Potential Energy
Providing access to efficient cookstoves, to improve lives and protect the environment throughout the developing world.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
3 billion people worldwide cook their food by burning charcoal, wood, and biomass on open fires or rudimentary stoves. Pollution from open fire cooking kills over 4.3 million people each year, disproportionately impacting women and children. Families spend up to ⅓ of their income on fuel, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Where fuel cannot be purchased, women and children may walk up to 6 hours daily to collect firewood. Potential Energy (PE) manufactures and distributes the Berkeley Darfur Stove (BDS), which uses 66% less firewood and emits 77% less emissions , reducing the time families must spend collecting firewood or expenses to buy firewood, and decreasing carbon emissions. The BDS can be shipped flat and assembled anywhere, making the stove substantially more affordable than competitors, while also providing jobs for those working in rural areas. The BDS decreases monthly expenditures by 30% among some of the poorest users and saves an average 1-2 daily.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Darfur Stoves Project
The Darfur Stoves Project seeks to
protect Darfuri women by providing them with specially developed stoves which
require less firewood, decreasing women’s exposure to violence while collecting
firewood and their need to trade food rations for fuel.
Ethiopia Stoves Project
To date, we have distributed over 20,000 Berkeley-Darfur Stoves in the Darfur region of Sudan working in partnership with Oxfam America, Plan Canada and the Sudanese NGO, Sustainable Action Group (SAG). To help address high rates of deforestation and diseases caused by cooking smoke, our partner, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) recently developed the Berkeley-Ethiopia Stove, a fuel-efficient wood burning cookstove that has been adapted to the Ethiopian cooking style.
Cookstoves for Uganda
We shifted to Uganda to serve refugees from South Sudan and DRC living in Uganda by dissemination of the Berkeley Darfur Stove.
Where we work
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of people working at the SME/Coop/Enterprise on a part-time basis (< 35 hours per week) as a result of the nonprofit's efforts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of people working at the SME/Coop/Enterprise on a full-time (> 35 hours per week) basis as a result of the nonprofit's efforts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of carbon emissions prevented (estimated by CO2 equivalent)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total reductions to date
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Potential Energy envisions a world where technology improves the lives of everyone equitably. For most of us, technology has advanced our lives immeasurably, yet these benefits are not being realized in the developing world and in particular for the women who bear primary responsibility for performing household labor. The most significant complicating factors are the lack of contact between top engineers and the people who desperately need their products, and the lack of a supportive infrastructure to bring these products from the lab to the land. Potential Energy makes those connections and builds the infrastructure that successfully brings technology products to market in the developing world, benefitting women, their families, and the communities in which they live.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Potential Energy builds cookstove markets by helping local organizations create a market infrastructure that can reliably deliver customized, efficient and affordable products. The major components of our strategy include:
--DESIGNING FOR THE USER: Responding to failed cookstove efforts, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves pledged to fund programs that “fit user preferences.” This has been our approach all along, which contributes directly to our near-100% adoption rate.
We designed our original stove with Darfuri women so the stove matched their terrain, cooking style and cookware. We continue to send their feedback to Stove Lab engineers, resulting in what is now the 14th iteration of the stove. Our Ethiopia stove reflects the unique needs of the Ethiopian market (it features a coffee roasting tray and rods to hold their coffee pots).
--BUILDING SUSTAINABLE LOCAL BUSINESSES: We reduce our reliance on philanthropic support and create lasting change in the locations where we operate…including war-torn Darfur. Using below-cost stove sales, carbon financing to subsidizes costs, and consumer financing to compensate for low consumer liquidity, we build local businesses that generate ongoing revenue.
--PUTTING WOMEN AT THE CENTER OF THE BUSINESS MODEL: Women are not only the prime beneficiaries of cookstove programs, but also key agents of their success. Working with Women’s Development Groups brings us closer to our customers, leverages their distribution networks, and helps us build a trustworthy brand.
--LEVERAGING THE EXPERTISE OF OUR PARTNERS: Our network of global and local partners helps us make an impact faster:
• Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, a National Energy Lab, provides ongoing R&D expertise.
• International organizations such as Oxfam America and Plan Canada help us secure funding and government permissions
• Local organizations including Sustainable Action Group, a registered Sudanese charity, and ERG, an Ethiopian consultancy, help us link to the local market; establish stove assembly shops; connect to local women’s groups; and conduct evaluation programs.
• Shri Hari Industries, an Indian parts manufacturer, manufactures our flat stove kits.
• UC Berkeley’s Center of Evaluation for Global Action developed our improved survey instruments.
--CREATING TOOLS TO FACILITATE REPLICATION: We have encapsulated our expertise into a tool-kit with defined processes for setting up cookstove businesses. The kit includes criteria for evaluating new markets, a schematic for assessing consumer preferences and willingness to pay, a guide for working with local partners, a decision model for determining manufacturing setups, systems for tracking sales data, and manuals and materials for local women’s groups. We will use this tool-kit to replicate our program throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
From our humble beginnings in 2005 as a volunteer project run out of UC Berkeley, Potential Energy has emerged as an independent 501(c)3 and boasts a staff of 8 (including field representatives in Sudan and Ethiopia), a Board of 6 experienced members and an active Advisory Council of seven. Our operating budget is approximately $800,000 per year.
It has become clear that one of our biggest strengths is in building the market infrastructure that lays the groundwork for a successful cookstove business. This has become even more obvious as we have transitioned to selling the stoves; we have worked closely with our local partners to incorporate women into the value chain, establish standard practices for determining price points and payment strategies, and set up systems for tracking sales, inventory, distribution, training and collections. We have also introduced a revolving loan fund and payment plans that compensate for low consumer liquidity, and are laying the groundwork for a carbon credit program that uses global financial markets to subsidize costs. We are now building on this experience in our Ethiopian market, and plan to further leverage our expertise in future markets.
As the global cookstove sector grows we have seen widespread acknowledgement of the need to build thriving cookstove markets, and organizations including the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves are turning to Potential Energy as thought leaders in the effort to build a global strategy. They recognize that, as market-makers, Potential Energy is one of very few organizations pursuing such a wide range of infrastructure development activities and working to bring them all together into an established market ecosystem.
In the near future we plan to build on these strengths and develop a series of formalized case studies that leverage the knowledge contained in our internal tool-kit, strengthen our work and lay the groundwork for future expansion. The series would cover topics such as: evaluating market extension opportunities, adapting technology to local consumer needs; scenario planning for supply chain and manufacturing operations; establishing carbon finance programs; recruiting and training local women’s groups; developing tracking systems for sales, distribution, training and collections; creating rigorous measurement and evaluation techniques; building assembly plants; and negotiating with local governments.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
LEARNINGS AND PROGRESS
The greatest learning from our measurement and reporting process has been regarding our significant impact on the livelihoods of the women who use our stoves. This insight has prompted us to redefine how we structure our program altogether, which has brought us to a stronger place where we can create true and lasting change in the areas in which we work.
Our stove project in Darfur began as an effort to curtail the violence against women as they gathered wood outside of displacement camps. Ten years ago, our customers could walk five to seven hours a day to collect wood; today there is no wood left within a day’s walk. Most women now must purchase wood from vendors inside the camps, spending more than 30% of their household income and often trading food rations – up to three meals a week – for wood.
Our stove users report saving $.97/day in firewood costs, dropping this household expense in half. Over the five-year lifespan of the stove, this represents almost $2000 in the hands of women living in and around the displacement camps of North Darfur.
This insight into the huge economic impact our stoves can have on women’s lives has led us to the realization that our program can become financially sustainable, even in a war-torn region. Over time we have progressed beyond a strictly humanitarian approach to a social enterprise model, incorporating novel financing schemes and payment strategies that create ongoing revenue and economic opportunities for women’s groups and civic organizations. Our model can be replicated throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, where market conditions range from nascent to established.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Potential Energy
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Tyler Valiquette
Salil Shetye
Kevin Blake
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
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