Energy profiles for Kyrgyz mountain villages as a basis for a targeted energy strategy

Contents

List of abbreviations and foreign words

1 Introduction
1.1 Energy goals
1.2 Energy profiling
1.3 Research question, aims and scopes of the thesis
1.3.1 Partnering Organizations
1.4 Overview

2 Background
2.1 Kyrgyzstan: general information
2.2 Energy situation in Kyrgyzstan
2.2.1 Energy distribution
2.2.2 Energy usage
2.2.3 Renewable Energies
2.2.4 Energy efficiency

3 Survey
3.1.1 Survey development
3.1.2 Survey location
3.1.3 Survey execution
3.1.4 Data evaluation

4 Results
4.1.1 Other results
4.1.2 Energy efficiency courses through CAMP Alatoo

5 Discussion

6 Conclusion and Outlook
6.1.1 Method
6.1.2 Survey
6.2 Outlook
6.2.1 Method
6.2.2 Survey

List of sources and references

List of tables and figures

Appendix: Table of contents

List of abbreviations and foreign words

Publication details

Keywords:

Energy profiling, energy strategy, mountain village development, sustainable development, survey method, Kyrgyzstan,

Citation:

Haab, E. (2017). Energy profiles for Kyrgyz mountain villages as a basis for a targeted energy strategy - development of a survey method and pilot run in Jergetal. Bachelor Thesis, ZHAW LSFM, Wädenswil.

Institute:

Zurich University of Applied Sciences

Life Sciences und Facility Management

Grüental, Postfach

CH-8820 Wädenswil

Abstract

Clean, reliable energy is an important factor for any village or areas development. Despite this, 1.2 billion people had no access to electricity and 2.8 billion people relied on traditional biomass for cooking and heating in 2016 according to the International Energy Agency.

One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals states that by 2030 everyone should have access to clean, sustainable energy.

In light of this, the aim of this project was to design a methodological approach to appraise the energy situation in a Kyrgyz mountain village in order to make it possible for that village to work towards the energy targets of the Sustainable Development Goals in a clear, focused way. To do this, two surveys - a questionnaire and an observational survey - were developed that included all energy related topics such as reliability, affordability, availability, quality and cleanness of energy as well as energy efficiency, and percentage of renewable energies.

The advantage of these surveys as a profiling method is that it is able to be used across a wide range of landscapes, energy situations and demographics. With it a clear picture can be painted as to what the energy situation is and what steps would have to be taken to ameliorate the situation.

The surveys were tested in a pilot run in a village called Jergetal, where the researchers spent ten days interviewing 16 households and taking notes and pictures on the state of the buildings and any energy efficiency measures or renewable energy technology.

The survey results showed that while all the households had access to electricity, the heating and cooking was mainly done with fire fueled by coal and dung bricks. The houses were not insulated and no renewable energies were being used.

The main reasons for this was lack of information and lack of funds.

According to the evaluated surveys, next steps would be to work on energy efficiency, doing courses in insulating houses with local materials and teaching villagers how to build energy efficient stoves.

The survey itself will be handed over to the local partners for further developing and testing.

Zusammenfassung

Eine gesicherte Energieversorgung ist ein wichtiger Entwicklungsfaktor für den ländlichen Raum. Im Jahr 2016 lebten laut der Internationalen Energieagentur trotzdem 1.2 Milliarden Menschen ohne elektrische Energie. Weitere 2.8 Milliarden Personen heizen und kochen ausserdem ausschliesslich mit Biomasse.

Eines der Nachhaltigkeitsziele der UNO verlangt, dass bis zum Jahr 2030 alle Menschen Zugang zu sauberer, nachhaltiger Energie haben sollen.

Um diesem Ziel näher zu kommen, lag der Fokus dieser Arbeit darauf, eine Methode zu entwickeln, mit der kirgisische Dörfer auf ihren Energiebedarf hin geprüft werden können. Dies sollte dazu dienen, allfällige konzeptionelle und zielgerichtete Verbesserungsmassnahmen zu ergreifen.

Die entwickelte Methode, in Form einer Erhebung, besteht aus zwei Fragebogen, welche diverse Energiethemen wie z.B. Zuverlässigkeit der Energieversorgung, ökonomische Aspekte, Sauberkeit und Qualität der Energie sowie Energieeffizienz und Anteil der Erneuerbaren Energien umfassen.

In einem Dorf namens Jergetal wurde die Erhebungsmethode getestet. Hier wurden 16 Haushalte zu ihrer Energiesituation befragt. Dazu wurden Fotos und Notizen zum allgemeinen Zustand der Gebäude und allfällige Energieeffizienzmassnahmen aufgezeichnet.

Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass obwohl alle Haushalte ans elektrische Netz angeschlossen sind, die Stromversorgung nicht zuverlässig ist. Geheizt und gekocht wird mit Kohle oder Mistziegeln. Keines der untersuchten Häuser ist isoliert oder weist Massnahmen für eine verbesserte Energieeffizienz auf. Im ganzen Dorf werden keine erneuerbaren Energien eingesetzt, obwohl die Leute davon gehört haben und grundsätzlich auch daran interessiert sind.

Laut den Angaben der Umfrageteilnehmer wird dies hauptsächlich einem Mangel an Informationen und zu hohen Kosten zugeschrieben.

Die Auswertung der Erhebung in Jergetal zeigt, dass für eine verbesserte Energiesituation und eine gesicherte Energieversorgung in einem ersten Schritt an der Energieeffizienz der Gebäude gearbeitet werden muss. Dies könnte zum Beispiel durch Kurse unterstützt werden, in welchen die Interessenten lernen, wie sie mit lokalen Materialien ihre Häuser dämmen und energieeffiziente Öfen bauen können.

Die Erhebungsmethode, welche nach dem Pilotversuch im Jergetal weiterentwickelt wurde, wird an die lokalen Partner weitergegeben um fertig entwickelt und angewendet zu werden.

Abbreviations

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

1 Introduction

In November 2016 the Swiss Radio SRF broadcasted a radio programme on energy. One of the key points was that energy is a necessity for any village or area development. It also said that 1.2 billion people have no access to electricity, and 2.8 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating. One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals states that by 2030 everyone should have access to clean, sustainable energy (Bonanomi, 2016). This broadcast, together with the World Expo held in Kazakhstan in the summer of 2017 brought up the idea for a thesis about renewable energy in rural areas, focused on Central Asia. The topic was finalized together with the University of Central Asia and a Kyrgyz NGO called AGOCA.

1.1 Energy goals

In September 2015 the United Nations set up and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), meant as a call for the world to improve the lives of people everywhere. These SDGs include a variety of different topics, among them hunger, poverty, health, education, peace, clean water, sanitation and energy (United Nations, 2017). These SDGs were the follow-up for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the implementation of which showed a lot of improvement in areas such as global poverty, access to clean water and sanitation and education availability, but still left the world with a lot of problems, such as hunger, poverty, and gender inequality (UNDP, 2017).

One of the issues the SDGs would like to solve is the lack of clean, reliable energy. Without energy a lot of the other SDGs are not attainable, as lack of energy means no light for studying in the evenings, no reliable computer access, no water pumps for clean water or irrigation, no machines for efficient production, no electrical hospital equipment nor even refrigeration. In addition, no clean energy means that people have to rely on traditional biomass for everyday heating and cooking, which can result in deforestation or in animal waste being burned instead of being used as fertilizer, as well as many hours a day being spent on collecting and preparing fuels. Often this traditional biomass is burned in inefficient stoves, which also turns it into a health hazard for the people dealing with them every day (EDA, 2016; IEA, 2017; Karekezi, Lata, & Coelho, 2004).

According to the International Energy Agency 1.2 billion people didn't have access to electricity in 2016, and more than 2.7 billion people relied on traditional biomass for cooking and heating (IEA, 2017).

Knowing the big impact that energy has on people as well as on the planet, the World Expo 2017, to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, chose the topic of ‘Future Energy’, with the self­declared goal of “appealing to the international community’s sense of responsibility by way of institutions, organizations, corporations, and individuals, with the aim of generating debate and awareness regarding the decisive impact that energy management has on the lives of people and that of the planet” (Astana Expo, 2017).

1.2 Energy profiling

In order to reach the energy goals, clear, measurable targets need to be set, and strategic measures need to be placed in ways that these goals can be reached. In order to set these goals, the current energy situation needs to be known, so that the targets can be set realistically.

This can be done through assessing the current energy situation of a village, house or region and using this as an energy profile.

Once the profile is set measures can be determined to work towards the energy SDGs. This way the measures can be targeted and specific.

The SDG global energy targets as cited on UNDPs (United Nations Development Programme) website are as follows:

- “By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
- By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
- By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
- By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
- By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing states, and land-locked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support” (United Nations Development Programme UNDP, 2017)

Based on this, the topics in this profiling tool would be: affordability, reliability and modernness of energy, share of renewables, energy efficiency, energy technology and energy infrastructure.

1.3 Research question, aims and scopes of the thesis

Based on these energy goals and targets, the question was raised about what a good method of profiling energy in rural areas could be. Together with the Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI) and AGOCA, a Kyrgyz NGO that works in village development (see chapter 1.3.1) the research task was specified : to develop a method for profiling villages according to their energy situation, so that specific and appropriate energy projects can be devised and carried out.

Due to the limited amount of time available, it was decided that within this project a survey would be developed that can be used in local villages and communities to more concretely specify the energy situation in that place. The survey would be tested in Jergetal, a partner village of AGOCA, then ameliorated and handed over to MSRI and AGOCA to complete and test more in depth.

The goal would be to have the developed survey as well as data from the first test village to assess the quality of the survey and therefore the profiling method.

The survey was developed and tested in Kyrgyzstan as a neighbour of the host country of the world expo, and done together with several partners.

1.3.1 Partnering Organizations

One of these partners, and the final recipient of the survey, is AGOCA, the Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities. Founded in 2003, AGOCAs goal was to “unite the efforts to achieve sustainable development of mountain regions of Central Asia and to improve the standard of living of the local population“, as they state on their website. If a village wants to be a part of AGOCA, it needs to apply, stating their desire to be a part of the program and their willingness to contribute to ongoing projects. They also need to have a specific action plan for the development of the village ready. The AGOCA board then decides if the village gets accepted or not (AGOCA, 2017)

AGOCA, as well as many other organisations, work mainly through educational seminars, courses and practical trainings. They also support the exchange of knowledge and information between villages (AGOCA, 2017).

So far renewable energies and energy efficiency are not priority with AGOCA, but with long, hard winters, with temperatures dropping down to -40 in some areas, and with the comparatively high energy prices and unreliable electricity supplies this is a fairly important topic (UNDP, 2013).

While other organizations have been working on energy efficient house insulation and more efficient stoves, this has not been implemented in most villages.

AGOCA works fairly closely with the Mountain Society Research Institute (MSRI), a part of the University of Central Asia (UCA). The objectives of MSRI are to “generate knowledge on mountain societies, to serve as a knowledge hub, to enhance regional capacity to conduct research relevant to mountain societies, to inform policy and practice through engagement with key development partners, and to disseminate knowledge among mountain stakeholders” (UCA, 2017).

MSRI will have a stand at the Expo in Kazakhstan at the end of August/beginning of September 2017. The topics to be presented are connected with the energy use in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan, and the data collected during the development and trial run of the survey will be used for that presentation. The initial survey was designed together with the contractor in charge of that exhibition.

1.4 Overview

The procedure for the thesis was as follows: after the research question was finalized and some background questions answered, the survey was composed together with two local researchers and the contractor in charge of the exhibition at the expo. Once the survey was completed, it was carried out in Jergetal over the course of two weeks. The data was then translated, entered into an excel spreadsheet and analyzed.

With the given data an average household in the area of Naryn was described, and conclusions about the energy situation, as well as to the current form of the survey were drawn. The survey was then ameliorated and will be given back to MSRI and AGOCA for further development and usage.

This thesis is structured in a similar way. After a more in-depth look at Kyrgyzstan in general and the energy situation in Kyrgyzstan in chapter two, the survey is described in chapter three: development, location, execution, and evaluation methods are expounded. Chapter four portrays the results, both of the method and the survey, and finally, in chapters five and six the results are analysed and discussed, potential next steps are mentioned and conclusions are drawn.

2 Background

Before the survey could be designed, some background information had to be gathered. This background information is summarized and presented in this chapter, split into the subchapters Kyrgyzstan in general and energy in Kyrgyzstan.

2.1 Kyrgyzstan: general information

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Kyrgyzstan is a small country in Central Asia, covered to 95% with the Tien Shan mountain range. Bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China (see Figure 1), Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with 41% of its land over 3000 meters above sea level (Terenteva, Jorde, & Biegert, 2009), resulting in glaciers and permanent snow covering roughly 8100 km2 - about 30% of the total land area of Kyrgyzstan, providing the country with large water resources (Advantour, 2017)

Independent since 1991, the Kyrgyz Republic was once a part of the Soviet Union, the falling apart of which left the country struggling to deal with its newfound independence. Under its first president Askar Akayev, Kyrgyzstan quickly gained the title “island of democracy”, surrounded by “dictatorships and countries ravaged by civil strife” (Anderson, 1999). In those first years Kyrgyzstan developed many of the establishments of a modern democracy, such as a free press and an elected government (Sinor & Allworth, 2017).

This promising start was not without challenges, and some of the main problems faced were very weak Soviet-era education systems, a lack of basically any experience in dealing with other countries, no basic infrastructure like banking systems, defense ministries and postal systems. In addition, each country of the Soviet Union was specialised on a very specific task, usually the production of raw materials for the Soviet Union (cotton in the case of Central Asia). Because of this they had very little experience or infrastructure for doing anything besides these tasks (Hays, 2013; Kleingeld, 2015).

Over the following years, Kyrgyzstan, along with her neighbours, had to learn to assume full responsibility for political organization, for economic policies and for the well-being of its citizens. Due, among other things, to several economic recessions, development was slow, and even today (as of 2015) over 30% of the population live under the national poverty line (World Bank, 2017). The GDP per capita is at 3'521 International Dollars (2016), which is a big increase from 1997 (1'464 international dollars) at a growth rate of 4.78%, but still leaves the country's GDP on rank 147 out of 195 (Weltdatenatlas, 2017; World Bank, 2017).

2.2 Energy situation in Kyrgyzstan

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Kyrgyzstan is covered to 95% with the Tien Shan mountain range, and up to 8100 km2 are comprised of glaciers and permanent snow (Advantour, 2017; Kaliyev, 2014). This results in enormous water resources, estimated to add up to 700km3. The Naryn River itself has an average annual flow of 27 km3, making it the main waterway in the country as well as one of the most important energy resources of the country (Kaliyev, 2014). In addition to hydropower resources, Kyrgyzstan has large amounts of coal reserves, estimated at 6.73 billion tons, and a gold mine providing the country with up to 10% of its GDP.

Other than that Kyrgyzstan has few natural resources, which is a reason why the country quickly developed a strong hydropower sector, making it a major producer of electricity in the early eighties. Today hydropower accounts for between 80 and 90% of the country's energy production (CIA, 2017; Kaliyev, 2014). Besides that there are two combined heat and power plants (CHPs) that account for 8.8% of the electricity output, one in Bishkek with an installed capacity of 678 MW and one in Osh with 50 MW, though both run under the installed capacity due to age and deterioration of equipment (Kaliyev, 2014; Terenteva et al., 2009).

The huge hydropower capacity has not always been a blessing over the last 25 years. During the soviet era the resources were managed throughout the Soviet Union. For Kyrgyzstan, this meant that their hydropower dams were opened in summer, allowing the water to first produce electricity, then flow farther downriver where it was used to irrigate fields in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (see Figure 2). In winter then, when the water reserves were fairly empty, Kyrgyzstan received coal, gas and oil from other soviet states in order to fill the higher winter energy demands (Antipova, Zyryanov, McKinney, & Savitsky, 2002; Hall, 2016).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the situation changed. Intergovernmental relations had to be defined, national currencies were introduced and oil, coal, natural gas and the transportation of these items got more expensive. Through this, the supply of fuel and electricity to Kyrgyzstan from its neighbours got reduced. The entire fuel-energy balance in Kyrgyzstan was disrupted. The energy demand in winter increased by over 25% in the course of 6 years. To provide this extra energy, the hydropower plants were run in winter instead of in summer, running the water, once irrigation water, through the downstream countries in a season when irrigation was not necessary (Antipova et al., 2002).

In 1998 agreements were made between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and later Tajikistan, meant to combine energy and water needs. These agreements were only mildly effective, and fell out of use after a few years. Now the most common agreements are annual bi- or multilateral agreements (Antipova et al., 2002; Hall, 2016).

2.2.1 Energy distribution

This centrally produced electricity is distributed by four distribution companies, set up on a regional basis. Together they own and manage 65'000 km of local distribution lines, s erving more than one million households (Kaliyev, 2014; Terenteva et al., 2009). 95% of the population is estimated to have access to fairly stable electricity (Terenteva et al., 2009), though cooking and heating is still done with traditional biofuels in over 75% of rural households (see Figure 3 in chapter 2.2.2) (Energypedia, 2015; Terenteva et al., 2009).

A big problem with the energy distribution is that there are enormous losses of electricity between the production and the actual usage, attributed to weak power lines, old, soviet-era transmission systems and also energy being sold on the black market. According to Zozulinsky the losses between 2006 and 2009 were around 30%, then in 2014, according to Temiraliev they amounted to 20%, and, according to an article in easttime.info, it was at only 13% at the beginning of 2016 (easttime.info, 2016; Temiraliev, 2015; Zozulinsky, 2010).

Fehler! Verweisquelle konnte nicht gefunden werden. shows a simplified electricity balance of the years 2008 to 2014, exemplifying what happens to the produced electricity.

Table 1: Electricity balance within Kyrgyzstan. (Data from Temiraliev, 2015)

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2.2.2 Energy usage

At the moment electricity is heavily subsidised by the Kyrgyz government, allowing it to be sold for 0.7 Som per kW (equivalent to 0.00981 CHF) for the first 1000 kW per month, then the prices double to 1.4 Som/kW. According to the World Bank Group only 2.3 to 2.6 percent of an average household’s expenditure consists of electricity. If other energy costs are added (without alternative sources like firewood) households spent between 6.4 and 7% of their expenses on energy (World Bank Group, 2017).

Despite this allegedly low percentage of income spent on electricity, especially in rural areas electricity is still expensive enough that households have to find alternative ways of heating and cooking, such as wood, dung bricks or coal. According to ‘Energypedia’, while urban households use mainly electricity and natural gas for cooking (78%), only 35% of rural households used these as of 2010. Alternately, coal, wood, dung, charcoal or crop waste is used (see Figure 3) (Energypedia, 2015; World Bank Group, 2017). In these households up to 50% of the annual income is used on energy (Baibagyshov, Giger, & Meessen, 2013).

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Figure 3: Household energy situation for cooking (Energypedia, 2015)

A recent survey done by the World Bank Group on public awareness of energy reforms showed that most households feel like energy is very expensive. 65% of the respondents said tariffs should be decreased (World Bank Group, 2017).

2.2.3 Renewable Energies

Like its neighbouring Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan has not implemented many renewable energy technologies. According to data from the UNDP, Kyrgyzstan has a total of 1.1% renewables, consisting only of small hydropower plants (not counting big hydropower plants). In comparison, the other Central Asian countries were somewhere between 0.2 and 3.2% by 2013 (data from 2010 to 2013) (see Figure 4) (Nabiyeva, 2015).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Figure 4: percentage of renewables without big hydropower plants. Source: (Nabiyeva, 2015)

Despite the lack of existing renewable energy systems, the potential is estimated to be big enough that 51% of the current energy demand could be covered by renewables, 20% would be technically feasible, and nearly 5% should be practicable in the next few years (Kaliyev, 2014).

Reasons for this underdevelopment of renewables, despite a lack of energy especially in winter, are stated to be the long-standing tradition of fossil fuels, the lack of faith in new renewable systems, high initial costs for any renewable energy plant, highly subsidised electricity costs, and no real incentive for RE development in general (Kaliyev, 2014). Following is a brief overview of the most feasible RE sources with their estimated potentials.

Photovoltaics

The rough potential for photovoltaics in Kyrgyzstan is estimated to be around 267 000 MW with an average of 2,600 hours of sunshine per year and a solar radiation of 1,500-1,900 kW/m2 per year (Nabiyeva, 2015; Terenteva et al., 2009).

Hydropower

With its many rivers and streams, the potential for small hydropower plants is estimated to be between 1.6 and 1.8 thousand MW. Currently the entire 1.1% of renewables that is being used consists of small hydropower plants, and it is estimated that only 3% of the potential is currently in use (Kaliyev, 2014; Nabiyeva, 2015; Terenteva et al., 2009).

Big hydropower plants are already in use, with a huge potential for more. Figure 5 shows the main current hydropower plants, as well as planned ones and ones that are currently under construction.

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Figure 5: Active, under construction, and planned hydropower plants. (Temiraliev, 2015)

Windenergy

There are basically no studies on the potential of wind energy in the country, though there is a nationwide wind atlas, which shows that there are places with strong enough wind speeds for wind energy. The estimated technical potential is at 1.5 thousand MW (Nabiyeva, 2015; Terenteva et al., 2009).

Biogas

The potential of biogas is estimated to be at 200 MW. There are several biogas installations throughout the country, though about half of them are known to not be in use. Most of these biogas installations are constructed by individuals without proper design, manufacture or maintenance. They are mainly designed for producing gas for cooking and for fertilizers (Nabiyeva, 2015; Terenteva et al., 2009).

2.2.4 Energy efficiency

The potential of energy efficiency is also very big. A typical village house in Kyrgyzstan is built with no insulation on either walls, roof, floor windows or door. According to estimates and tests, up to 70% of household energy could be saved through proper house insulation or energy efficient stoves (Baibagyshov et al., 2013; Nabiyeva, 2015).

Figure 6 shows how much energy is lost from different

Figure 6: Estimated energy losses in a parts of a house according to studies from the Center typical building (Meessen, n.d.) for Development and Environment (CDE) in Bern (Meessen, n.d.).

3 Survey

With the background information, the survey was developed. This was done together with the contractor in charge of preparing the presentation for the world expo as well as with two local researchers who know the language and culture in Kyrgyzstan. One of the two researchers’ lives close to the surveyed village, so he was able to help out a lot in regards to weather and local building and heating systems.

After starting with only a questionnaire, it was decided that a second, observational survey would also be prepared to help the researchers take notes on the building state as well as on any EE measures or implemented RE technology.

3.1.1 Survey development

There are different aspects to consider before being able to assess energy needs. They are summarized well by Reza Kowsari and Hisham Zerriffi in a paper titled “Three dimensional energy profile: A conceptual framework for assessing household energy use”. In this paper they list economic possibilities, household size, age, education, income, behavioural aspects (such as what gets cooked), the physical environment (temperatures, weather, length of winter), various policies and regulations, energy supply factors (affordability, availability, accessibility and reliability of energy) and energy device characteristics (energy conversion technology, initial costs, adaptability to material already being used (i.e. cooking pots)) as important factors to consider before profiling a village. (Kowsari & Zerriffi, 2011)

All of these aspects were considered in the surveys, one of which was then adapted from D- Lab, a website from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) (D-Lab, n.d.), the other, the observational survey, was written in accordance with what the researchers thought was relevant.

In the final version, the interview survey was split into several parts, the topics including: buying and supply chain, transportation, cooking, electricity access, lighting, heating and hot water (See appendix 1: survey 1A).

In every part questions to the current state of this topic were asked, as well as questions to possible future perspectives (i.e.: have you heard of energy efficient cooking stoves, would you be interested in learning how to build one). One of the thoughts behind this was trying to find out what reasons there might be for not changing the current situation.

The observational survey included any obvious EE or RE measures, but also had slots to write down what state the walls, windows, doors, floor and roof were in. A few questions were asked of the house owners, such as what year the house was built in, had there been renovations since then, what materials are floor, walls, ceiling and roof made of, how thick are these elements, are there any obvious places where cold air comes in.

3.1.2 Survey location

The partner village for the pilot run of the survey was recommended by the chief secretary of AGOCA. He suggested Jergetal by Naryn, because it is within 3.5 hours drive from Bishkek, the capital city and headquarters of MSRI and AGOCA, easily accessible, and is a partner village of AGOCA with several running projects as well as several completed projects (see Figure 7).

UCA also has a campus in Naryn with a few courses in renewable energies.

Jergetal is on the road between Bishkek and Naryn (see Figure 7) about 40 km from Naryn and 300 km from Bishkek. It is located at 2380m above sea level, and the winters are fairly long and cold. According to the village head (the local authority) a winter easily lasts six or seven months with temperatures going down to -40°C.

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Figure 8: three villages of Jergetal (Google Maps, 2017)

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