resources for developing and testing viable options for stoves improvement.
Hamida, the stove program manager, was trained in clay testing and preparation, insulating bricks making, brick firing, stove testing and basic principles of heat exchange applied to heating stoves. Hence the evaluation of the existing local knowledge about clay enlightens the very interesting and useful resources of her existing network.
This report also includes recommendations on the way to go forward with the finalisation and dissemination of the options presented.
