Servals Automation Pvt Ltd

Servals wins the Sankalp 2010 Award in Clean Energy

2010-05-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that Servals are the proud winners of the Sankalp 2010 award in the Clean Energy Sector.

With the two other notable honors – being featured as one of the eight innovator success stories by Infodev and being nominated as a candidate for the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2011 community – the Sankalp award is indeed a wonderful national level recognition.

We won the Sankalp award for our energy solution around the TLUD Gasifier Stove.

Sankalp is India’s largest social enterprise and investment forum. Among other things, every year, it recognizes India’s top 10 highly investment worthy and innovative social enterprises in 5 key growth areas. We are indeed honored to be one of them.

The recognition for our TLUD based energy solution, particularly at a time when we are gearing up for a big launch, is indeed going to give our efforts a great start.

Our experience at the Sankalp forum was exceptional. It was very inspiring and indeed heartwarming to see such an outstanding gathering of highly talented and dedicated individuals - all focused on making the social enterprise space more vibrant and effective in the economy.

Our sincere appreciation to the Sankalp team’s efforts at creating such an incredible forum for this important social enterprise industry space.

And we believe that this win will put us in a higher league.

Read the CNN coverage here

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Servals – A World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2011 candidate

2010-05-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been very fortunate for Servals. Close on the heels of Servals being recognized by InfoDev (a program of the World Bank)as one 8 companies identified as leading the technological innovation for climate change, we also found out that we have been nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate for 2011.

The World Economic Forum, well known by its annual meeting in Davos every year, is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world. With a mission to catalyze entrepreneurship in the global public interest, the WEF is striving to develop an integrated value chain by involving world leaders in communities, inspiring them with strategic insights and enabling them through initiatives.

Apparently, the Technology Pioneers Community is one of the most widely recognized initiatives of the World Economic Forum. As we understand it, the following attributes describe who a candidate for the Technology Pioneer community would be

• Develop and apply the most innovative and transformational technologies.
• The innovations should reflect society’s attempts to harness, adapt and use technology to change and improve the way business and society operate.
• The work undertaken holds the promise of significantly disrupting the way business and society operate.
• Must demonstrate visionary leadership, show the signs of being a long-standing market leader – and its technology must be proven.

All of us at Servals are truly honored by this nomination.

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Servals Natural Draft Wood Stove

2010-05-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

Having won the Sankalp 2010 award in the Clean Energy Sector with the TLUD biomass gasifier stove, Servals is pleased to announce the introduction of its next contribution to rural cooking energy – Servals Wood Stove.

This is a simple wood stove that shows high thermal efficiency, is low smoke and provides superior user convenience.

With other products such as the kerosene burner, kerosene stoves, hybrid cooking stoves, TLUD biomass gasifier, Plant Oil Stoves and Lamps already in the portfolio, Servals is indeed happy and proud to offer its wood stove as an improved cookstove solution towards improving the quality of life of the biggest chunk of the biomass cookstove users. We sincerely believe that this wood stove will go a long way in improving the rural cooking energy spiral at all levels – user, community and planet.

Key highlights – Servals Wood Stove

The key focus is to design a simple natural draft woodstove that is low-smoke, fuel efficient and does not require constant flame monitoring.

Stable Flame; no need to monitor : The Servals woodstove is designed with a flame stabilizer. This is a modified grate that keeps the charcoal burning with a brilliant reddish white color by allowing a small quantity of pre-heated primary air to move up through it.

Superior Flame Quality : The Servals woodstove is designed with a flame concentrator at the top. This brings the flame towards the centreline of the stove thereby improving the stove performance and flame quality.

User convenience: The Servals woodstove is designed such that the charcoal bed is kept sufficiently hot to ensure a stable flame. There is no need to blow air manually into the flame at any point of time.

Adjustable Pot Skirt : The Servals woodstove is the only stove that comes with an adjustable potskirt. A potskirt protects the flame from mild wind movements and also improves the thermal efficiency of the stove. The adjustable feature – a one of its kind design – enables the same potskirt to be used for various cooking appliances like tawas, frying pans, pressure cookers and different types of vessels.

Low Smoke Stove : The Servals woodstove is designed to be a low smoke stove.

Adequate firepower : The Servals woodstove is designed to provide a 2 KW fire power which is optimal for domestic cooking. The firepower can be increased to upto 3 KW by adding a few more wood sticks.

Aligned with cooking culture: The Servals woodstove is very easy to use. It is just like a regular woodstove that dominates the biomass cookstove market, just easier, less smoky and doesn’t require any change in cooking behaviour or biomass sizing.

Easy Maintenance: The Servals woodstove is very easy to maintain. Just clean the stove before use, by removing the left-over ash and any charcoal, esp from under the flame stabilizer. Wiping the stove with a dry cloth is all that is needed to keep it clean and neat. Better to use and store the stove in a dry place.

Durability : The Servals woodstove is designed to be durable. The stove body, pot-skirt, flame stabilizer and flame concentrator are made out of stainless steel. Vessel support is made out of mild steel.

Social Impact of “Servals” Wood Stove

The following are what we believe to be the socio-environmental impact of this new launch

It is a "low carbon initiative". The Servals wood stove reduces the net addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is “carbon neutral” if only twigs ( or other biomass residues ) are used

Saving in fuel cost : Servals wood stove will save fuel due to better thermal efficiency and flame concentration.

Indoor Air Pollution: Significantly reduces emissions.

Improved quality of life : No need to blow; adequate firepower;better flame control; does not require monitoring

Energy Conservation: Saves fuel

Climate Change: Reduces net addition of CO2 into the atmosphere; No net addition of CO2 into the atmosphere if only twigs ( or other biomass residues ) are used.

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Servals has another social investor ...

2010-05-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

We are indeed happy and proud to announce that we now have another international social investor – Grassroots Business Fund.

GBF is a US-based organization with a mission to build and support high-impact businesses that provide sustainable economic opportunities to the bottom-of-the-pyramid. They are backed by International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), and also have funding commitments from Netherlands Development Finance Company, funding organizations, and angel investors.

GBF is providing Servals with a funding to primarily scale up and increase our geographic presence in the kerosene burner market, strengthen our NGO distribution channel and launch our new TLUD biomass stove.

Through Servals, GBF has an opportunity to make a comprehensive social impact in five areas: rural employment, micro-entrepreneurship, cost savings to consumers, health preservation by reducing indoor air pollution, and positive environmental impact through carbon reduction.

We certainly believe that GBF’s involvement will help enhance our commercial and social impact and we hope to benefit through GBF’s excellent financial and technical assistance services.

Read their press release here

Economic Times about Servals

2010-05-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

I am happy to share yet another important press coverage that Servals has earned for itself. The Economic Times carried a story about us on their Sunday sept 19th 2010 edition.

Read more...

Economic Times about Servals

2010-05-10T02:50:00.000-07:00

I am happy to share yet another important press coverage that Servals has earned for itself. The Economic Times carried a story about us on their Sunday sept 19th 2010 edition.

Read here

Innovations in the pipeline

2010-05-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

With the commercial launch of the stainless steel version of the TLUD gasifier wood stove, we, at Servals are already working on a basket of innovations to pave the way for this technology to have a broader socio-environmental impact. The Sankalp 2010 Award has certainly buoyed our efforts.

• While the stainless steel version caters to the mid-range of the market, we have plans to introduce an institutional and ceramic versions to cater to the “top-end” and the “Bottom-end”.
o Institutional Version: That can be offered to institutional users (esp. hot tea shops and rural entrepreneurs in catering business) so that they can economize on the fuel cost.
o Ceramic Version: This material substitution will greatly reduce the cost of the stove, making is very affordable for the rural poor.

• We are also working on our vision of shaping the biomass fuel supply chain. Our R&D for the next year is focusing on identifying fuel mixes that can be “packeted” as fuel at costs so low that will make users want to give up the tedious hours of fuel collection and buy it off the fuel counter. We have recently initiated a collaboration with the Murugappa Group (Chennai, India) to come out with a suitable fuel mix to optimize fuel efficiency and maximize cooking duration.

• We have also applied for International Product Validation and Verification from Aprevocho Research Center, USA and Bio-char research project, Australia.

By far, the toughest market to crack, we see the main challenge in the wood stove market as that of educating the customers to convert from the “open fires” stoves that are free but inefficient, to the TLUD stoves that are not free but affordable, and energy efficient. We are, of course, seeking to approach this challenge by leveraging the reach and power of testimonial message of women Self-help Groups. Their testimonial is indeed powerful - as we have seen in the kerosene burner market.

Product testimonials

2010-05-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

I have always believed that customer feedback is the most significant testimonial about the product. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

At Servals, we have not as yet embarked on a systematic customer feedback mechanism. But we have been proactive in gathering the customers’ perspectives at every opportunity.

We have had several tea shop owners tell us that our burners save about one litre of kerosene every day, when their daily consumption is 3 liters per day.

We have a written testimonial from Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, a registered trade union with 1.1 million women self help groups, tell us that the kerosene supply that used to come for 5 days now comes for 7 days and that it is much faster than a wick stove.

We have some very positive feedback from many of our Stove OEM customers, all of whom have endorsed our burners through more sales. Our kerosene burners are now fitted on several top selling national stove brands such as Blueflame, Butterfly, Premier, Reliance and Humsafar.
We now have also been receiving encouraging feedback from dealers who have been hearing it from the end users.

Whenever we do the “water boiling test” as a demo to any new prospect, with whatever burner they have been used to, our kerosene burners have consistently registered a thermal efficiency that is 10-15% higher. Which translates to a saving of 20-30% kerosene.

As a company, we have not embarked on any major brand promotions or awareness campaigns. The heterogeneity of the market in terms of literacy and vernacular languages have also not made it easy. So we take feedbacks such as these as the true customer testimonial.

Social Impact metrics

2010-05-02T01:27:00.000-07:00

We have recently started an exercise to track the socio-economic impact of our products and business model. As a social enterprise, we believe it is important for us to keep these metrics on our dashboard.

Let me present the social impact analysis of Servals as done by ERM – Environment Resources management, a leading global provider of environmental, health and safety, risk, and social consulting services.

Social benefits of Servals’ Energy Efficient burner and TLUD Stove
Full time employees directly hired	10 people
Income generated by the satellite production centres for local entrepreneurs	Given Servals’ social enterprise based business model, it is estimated that each entrepreneur will be able to make approximately INR 2 per burner sold by him.
Indirect employment opportunities created	85-90 opportunities created in out-sourcing centres. Most employees are women
Number of people supported by the salary	Assuming 5 people per household, around 500 people are benefited by the direct and indirect employment opportunities created by Servals
Staff training and technical supports	Servals are providing technical trainings to employees
Use of the product	The energy efficient burner is mainly used for cooking. Assume the average number of people per household is 5, around 6 million people have enjoyed the benefits of the burner.
Pollution reduction	When the thermal efficiency of kerosene combustion exceeds 60%, like it is in the case of Servals’ energy efficient burners, the particulate matter and carbon monoxide are well within permissible limits. Considering that the mandatory efficiency requirement is 55% in India, Servals’ burners significantly reduce the indoor air pollution of kerosene stoves.
Positive health and safety effects	The reduction of harmful emissions due to increased combustion efficiency can potentially reduce households’ medical expenses and improve the quality of life. The single tube design of Venus burners is safer compared to other burners in the market which have welded joints in the heat zone of the burner. Welded joints in a burner can sometimes fail due to the intense heat in the heat zone.
Fuel expenditure saved by the household using the product	Since the maximum fuel efficiency gain using the Venus burner is 30% compared with conventional burners, Servals’ customer can save considerate amount of expenditure on kerosene. In India, fixed amount of kerosene is distributed by Public Distribution System (PDS) to poor families. The price is INR 11 at present. But the PDS supply is not sufficient for the households’ monthly requirement and delivery is not regular enough. Families have to buy kerosene in open market at Rs. 35 to 40/- per liter in order to meet their demand.

Servals featured on InfoDev's Climate Innovator Success Stories

2010-02-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that our low carbon initiatives have received another honorable mention. Infodev carried a story about Servals under their feature Climate Technology : Innovator Success Story.

InfoDev (Information for Development program) is a special program of the World Bank and many other international development agencies focusing on how the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help to combat poverty and promote opportunity, empowerment and economic growth in developing countries .

In 2009, infoDev launched a request for proposals for cleantech entrepreneur success stories. Servals was one of the 8 stories that was selected to be featured on infoDev's website and in marketing materials for infoDev's Climate Technology Program.

Read the article here

Download the full article here

It is indeed heartening to note that Servals has been included in the collection of cleantech entrepreneur success stories within infoDev's incubator network

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Reducing the carbon footprint while cooking

2009-08-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago I had written a blog post on my thoughts about carbon credits. “The Challenge of the Chulha” is indeed one of helping the poor use cleaner, greener energy while cooking.

As we all know, carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases leading to global warming with accompanying consequences. Apparently 18% of the problem comes from cooking stoves. Read more...

I want to explain how our products help reduce the carbon footprint of cooking stoves – the stoves used by so many poor people of the world.

Simply put, our products reduce the net addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Our kerosene stoves that use our high efficiency burners reduce kerosene consumption by around 33 %. This is a low carbon initiative, since for the same job, less carbon dioxide is let out into the atmosphere.

The hybrid cooking stove is carbon neutral (to the extent of plant oil use), since the carbon dioxide produced is absorbed back by the plant to produce the same amount of plant oil. In other words, it is a closed carbon cycle. And we are of course almost finalizing a 100% Plant Oil Stove design.

The plant oil lamp is also carbon neutral for the same reasons mentioned above.

The TLUD wood stove is carbon negative (when the charcoal is dumped back into the soil), since some of the carbon in the atmosphere is captured and put back into the soil. This reduces the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a certain extent. The stove mainly uses biomass residues like twigs, husks, etc. as fuel - which are basically carbon neutral.

With reducing the carbon footprint becoming an almost mandatory lifestyle practice, we are indeed happy to know that what we do helps our customers be more green. More responsive to the carbon footprint challenge.

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TLUD Gasifier Stoves - A wood stove with a difference

2009-05-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Sankalp 2010 award in the Clean Energy Sector – Established Enterprise Category, Servals’ TLUD Wood Gasifier Stove is a simple wood stove that is green and of low carbon emission. With other products such as the kerosene burner, kerosene stoves, hybrid cooking stoves, Plant Oil Stoves and Lamps already in the portfolio, Servals is indeed pleased to talk about their forays into the wood stove - TLUD stoves.

Some highlights

The key focus is to design an integrated cooking energy solution for the wood stove market that addresses the “front-end” and the “back-end”.
While the TLUD gasifier technology is not new, Servals’ TLUD Stove’s claim is that it represents a higher order of fuel efficiency, user friendliness, safety and newer user application.

Recognized as a “carbon neutral” initiative; In fact would be "carbon negative" when the charcoal is dumped back into the soil. Read more...
Has the potential to create a series of economic activities around fuel collection and distribution.Read More...

Has a line-up of innovations in the pipeline. Read more

TLUD stands for Top Lit Up Draft. This is different from most of the ordinary cook stoves which are Bottom Lit Up Draft. There is a lot of interest in TLUD technology around the world since this saves around 75 % fuel material compared to a traditional 3 stone fire wood stove.

A second advantage with TLUD technology is that it can accept a lot of waste materials as fuel like twigs, coconut shells, certain husks, dry grass, etc. Some of these fuels are also available at zero cost in specific instances
A third advantage is that tree felling is not necessary for fuel, since residues as mentioned above is enough.

A fourth advantage is that the entire process is carbon-neutral if the resultant charcoal is also burned. In case this charcoal is taken out and used as a soil conditioner, the entire process becomes carbon-negative. ie. practically, carbon is removed from the atmosphere and deposited in the soil. Hence TLUD technology is extremely environment-friendly.

The Process: The canister is filled with the fuel material. A small quantity of starter material is put on top of this fuel bed and set on fire. Primary air for combustion comes from below through the fuel bed. The heat from the fire pyrolysis the biomass immediately below to form pyrolysis gases. These gases move up and get combusted with the pre-heated secondary air that is fed from around. Once the pyrolysis is over, a small quantity of charcoal is left behind at the bottom of the canister. This charcoal is generally transferred to a metallic or earthern closed container where the fire gets put out in the absence of air. This charcoal can be used later for various purposes.

The present design used by Servals has been given by Dr. Paul S Anderson of US, with initial financial support for the Chennai project by the Rotary Club of Bloomington-Normal Sunset (Rotary District 6490 - East Central Illinois).

As it looks at present, TLUD Gasifier Stove technology holds tremendous potential in relation to greener environment and low carbon initiatives.

Here is a demo of the TLUD Wood stove

Here is a certificate for our TLUD Gasifier Stoves received from MSME Testing Center of the Government of India, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The certificate certifies that the CO/CO2 ratio is less than 0.04 in the combustion gases leaving the stove - which means a clean combustion and emission within safe limits.

Here is also a chart that shows the Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions for various biomass stoves, along with the recommended standards for these emissions.

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Cooking Stoves - An essential in a disaster relief kit

2009-05-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

‘Victims’ of poverty and victims of natural disasters are two segments of humanity that receives the most sympathy. Rightly so. There are 4 billion people at the bottom-of-the-pyramid. The population of the world is 6 billion. Isn’t it an irony that two-thirds of the human population has to live on things that go into a basic disaster relief kit? The rock-bottom bare essentials?

A cooking stove is one of those bare essentials. As an organization that is focused on improving the lives of the BOP, Servals hopes to do this, while at the same time, remaining responsible to the environment. We are indeed gratified to note that with our range of energy efficient kerosene burners and kerosene stoves, plant oil stoves and TLUD wood stoves, we are able to do our bit towards improving the lives of these two vulnerable segments of humanity. Besides helping all these people reduce their carbon footprint. Read more about how our products reduce the carbon footprint while cooking...

But more importantly, we indeed feel blessed to know that we are able to provide relief when it is needed most. Since our inception, we have had one chance to be part of a disaster relief program.

The catastrophe of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004 is well documented. It also struck the state of Tamil Nadu, home to Servals Automation. The Government of Tamil Nadu distributed about one lakh relief kits consisting of a stove, steel box and a vessel to the victims. The Government told the procuring agency to use as much of Servals’ kerosene burners as possible. We were a young company then and were not geared up to support the relief measures beyond 60000 burners.

We have grown now. And are hoping to play a bigger role in disaster relief measures whenever needed, wherever needed.

But of course, hoping there won't be many. Any.

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Our thoughts on Carbon Credits

2009-05-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an article I read recently in the Business Standard: “The Challenge of the Chulha”

This line caught my attention: “Designing technologies for diversity and affordability is much more complex than sending a man to the moon.” The article talks about the impact of black carbon – the soot – that is causing an impact on climate change. Apparently 18% of the problem, comes from these cooking stoves.

“So replace them” is the prescription of the international community. But the article also rightly points out the double standards in the pollution sphere.

“This ‘survival’ emission is being equated with the ‘luxury’ emissions of you and I, who drive to work and live in air-conditioned comfort.”

It got me thinking about the subject of carbon credits. I am a keen follower of the subject of carbon credits. At a philosophical level, I have some concerns. While, I agree that it will increase awareness about environmentally responsible production methods among manufacturers and incentivise them to take more accountability for greening the earth, I also think at some level, that the trading on carbon credit dilutes the intention. It seems to give the buyers the right to pollute.

I am sure that the concept and trading of carbon credits will take its own course.. and perhaps pitch itself at a level that is responsible and right for the environment.

We, at Servals, are hoping to do just that. With our current range of kerosene burners that reduce the carbon emission, we are hoping that our futuristic range of vegetable oil stoves and vegetable oil lamps, will take us one step closer towards our environmental responsibility. At least, these are low carbon initiatives. Read here about how we believe our products reduce the carbon footprint.

But for now, I agree with the article’s bottomline: “Simply replacing the chulha won't help, we have to help the poor use clean renewable energy.”

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Vegetable Oil Lamp

2009-05-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

I want to introduce Servals’ progress with the Plant Oil Lamp. The plant oil used is Straight Vegetable Oil only. I believe it will find great use in rural households which do not have electric power… a definite low cost, sustainable energy alternative. Besides it is a carbon neutral initiative.

Features of the new lamp

Oil level maintained constant for the wick.
Glass cover for protection of flame against mild wind.
Level of wick can be adjusted in the oil for brighter/dimmer light.
Wick can be easily removed and put back for lighting and removal of carbon.
For putting off the flame, wick can be fully immersed in the oil easily. No need to blow the flame out and no need to take out the wick.
Consumes very little oil.
Lamp looks simple, small and cute.
This lamp is of low lighting power and is meant only for general dim background lighting and not for purposes like reading, etc.

Starting up and Operation of the Lamp:

Fill the oil bottle and invert it in the designated spot.
Allow the oil level to become steady in the lamp.
Insert the wick in the wick holder and wet it with plant oil by sliding the wick to the bottom most part in the lamp by lowering the wick holder. Ensure that the top of the wick is wet with oil.
Take out the wick holder ( with wick ) slightly and light the top of the wick with any small flame.
Put the wick holder back into the lamp to any desired position for the required light intensity.
Adjust the position of the wick holder for the required light intensity. Please note that the flame always ideally stands just on top of the oil in any plant oil lamp - this is totally different from a kerosene lamp.
Never use kerosene or similar fuel in any plant oil lamp. It is extremely dangerous.
For repeated uses, remove carbon from the tip of the wick before lighting up.
For putting off the lamp, just push down the wick holder such that the top of the wick goes below the oil level. This way, it is also ready for the next lighting cycle.

Maintenance:

Wipe the inside and outside of the glass cover occasionally to keep it clean and transparent. Also wipe the outside of the oil bottle clean for better visibility of the oil level inside the bottle.

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A handshake with a fellow blogger…

2009-05-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

When I started my organization a good 40 years ago, even a direct mail campaign was a novelty. Today, blog networking is paying off even in a field like kerosene burners and plant oil hybrid stoves… where the end user is pretty much illiterate.

While combing the internet for information on our Plant Oil hybrid stoves, I chanced upon “The jatropha blog”. I found it informative. I contacted the fellow bloggers and was indeed happy to see that they were from the same city. Chennai. We met and learned about each other.

It was indeed heartening to see this group of young web savvy entrepreneurs with a vision to promote the cause of energy & environment using the internet. Read more about this young company here

I also learned that they run another blog on energy alternatives in India, which I personally think is a fairly useful web resource in a field that is important and needs as much attention as the world can give.

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Our Hybrid Stove -Test results from Kenya

2009-05-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

I am indeed happy to share some the test results of our Jatropha Hybrid stove. I recently heard from John Y. Salehe, Ecoregion Leader, Eastern Africa Coastal Forest Ecoregion Programme, WWF Eastern Africa Regional Programme Office (EARPO) about the initial results on the testing of the hybrid stove in Kenya.

EARPO is an organization in East Africa with a mandate to establish sustainable energy alternatives among other things. Read more about them here..

They had expressed interest in our model of Hybrid stoves because it is a good match with their mission. They just sent me some initial test results. I am happy to reproduce the “topline” test results … while I wait for a more detailed test report from them.

“We used 1.25 litres of Kerosene, 0.5 litres of Jatropha oil and the equal amount of water. The stove has a strong frames which boiled about 2 litres of water in 15 minutes. We plan to do a more precise testing where we will put into consideration the amount of Kerosene and Jatropha oil burnt for a certain amount of time. For now we are confident that the stove is working and we know how to operate it.”

Here are a few photos that capture the testing…

I believe these test results will help us in improving the quality of the stove. The usage of the stove varies from region to region and we need this kind of feedback to make sure that the stove meets the specific needs of that region.

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66 and still learning …

2009-05-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

“Katradhu kai mann alavu… Kalaadhadhu ulagalavu” is the tamil proverb that came to my mind when I completed my training course with Social Impact International. Social-Impact is a professional development programme helping social entrepreneurs to accelerate and increase their social impact and to reach their full potential. Read more about them here…

I was one of the batch of social entrepreneurs identified for the year 2008 to be trained in how to professionally manage a social enterprise and how to make it a sustainable and scalable business model.

40 plus years in running a business.. and one would think that they’ve seen it all. Not quite. New learnings are always there for the asking. If one were to just keep their minds open.

One of the biggest take-aways for me from the training program was this : These kind of seminars and group interactions provide the time away from the daily grind to do some disciplined and focused thinking. Something that we don’t otherwise do because of the pulls and pressures of the day to day business. I believe I benefited immensely from the way they had structured their questions and discussions. It provided a great structure to carry through the thinking process about the business from start to finish with the right catalysts … well designed templates, insightful mentors and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking batch mates.

Time well spent. Useful. Functional. Practical. Idea generating. Above all refreshing.

Read more about what they have to say about the batch of 2008..

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Context of Servals' innovations

2009-05-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Servals' innovations are in the space of “Sustainable Energy Solutions for efficient cooking and lighting”

Inefficient cooking methods are not a trivial problem. About 2 billion cook in rudimentary stoves or over open fires. Indeed the article was right - “Designing technology for diversity and affordability is harder than sending a man to the moon”.

Energy conservation, green energy generation and reducing indoor air pollution are global mandates now, not just needs. The relevance of improved cooking stoves - is so huge that it can address at least 5 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals that the United Nations is working to meet by 2015.

Here are some declared statistics about the enormity of the situation: Source

Climate Change : Clouds of Pollution

Carbon dioxide, Methane and nitrous oxide present in biomass stove emissions .

Apparently 18% of the problem of carbon emissions is caused by stoves.

Indoor Air Pollution : Health Risk

Fourth leading health risk in developing countries.
Premature deaths - estimated 1.6 million people each year ; women and children most affected.

Deforestation : Cooking with Wood a significant Cause

Annual consumption of wood - 10% of wood harvested from the world's forests.

Safety : Children of Fire

Watch a youtube movie about the perils of unsafe cooking devices.

Forward March for Servals

2009-04-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

This year has started off very well for us at Servals. We have big plans for expanding our manufacturing and marketing efforts and have been exploring equity infusions to finance these. And we are indeed happy and proud to announce that we now have another investor who believes in our commitment to the cause and our efforts to deliver on our mission.

ERM – the world’s leading provider of environmental, health and safety, risk and social consulting services – is our second investor. The first investor is, of course, Aavishkar.

Read more about our key stakeholders here.

With their extensive experience and expertise in the areas of environment and sustainable solutions, we believe that this will be a relationship that will add tremendous value to the governance, management and operations of Servals.

ERM, Environmental Resources Management,

Children of Fire - The movie, The Message

2009-02-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

I recently had the chance to see a short movie on youtube. It is called “Children of Fire” by Junius Hughes. It is a movie that captures the importance and dangers of stove safety and the consequences for children due to unsafe paraffin stoves.

Consider these statistics: 9 children die every day in South Africa due to fire accidents that could have been prevented. 15,000 children are injured in such cooking fire incidents every year.

While we always knew the perils of cooking accidents and what an impact it has on children, we gasped at these kind of statistics. And to think that all these hardships could be prevented by more care or a safer design.

Indeed a very inspiring and awakening movie. Read more about the charity here

Makes us want to hope that our design of toppling-safe stoves will contribute towards mitigating such hardships.

kerosene stove accidents, safe cooking stoves,preventing stove accidents, anti toppling stove, topple safe stove

Varsha Rainguns - Fact Sheet

2008-10-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have tried to give some technical and application related features of SAPL's Varsha Rainguns. Read more about the product features of Varsha Rainguns here.

1. What are all the crops in which Rain Gun can be used

Sugarcane, Plantation crops such as coffee, tea, cardamom, etc., vegetables like Onion, cabbage, potato, cauliflower, carrot, beat root, tapioca, etc. and ground nut.

2. What will be the time requirement for irrigating these crops

It mainly depends on the effective root zone depth of the crops. For E.g. For sugarcane on an average a Rain Gun can irrigate nearly 1⁄2 acre in 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours. Using Flood irrigation, farmers nearly take 4 hours to irrigate 1⁄2 acre of sugar cane. For onion and vegetable 45 minutes is enough to irrigate 1⁄2 acre.

3. What is the H.P. required to operate our Rain Gun

Minimum requirement is 5 HP. This even depends on the Kg/Sq. cm (KSC) the pump generates. Our standard minimum requirement is 2 KSC pressure. No motor/pump less than 5 HP will generate 2 KSC Pressure. So, our requirement is >5H.P upto 20 H.P. Better result can be obtained at KSC more than 2.75.

4. What pressure will a 7.5 H.P. generate.

It depends on many factors.

The make of the pump, i.e. some pumps have low pressure but high discharge. This pump generates low pressure. Some Pumps generate high pressure with low discharge.
Suction and delivery heads Delivery head – distance from the pump to the G.L.. Suction head – distance from the pump to the foot valve. If the suction head is more than 40 feet, much of the energy of the pump is wasted in sucking water upto 40 feet. So this will reduce the outflow pressure of the water. Lesser the suction, higher will be the pressure. Open well submersible pumps have ‘O’ suction head. So, we may get high KSC pressure in these pumps.
Conveying distance between the pump and the Rain Gun. Larger the distance between the pump and the location of the Rain Gun, lesser will be the pressure due to frictional loss and conveyance loss.

5. What types of pipes should be used for Rain Gun.

The best choice would be HDPE, ‘QPC’ pipes, which can be assembled and dismantled easily. If the KSC of the pump is less than 2.75, Rain Gun can be operated in PVC pipelines of quality. If the pressure exceeds 2.75 HDPE pipes will be the only choice.

6. What will be area covered by a Rain Gun.

It again depends on the pump / motor. Higher the H.P., higher will be the KSC pressure. Higher the pressure, larger will be the throw distance.

Larger the throw distance, larger will be area covered. For e.g. if the radius of the throw is say 80 feet,
Area = 3.14 x 80 x 80 = 26,096 sq. ft.
It is slightly more than 1⁄2 acre (1 acre = 45,600 sq. ft)

7. How many Guns are required to irrigate say 10 acre of sugarcane.
It depends on

No. of water source the farmer has: If the farmer has 2 sources of water i.e. 2 wells or 2 bore wells, he can use 2 Rain Guns at different locations.
H.P of the pump available: If the farmer owns say a 10 or 15 HP motor, he can use 2 Rain Guns at a same time.
Financial status of farmer: If the farmer is financially sound, he can purchase more than one i.e. he can install permanently one gun for 1⁄2 acre. So he need not shift each time after irrigating 1⁄2 acre. A farmer with just one Rain Gun can irrigate upto 20 acres by shifting the Rain Gun periodically after irrigating 1⁄2 acre. For this the farmer has to install a main pipeline (PVC/H.D.P.E) with deliver provision per 1⁄2 acre. In this delivery provision he can install the Rain Gun periodically.

8. How will you irrigate the corner of the fields with Rain Gun

By installing the Rain Gun in one corner and by using the locking system, we can irrigate the corners

9. What is the required height of the stand.

It depends on the type of crop. For Sugarcane and cardamom, 5’ height stand is required.

For other vegetables, tea, coffee, ground nut, etc., 3’ to 4’ height stand is enough.

Advantages of using rainguns for irrigation

2008-10-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Let me outline the advantages of a Rain Gun over flood irrigation and over drip irrigation. A Rain gun is a micro irrigation device that helps conserve water.

You could read more about SAPL's brand of Rainguns - The Varsha RainGuns.

What are the advantages of Rain Guns over flood irrigation:

It saves more than 50% of the water used by flood irrigation.
It saves labour.
It saves electricity. In future if farm motors come under unit rating, Rain Gun will save nearly 75% of the electricity. Increases life of motor / pump.
As 1⁄2 acre could be irrigated within 1 1⁄2 hours, the total extend of area irrigated per day nearly doubles. So, if a farmer cultivates 5 acre sugarcane with his available water and pump in flood irrigation, he can cultivate 10 acres of land by using Rain Gun with the very same availability of water and pump.
In flood irrigation, more than 75% of the water goes as percolation loss (say 25% of water is available at E.R.D). In any agriculture, the top soil is more fertile (for this only we apply fertilizers and manures). In flood irrigation, the fertility in top soil is washed away and goes as percolation loss i.e. the top soil is leached away. In Rain Gun irrigation as we irrigate only upto the E.R.D, there is no percolation loss or leaching.
Rain Gun Irrigation plays the role of Nitrogen fixation. One of the major nutrient plant requires is Nitrogen. Atmospheric air contains 78% of nitrogen. As our Rain Gun resembles Rain, the water dissolves the nitrogen from air and gives it to soil, thereby adding nutritive value to soil. This is one of the reasons for increase in yield.
Reduces pest and insects attack: Pests and insects get washed away during Rain Gun irrigation.
Uniformity in irrigation.
In flood irrigation, farmers usually open the delivery at one corner of the field and it goes to the next corner and entire field by gravity. In well-grown sugarcane fields, farmers are unable to go and inspect if the entire field gets uniformity in irrigation. If there is any undulation in the topography of the land, water may not reach to that part, where as in Rain Gun irrigation, the uniformity of the entire field is ensured.
Easier application of fertilizer and pesticides.
In well grown sugarcane, farmer feel very hard to spray in the interior field. In our Rain Gun, with a help of a fertilizer tank and a venture assembly, fertilizers and pesticides can be sprayed easily without any labour.

What are the advantages of Rain Guns over Drip Irrigation:

Less Cost: For one acre of Sugarcane installation of drip cost around Rs.24,000/-, whereas by using Rain Gun System, the cost comes round Rs.14,000/- only. If a farmer owns 10 acres of sugarcane if he is interested in drip, he has to install drip for the whole 10 acres at a cost of Rs.2,40,000/- where as if he use Rain gun, with a single Rain Gun he can irrigate 10 acres of land by shifting the gun properly. Drip irrigation cannot be shifted.
Clogging problem
In drip, the water oozes out through a small hole less than 1 mm, which gets clogged by the calcium carbonate and other chemicals available in water. So, after a period of one year most of the drippers get clogged. In Rain Gun, there is no clogging problem irrespective of the quality of water.
Easy intercultural operation
An intercultural operation in a drip field is a task, whereas it is easy in Rain Gun irrigation.
Less Maintenance.

SERVALS CREDENTIALS

2008-10-17T22:46:00.001-07:00

Award from Paraffin Safety Association, South AfricaAward from Anna University, Chennai, India
Order Letter from NSIC for Tsunami Relief Kits
Award from L-Ramp
Certificate from Bureau of Indian Standards
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) included SAPL
among 101 Successful Enterprises in their book "STAR TREK"

Energy Efficient Kerosene Stoves

2008-06-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce Servals' Energy Efficient Kerosene Stoves here – our second step towards energy optimization.

With proven improved energy efficiency, cooking efficiencies and safety systems (fuel leakage containment, self-extinguishing), we believe this is a rural energy product that will contribute a lot towards bettering the life of the bottom-of-the-pyramid.

ENERGY EFFICIENT KEROSENE STOVES

The Servals portfolio has an Energy Efficient Kerosene Stove.
The Stove has been declared as the “Most Energy Efficient Stove” in June 2005 by the Paraffin Safety Association, South Africa (PASASA) among the comparative testing of stoves entered.
Fitted with Venus Energy Efficient Kerosene Burners - a patented design that is proven to have 65.4% Thermal Efficiency against the mandatory requirement of 55% by ISI.
This offers a 30% savings in kerosene consumption compared to burners available in the market.
It is a low carbon initiative

TOPPLING-SAFE STOVE

We have also designed a special Safety Stove.
This kerosene stove has a special “Toppling Safe” feature. This is a special requirement of South Africa. Read more about why it is so critical in South Africa here..
It has also been awarded a patent in South Africa.

I will be more than happy to share more details with you if you are interested. Feel free to write to us.

Our Address

Servals Automations Pvt Ltd
5/1, (UPSTAIRS)
Balaji Nagar 1st Street,
Eekatuthangal
CHENNAI – 600 097

PHONE : 64577181 – 64577182
FAX : 044 - 45540339
E-MAIL : saplmds@gmail.com; mukundanpa@gmail.com

rural energy products, energy saving device,topple safe cooking stove, kerosene cooking stove, kerosene, cooking stoves, energy efficient,energy efficiency, fuel efficient

Hybrid Cooking Stove

2008-06-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

A Kerosene - Plant oil - Steam - Pressure stove

About the stove:

We at Servals have developed the hybrid stove in an attempt to conserve fossil fuel and use renewable energy.

The focus is on rural energy independence and hence the use of straight vegetable oil alone is considered.

Please note, that bio-diesel which is a refined product is not to be used and the stove is not designed to use bio-diesel.

It is a carbon neutral initiative (to the extent of plant oil usage)

What is the Hybrid Stove:

The stove uses up to 30 % plant oil and balance (around 70 %) kerosene.

In the event plant oil is costly or not available, the stove can function as a high efficiency kerosene stove using only kerosene.

Please note..

Viscosity of the plant oil used is critical for the proportioning of the capillaries.

Presently the design is for Pongamia straight vegetable oil, which is comparatively dense oil.

How it works:

Let me try to give you a quick brief on the how the stove works. Please feel free to contact me for more details.

Pump a little kerosene into the spirit cup and light it for preheating the burner.

Once preheated, apply pressure in the kerosene tank to reach the desired flame.

Once the burner top has reached red hot colour, plant oil and water can be pumped.

While switching off the stove, first the plant oil and water should be switched off and later kerosene can be switched off.

Pressure release valves are provided on all the three filler caps (i.e. kerosene, plant oil and water filler caps).

Maintenance:

Here are some quick maintenance information:

We have provided a filter in the kit to strain the water and plant oil before pouring into the respective tanks. This ensures that the capillaries do not get clogged / blocked anywhere.
We have also made drain provisions for both water and plant oil to clean any sludge/deposits at the bottom.
Any blockage of the kerosene vapour nozzle can be cleared using the needle pricker provided in the kit.

I will be more than happy to share more details with you if you are interested. Feel free to write to us.

We had recently received a test report from Kenya about our Jatropha hybrid stoves. Read more about it here..

Our Address
Servals Automations Pvt Ltd
5/1, (UPSTAIRS)
Balaji Nagar 1st Street,
Eekatuthangal
CHENNAI – 600 032

PHONE : 64577181 – 64577182
FAX : 044 - 45540339
E-MAIL : saplmds@gmail.com; mukundanpa@gmail.com

rural energy products, energy saving device,hybrid cooking stove, kerosene cooking stove, straight vegetable oil, cooking stoves, renewable energy, alternative fuel, vegetable oil, energy efficiency, fuel efficient

Servals in the News

2008-05-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Servals Automations – Designing a 100% Plant Oil Stove: At Servals our dream is to design a stove that works on 100% Plant Oil. The product, designed to use unrefined vegetable oil from jatropha seeds, would be a first-of-its-kind in the world.
Award for Servals Automation Business Model: Servals Automation was presented with an award for its Business Model. The award was given by L-Ramp as part of their excellence awards for 2007.
108 Entrepreneurs in TamilNadu - A CII nomination I am very pleased to announce that our social entrepreneurial efforts in Servals Automation have been recognised by the CII, Tamilnadu State.
“Flame of Innovation” – A Business Outlook article: “Cooking Tech for the Poor” - Servals Automation was written about in Business Outlook. The article is very descriptive about our Vision, Our Business Model, Our products - Kerosene Burners and Plant Oil Stove. It also traces our growth very well.
Coverage in ThinkChangeIndia: ThinkchangeIndia - a website that tracks social innovation in India, carried a short story about us. "Servals Automation brings technology to energize rural India"
Servals included in the collection of cleantech entrepreneur success stories within infoDev's incubator network as one of the 8 winners of the Climate Innovator Success Stories.
Coverage in Dare Magazine
Coverage in Economic Times
Cornell University has identified the Servals model as a case study in their Sustainable Global Enterprise Project.
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) included Servals among 101 Successful Enterprises in their book "STAR TREK" for the year 2007 - 2008
The Plant Oil Stove has been included as "Social Innovation" in the book "Break-through" published by CII
Servals - A World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate for 2011
Servals - Wins the Sankalp Award 2010 in the Clean Energy Sector
Coverage in Next Billion - An International Social Enterprise Forum.
Coverage in The Huffington Post - Small Business America
Coverage in Rediff Business - "An Amazing Journey of a 70 year old Social Entrepreneur"
Included as one of the 20 social entrepreneurs in the book "I have a dream" by Rashmi Bhansal.

Servals Automation - Key Stakeholders

2008-05-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Mr. P. Mukundan - Managing Director

Mr. Mukundan is an entrepreneur with over four decades of industrial experience and vast contacts in both industry and social sectors. He is the proprietor of Servals (“Servals Parent Company”) that deals in industrial valves and a partner in Surmount Enterprises, dealing with material handling equipment. Mr. Mukundan has held positions of responsibilities in various government and industry associations. Read the complete profile …

Our Investors - AAVISHKAAR Micro-Venture Capital Fund and Environmental Resources Management (ERM

The Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund (“Aavishkaar”) is a venture fund founded to promote development in rural and semi-urban India.The primary commitment of Aavishkaar is to effect change by promoting growth of grassroots ideas and enterprise. Aavishkaar seeks to nurture and initiate creative thought processes at the grassroots level and convert them into thriving enterprises. Read more about Aavishkar ..

Read more about the Aavishkaar - Servals Automation venture here ..

Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is the world’s leading provider

of environmental, health and safety, risk and social consulting services. One of their key areas of focus is to provide technical excellence and innovative solutions to their partners and prepare them to respond better to the challenges of sustainable development. R ead more about ERM…

Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) is a US based SOcial Investor with a mission to build and support high-impact businesses that provide sustainable economic opportunities to millions of people at the base of the economic pyramid. They provide investment capital and capacity building to high impact social enterprises in several developing countries across the globe. Read more ..

Our Mentors - Rural Innovators Network RIN - (NGO)

RIN is a rural business incubator. RIN avidly identifies and incubates grassroots innovations, which can have a significant impact on rural lives and lie untapped, in spite of their potential to transform lives. RIN's incubation strives to make the difference between an idea that fails and one that sees the light of day. RIN believes many rural innovations can be successfully commercialized as micro-enterprises that benefit rural consumers and contribute to sustainable wealth creation. Read more about RIN…

Read about the success stories on Varsha Rain Gun and Plant oil stove on the “Innovations" section of the RI N website

Funding Support : L-RAMP (joint venture of IIT – Chennai & RIN)

L-RAMP (the Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program), is a Chennai-based, joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Rural Innovations Network. “If an innovation has the potential to change lives, it must get a fair chance to do so especially when the innovation is aimed at the poor the underserved people”. This is the purpose of L-RAMP. The vision of L-RAMP “To improve the quality of life of the underserved population through innovations and innovation-led enterprises”.

Read more about L-Ramp...

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Calculating Co2 footprint of stove technology

2008-04-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here is an article from the April 2008 newsweek. It is titled "10 fixes for the planet". Newsweek had interviewed environmental thinkers to come up with ideas on how to make the planet greener and more energy efficient.

Out of the top 10 suggestions listed by the thinkers, two of them relate to "LED Lighting" and "Stoves for the masses". You can read the whole article here

I have posted the part about stoves here.

8. Stoves for the masses: Inefficient cooking methods are not a trivial problem.

Some 2 billion people in the developing world cook in rudimentary stoves or over open fires. Either way, most of the heat escapes into the air rather than warming the food. Efficient stoves could slash the amount of fuel they use, decreasing emissions and deforestation, too. "A family of five can use three tons of wood a year for cooking," says Columbia University engineer Vijay Modi. "If that family saves one ton of wood per year, that can translate into more than a ton of CO2 saved every year for that family alone." But such stoves have to be cheap, durable and attractive, as well as efficient.

This made me think : Wouldn’t it be possible for us to calculate the CO2 our stove technology can save in India.

If you come across any information on how to calculate the Co2 footprint, do write in to us.

Developing a "Small Rain Gun"

2008-04-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Servals is committed towards improving water conservation and water management in agricultural areas. I have already written about product Varsha Rain Guns, a micro-irrigation product, that uses water more efficiently.

I wanted to talk about our new initiative in the area of water conservation. We are calling it the “small rain gun”. It is still under development. But here is a quick overivew:

Most of the rain guns in the market today, need an operating pressure of 2 kg/cm2.
However ground level conditions of many farmers does not offer this pressure; due to factors like low water level in wells, use of 3 HP pumps to draw water, poor quality of pipelines etc.
We are attempting to design a rain gun that will help in such situations
Servals is nearing completion in the development of such a rain gun.
Servals is in a dialogue with NABARD and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) for possibilities for this small gun
Discussions are also continuing with the MSSRF in the development of a portable irrigation system where the small gun would be very useful.

You could read more about of production and marketing model here.

If you would live to contribute to our initiative – ideas, information, network associations – or even if you would just want more details, please write in to us.

P. Mukundan

rural energy products, energy saving device,conservation of water, microirrigation, irrigation systems, irrigation equipment, sprinkler, sprinkler systems

108 Entrepreneurs in TamilNadu - A CII nomination

2008-04-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to announce that our social entrepreneurial efforts in Servals Automation have been recognised by the CII, Tamilnadu State.

The Confederation of Indian Industry, Tamilnadu State Council, has launched a special publication to showcase 108 successful entrepreneurs in different walks of life in Tamil Nadu. This is to help inspire budding entrepreneurs and to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the State. A task force on technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, under the Chairmanship of Mr R.Ramaraj with members from industry and academia were on the panel to identify the successful entrepreneurs.

I am attaching a scanned version of the CII publication which has reference to the Servals Automation work and the profile of the entrepreneur. I had to do it in two parts... but you could of course read the full version of the CII special publication.

Our Social Entrepreneurship based Business Model

2008-04-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce the company, Servals Automation, as a "for-profit organisation that’s also a social enterprise." My aim is to touch as many lives as possible while making this firm a successful and profitable entity.

In 2003, we were one of the first small scale enterprises to get venture capital funding. Since then, we have tried to build a low-capital model whereby it is not heavily burdened by manufacturing and marketing overheads. As a result, the company has been able to function with just a 12-member team.

With a mission to usher in an age of energy independence in rural India, we are committed to social values. We want to use NGO’s / SHG’s as channel partners both in production and marketing.

Production

We have put in a model with Trust for Village Self Governance, Koothambakkam to manufacture Kerosene burners at a rural area providing rural employment opportunities. The theme is rural employment generation. We provide all the materials and know-how and they use their own place and people.
We are not using a profit model. It’s production by masses, not mass production. So, there’s more employment potential.

Marketing

Similarly, we are doing a lot of work with NGO’s who network SHG. Our marketing model is to use SHG members as marketing partners.
This requires extensive work in the grass-root level.
India has a huge network of SHG and if a successful model is put in place, replication will be easy and the scaling up will be huge.
A recent study commissioned by the Government of India, estimates the number of NGOs in India to be 3.3 million. A NGO for every 400 Indians. Possibly the highest in the world. Maybe this number includes several temples, religions associations, cooperative societies etc. But even otherwise, this does represent the fantastic reach that NGOs have in India.

R&D
R&D will be an integral part of our growth plan. Our effort in this front has been appreciated by international agencies.

We have continuous support from PUM – Netherlands (www.pum.nl). Four of Delft University, Netherlands Post-Graduate Students spent four months with us in development of Plant Oil Stove.
Rockefeller Foundation (www.innocentive.com) is assisting us with technology problem solving endeavors.
L-Ramp (www.lramp.org) has funded us for Plant Oil Development.
IIT, Chennai is working with us on our Rain gun model for dust abatement applications.

Having said that, I also recognize that working with NGOs might well be like “making the elephant dance”. The slow progress could be slow because of the inherent nature of working with NGOs, but we are committed to pushing through with this model. We believe in its potential and what it stands for.

Now and then, we get the stimulus we need to continue this journey by way of awards and recognitions for the business model.

But when I talk to these rural entrepreneurs and see the smile on their faces, that is recognition enough!

Write to us. We would love to hear from you. If you are associated with an NGO or a SHG and are interested in exploring opportunities with us, we would love to hear from you.

Towards using Plant Oil as a cooking fuel

2008-04-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Plant oil is one of the fuels which can be categorized as a biofuel.
It is a renewable energy source which is easily obtainable for the rural people.
It has many benefits above other fuels used nowadays for cooking.
Compared with kerosene it is obtainable, available and cheaper, compared with wood it is much better for the health and environment.
Plant oil exists in many forms and can be obtained from many different types of vegetation.
All the different oils have different properties, but share the same problem; a lot of carbon in the molecule chain which gives it unpleasant burning properties.
For testing and development a plant oil called Karanja (botanical name: pongamia glabra) is used. This oil is chosen by Servals due to its extreme difficult properties to burn. If the burner can operate with this oil it will be able to burn all the other plant oils.

Also Read ...

Do Write to Us. We would love to hear from you - your insights, information and knowledge - regarding Plant Oil as a biofuel

Towards a 100% Plant Oil Stove

2008-04-01T16:36:00.001-07:00

Servals Automation is working towards designing a 100% plant oil (non-edible oil) stove to replace Kerosene as a cooking fuel in rural India. The fuel pursued is straight vegetable oil . There is no processing/refining involved.

Some Highlights

The key focus is to develop a renewable and sustainable energy alternative to replace kerosene as a cooking and lighting fuel.
Servals’ Plant Oil Stove is a breakthrough technology that is a 'first-of-its-kind’ in the world initiative.
Included as a "Social Innovation" in the book "Break-through" published by CIIA
Recognized as a “carbon neutral” initiative
Has the potential to create a series of economic activities around energy extraction and distribution.

Background

Nowadays fuels such as kerosene and wood are getting scarcer due to depletion of natural resources such as deforestation.
Therefore the trend is to develop more sustainable solutions.
In cooperation with Servals Automation, Fire4India developed an innovative cooking stove which burns on 100% crude plant oil and is able to burn on all different kinds of plant oil.
The stove, specially designed for the BOP(Bottom-of-the-Pyramid) market; will create more independence by giving the possibility of extracting plant oil by the BOP people themselves.

Current Status

Servals Automation has developed a Hybrid dual tank stove that runs on kerosene and 25% plant oil. This stove will be useful where availability of plant oil is not assured (e.g) India. In such case, the stove can be used as regular kerosene stove.
Although it allows the use of an alternative fuel, it does not provide the independence that a 100% plant oil stove would.
We have a prototype of a 100% plant oil that burns continuously for a couple of hours and then tends to get clogged with carbon deposits.
We are working towards improving the design so that it will burn consistently for 10 hours or more so a person could use it for a whole day before having to clean it.
We have received technology assistance from Rockefeller Foundation. After this, it has to be field tested.

Write to us. We would love to hear your ideas, suggestions and thoughts.

rural energy products, energy saving device,cooking stove, plant oil, vegetable oil, straight vegetable oil, energy efficiency, alternative fuel, renewable energy, energy conservation

Creating Rural Entrepreneurs

2008-04-01T16:35:00.001-07:00

Aiming to “usher in an era of energy independence”, we, at Servals Automation, have a big dream.

• An energy terrain where all the energy that is required for a household can be produced and bought within the local community itself.

• An ‘energy model for cooking and lighting solutions’ that is based on self sufficiency, sustainability and environment friendliness.

While the flagship products - kerosene burners and stoves, are by themselves contributing a 30% saving in kerosene consumption, we are gearing up to move up the renewable energy chain through our newer energy innovations – TLUD wood stoves, Plant Oil Stoves and Plant Oil Lamps that run on Straight Plant Oil. Besides, with a business model that is based on social entrepreneurship, we hopes to create a stream of economic activity around the new energy inventions that will make the inventions self-sustaining.

The Blueprint..

• The energy stream for the wood stoves would be ‘canister sized fuel packets’; for plant oil stoves/lamps it would be unrefined plant oil that can be locally extracted and distributed.

• The lynchpin of this dream is the creation of the “rural energy entrepreneurs”; A “Rural Energy Entrepreneur” is someone

-who can extract plant oil from locally available sources and distribute it in the community so that plant oil availability is facilitated

-or collect locally available fuel, make it into canister sized fuel packets and distribute it in the community

-thus opening up employment opportunities in the community.

Turning dream into reality

We are in touch with different Government agencies to popularize the TLUD Wood Stoves and Plant Oil Stoves/Lamps

Petroleum Conservation & Research Association (PCRA)
Tamil Nadu Forest Department
Chennai District SSI Association (CDISSIA)
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

Come, Share our Dream. write to us.

Award for Servals Automation Business Model

2008-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Servals Automation was presented with an award for its Business Model. The award was given by L-Ramp as part of their excellence awards for 2007. L-Ramp specializes in recognizing offering mentoring to innovations that have the potential to transform the lives of under served people. These Excellence Awards were presented by Dr. Abdul Kalam at a function in IIT, Chennai.

"Headed by Mr. P. Mukundan, Servals is a Chennai-based company that focuses on developing and marketing energy-saving innovations that benefit the poor. The company’s Venus energy saving burner is robust, cheap, long lasting and has efficiency of up to 30% more than existing burners. The Plant Oil Stove developed by the company offers users a choice to substitute expensive kerosene with locally available plant oil to the extent of about 25%. This is a boon to rural and low income people. Servals has built a viable business for serving the poor and rural consumers."

Write to Us

Efforts to develop plant oil for domestic fuel

2008-04-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in The Hindu in Mar 2005.

I have reproduced a part of the essay here – so you have a quick understanding of the plant oil fuel issue – as well as see how early all this was started …we’ve certainly come a long way since then – having built the prototype of the plant oil stove …

"The soaring petrol and diesel prices and shortage of kerosene for supply through the public distribution system underscore the need to conserve fuel and adopt measures to enhance energy efficiency.

With crude oil prices on the rise, the importance of fuel conservation is more relevant now than ever before. A section, including a group in Chennai working for the use of plant oil as domestic fuel, has realised its importance.

According to P. Mukundan, Chief Executive of Servals Automation, the company is holding talks with Development Alternatives, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in New Delhi, to undertake contract research on plant oil as a substitute for kerosene. The idea is to identify the plants whose oil could be used as domestic fuel with some additives, encourage their plantation and provide crushing and storage facilities."

Write to us. We would like to learn from your knowledge, experience and ideas.

Profiting from Charity - Business World

2008-04-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

This is an article that was published in Businessworld in February 2008

This article is titled: Profiting From Charity

While I have reproduced the specific mention about Servals Automation here, I would like to say that this is a very well written article on the whole concept of Social Enterprise and how “Helping the under privileged and making money in the process is not such a bad idea after all”.

The Chennai-based Servals Automation, founded by P.Mukundan is a classic example of the producer-cum-consumer model. Servals outsources sales and distribution to NGOs and self-help groups. Elango, an Ashoka Fellow, handles manufacturing with the help of 50-60 men and women in Koothambakkam village. Both profits and employment could go up as Mukundan has confirmed orders for 100,000 kerosene burners. He is now branching off into designing and manufacturing a stove that uses plant oil like jatropha.

Read about our Social Entrepreneurship based Business Model. Our Business Model has also been recognized for its innovativeness in striking a balance between social values and business viability.

Write to Us if you would like to explore opportunities with us.

Varsha Rain Guns

2008-03-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce the product that is SAPL's contribution towards efficient, profitable and sustainable agriculture - The Rain Gun. The Rain Gun is a micro irrigation device that helps promote water conservation. Read more about the advantages of rainguns over flood and drip irrigation systems here

Here is a quick overview of the Varsha Rain guns. You can read more about the technical and application related features if the Varsha Rain Gun here.

The potential for Rain Guns

The concept of micro-irrigation has become very popular. It is the answer to reduced water availability and droughts. All major Indian irrigation companies are promoting micro-irrigation
Rain guns and drip irrigation approaches will be the focus of these efforts
Reduced offerings of free power to agriculture will add to the momentum to shift to rain guns

Varsha Rain gun for Water Conservation

The Rain Gun is a micro-irrigation device, sometimes called an overhead sprinkler. It produces artificial rain like conditions
The use of rain guns saves up to 50% of water Vs conventional canal irrigation and meaningful power savings.
It can irrigate up to ¾ acre in a single rotation
Use of Rain guns improve yield Vs Canal irrigation as well
Rain gun is suitable for a wide variety of crops. Cereals, vegetables, sugarcane, ginger, groundnut plantation crops.
Rain gun performance is comparable to imported and costlier Italian rain guns

Varsha Rain gun for Dust Abatement Application

We are working on using rain gun for Dust Suppression application. IIT/S has been involved in the effort.

Read more about Varsha Rain gun's - technical and application related.

Contact Us for further information. Write to us if you would like to explore opportunities with us.

rural energy products, energy saving device,conservation of water, microirrigation, irrigation systems, irrigation equipment, sprinkler, sprinkler systems

"Flame of Innovation" - Business Outlook

2008-03-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Cooking tech for the poor

"Servals Automation has built its business by marketing innovations with the potential to transform rural India..."

Servals Automation was written about in Business Outlook. The article is very descriptive about our Vision, Our Business Model, Our products - Kerosene Burners and Plant Oil Stove. It also traces our growth very well.

Read More

About the Founder - P Mukundan

2008-03-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

67-year old Mr. Mukundan is the Managing Director of Servals Automation Pvt Ltd (Servals).

Mr. Mukundan is clear that Servals will not be a cook stove company. With his vision set on catalyzing the cooking energy trajectory towards energy independence, he is guiding the innovations towards pioneering an energy creation and procurement model for rural communities. With plans towards scaling up on the social entrepreneurship model despite recognizing that scaling up with the time tested commercial models will be easier, Mr. Mukundan, has demonstrated commitment towards the other big part of Servals’ vision - catalyzing economic activity at the grassroots.

He has been nominated to the CII's Special Publication of 108 successful entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu.

He has also been profiled in Business Outlook, Rediff Business - "An Amazing Journey of a 70 year old Social Entrepreneur and included as one of the 20 social entrepreneurs in the book "I have a dream" by Rashmi Bhansal.

With almost four decades in the industry, Mr. Mukundan brings with him strong networks with small-scale entrepreneurs, governmental and non-governmental agencies associated with small-scale enterprises.

Past Hony. General Secretary – TANSTIA - The Apex organization of State level Small and Tiny Industries in Tamil Nadu, India.
Past Chairman – AIMO (TNSB) - A Forum of Manufacturers of Small, Medium and Large Industries.
Chairman, Rural Energy Cell – ENFUSE - A Service Organisation dedicated to Energy Conservation.
Past Member – Governing Council – TANSTIA-FNF SERVICE CENTRE - An organization dedicated to supporting service to Small Industries.
Chairman – Policy and Program – FASII. Apex organization for all India small enterprises
Vice President FESLA (All India Federation of Associations of Stoves, Lanterns and Allied Products) - The Apex body of manufacturers of Stove / Burners.
Director – RURAL INNOVATION NETWORK. An NGO involved in incubating Rural innovators).
Director of SIPPO Ltd (Small Industries Product Promotion Ltd. An NGO involved in market promotion of products made by small scale industries.
Represents industry in many committees constituted by both State and Central Government.
Has experience in organizing industry related programmes like Seminars, Training Programmes and Industrial Exhibitions such as Ideal Home Exhibition, Ind-Expo, Tech 2000
Guest Faculty to Educational Institutions.
Has been regularly invited to participate in discussions and debates on Television and print media.

Kerosene Savings Test Procedure

2008-03-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

With Kerosene conservation being a big promise of Servals’ flagship products – Venus burners and Servals Stoves, We thought it would be useful to put up the test procedure that we follow to find out the kerosene consumed in a kerosene stove.

We follow a simple test procedure. This test helps to find out the kerosene consumed for various kerosene stoves/burners - under identical conditions.

Here is the test procedure.

Kerosene Saving Test

Equipment Used : Date:
Tested With :
Pr. Maintained at :

a) Weight in Kg. of stove after lighting of stove up to 5 minutes :

b) Final weight in Kg of stove :

c) Weight in Kg of water……………………………………….. :

d) Initial Temperature of water in degree centigrade…………... :

e) Time in minutes taken to heat water to 90 degree Centigrade :

f) Fuel consumed in Kg………………………………………… :

g) Fuel consumed in Kg in one hour :

Note :

All stoves/burners should be tested in identical conditions.
Weighing machine used should have an accuracy of upto 1 gram.
There should not be too much variation in “ Fuel consumed in Kg in one hour “.
“Fuel consumed in Kg “ with different stoves/burners shows which stove/burner consumes less kerosene.

The Servals Value Proposition

2008-03-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

I want to articulate the Servals value proposition – the social and environmental dimensions of our business approach. We derive a lot of pride and joy in the “value” we create and add to the world we touch.

I. As such, the overriding need that we are seeking to address is the enhancement in the quality of life of the four billion strong BOP. We are seeking to do this by finding energy solutions for their cooking and lighting requirements – perhaps the two most defining aspects of their quality of life. We are in pursuit of energy solutions that subscribe to the following criteria.

• It must be clean. Reduction of indoor air pollution is a must because we are aware of how it contributes to their health.
• It must be green. Reducing the carbon footprint is a must because we are aware of the ramifications of greenhouse gas emissions.
• It must be affordable. Reducing the spending on cooking/lighting fuel is a must because we believe lives will be better when there is more household savings.
• It must be sustainable. Sustainability and reducing energy dependence on factors that are ‘outside the local community’ is a big part of Servals’ long term vision.

II. We believe our products reduce the carbon footprint of cooking stoves. They reduce the net addition of CO2 into the atmosphere. Apparently cooking stoves contribute 18% to the rise of CO2. We believe our products play a responsible role in mitigating this global problem.

• Burners: Reduce carbon emission to the order of 44 kg of CO2 per burner per annum. (about 20% saving compared to other burners)

• Stoves: Compared to normal stoves (Thermal Efficiency of 50% - 55%), our stoves contribute a minimum of 5% (Thermal Efficiency of 60% - 65%) improvement in fuel use efficiency.

• TLUD wood stoves: Early to measure the impact but has high potential. Servals is in the initial stages of designing an experiment among users in a village called Koothambakkam (Tamil Nadu, India) to estimate the impact of biochar on agricultural land fertility. Biochar is where the charcoal, which is a residue in the stoves, is put into the soil for improving fertility.

• Plant Oil Stoves/Lamps: Their impact has not yet been quantified because the products are awaiting market readiness. While its potential is high, the innovations can be leveraged only if there is availability of plant oil.

III. We believe we improve the lives of the customers by helping them reduce their expenditure on cooking fuels, thus increasing their household income.

• It is estimated that there is a saving of INR 900 per annum per household just by using Servals burners.

• It is estimated that each entrepreneur will be able to make approximately INR 20 per burner sold by him. Servals also believes that with its long-term vision of energy entrepreneurs, extreme hunger and poverty can be alleviated at least among some segments of the BOP.

IV. We believe we help address the global and social problem of energy conservation by encouraging the usage of alternate, renewable energy sources with our vision, plan and progress on wood stoves, plant oil stoves/ lamps. Read more...

V. We believe we focus on ushering in Rural Economic Independence especially for people below poverty line by adopting a business model that is based on social entrepreneurship. We are building a low-capital model that uses NGO’s (Non Governmental Organization) and SHGs (Self Help Groups) as channel partners both in production and marketing.

VI. We believe we focus on creating rural energy independence with our vision for rural energy entrepreneurs. We believe that this will make communities less vulnerable to fluctuations in price and availability of traditional fuels. Read more...

Read about our social metrics analysis here

Question And Comment Form

2008-03-20T09:45:00.001-07:00

Question And Comment Formgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Servals Automation - Vision,Mission,Purpose

2008-03-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Our Vision

Bringing appropriate technology to the ‘bottom of the pyramid’

to enhance their quality of life

Our Mission

Our Mission is to create to sustainable business organization that contributes to poverty alleviation in the areas of energy conservation and water management

Our Values

We will achieve our mission with a strong commitment to:

Appropriate technology focused on native and rural technology that is scalable and sustainable
Excellence focused on world-class standards
Innovation focused on user-friendliness and affordability
Social responsibility focused on encouraging employment generation
Responsible Corporate citizenship focused on being proactive to environment, health and safety considerations. Read about how our products reduce carbon footprint..

One of India’s biggest Socio-Economic-National Problems

Over Rs. 4500 Crores worth of kerosene is being imported every year
Nearly 15% of the Indian population belonging to “bottom of pyramid”
Crores of poor families in developing countries use kerosene for their daily cooking purpose.

Kerosene is scarce and imported. In spite of Government intervention in distributing kerosene through Fair price shops, kerosene price in open market is very high and poor families spend considerable portion of their monthly budget in buying kerosene. An average family of four uses every month minimum of 6 – 8 liter of kerosene spending over Rs. 150 to 200 per month.

Servals’ Social Entrepreneurial Objectives

Servals wanted to bring about a change in the life of these poor families.

As a first step, Servals wanted to introduce conservation in the use of kerosene.
As a next step, they want to introduce a stove which will eliminate the use of kerosene and use Plant Oil (renewable energy source which is extracted from trees grown in rural area).
This, Servals feels will usher rural energy independence.

Servals’ contribution to the Social, Economic and National Problems

➢ Servals manufactures Venus Kerosene Burner.

They are patented design and on trials by various technical institutions, found to have 65.4% Thermal Efficiency against mandatory requirement of 55% by ISI.
This offers 30% savings in kerosene consumption compared to burners available in the market.

➢ Servals are new engaged in developing Plant Oil Stove

which will use plant oil like jetropha, pungama etc., instead of kerosene.
They are assisted, in these efforts, by international institutions like IIT-Chennai, L-Ramp and Rockefeller Foundation USA.
This product will be, perhaps, first of its kind in the world
and has an international market as most developing countries are eager to switch over to plant oil which is a renewable energy source instead of kerosene.

We invite companies and Individuals sharing our vision and are looking forward to brainstorming new ideas , concepts and investment opportunities. We would like to act as a foundation for budding entrepreneurs/technopreneurs with business plans/ideas sharing our vision

Contact Us

Write to us by clicking here

5/1, (UPSTAIRS)
Balaji Nagar 1st Street,
Eekatuthangal
CHENNAI – 600 097

PHONE : 64577181 – 64577182
FAX : 044 - 45540339
E-MAIL : saplmds@gmail.com; mukundanpa@gmail.com

Servals Automation - Designing a Plant Oil Stove

2008-03-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

At Servals our dream is to design a stove that works on 100% Plant Oil. having designed the Kerosene burner that contributes to the cause of kerosene consumption, our next big goal is to totally eliminate the use of kerosene itself.

This would be a first-of-its-kind in the world. It has international ramifications too because all developing countries would benefit from this.

The product is designed to use unrefined vegetable oil from jatropha seeds. Jatropha is easily available but there’s no suitable stove to use its oil for domestic purposes.

So far we have designed a prototype. We collaborated with Delft University, Netherlands to design the prototype. Read here about the Hindu coverage of the Plant Oil Stove prototype.

We are now working on further refinement of the design. The current design burns for 2 hours and then tends to clog up with carbon deposits. We are working towards making it run for 10 hours continuously. Rockerfeller foundation, under their innocentive porgram are helping us with this problem solving.

Besides providing a clean and alternate fuel source, we also think the whole concept of plant oil usage will open up avenues for creating what I would like to call - the "rural energy entrepreneur". This concept will generate job opportunities among the rural masses by roping them in to crush jatropha seeds and produce oil.

Write to us here. We would greatly benefit from your thoughts, knowledge and information.

Venus Energy Efficient Kerosene Burners

2008-03-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce Servals' flagship product here - "Venus Energy Efficient Kerosene Burners". Our patented burners is our first contribution towards energy independence. It addresses an economic and global priority - conservation in the use of kerosene, a fossil fuel.

With millions of people below the poverty line in the developing countries, using kerosene for their daily cooking and lighting purposes, and kerosene being a fossil fuel, with all the attendant problems such as procurement, affordability, indoor air pollution, we wanted to bring about an improvement in the “kerosene consumption landscape”. Therefore as a first step, we have introduced a product that contributes to conservation in the use of kerosene.

Designed, developed and patented by Servals, Venus burners are now widely used all over India due to its design and user benefits. In fact, Servals is the single largest producer of kerosene burners in India with a market share of about 7%.

I give below some key highlights of our kerosene burners:

A uniquely designed kerosene burner that has established a substantial saving in kerosene consumption because of its better combustion and thermal efficiency. Venus burners have a unique single tube design, which avoids welding of pressure parts in the heat zone of the burner.

Our copper/brass burners, on trials by various technical institutions have been found to have upto 65.4% Thermal Efficiency against the mandatory requirement of 55% by ISI.

Our mild steel burners also register better thermal efficiency compared to all other burner designs in the market.
The Bureau of Indian Standards wanted to adopt the Servals burner as a standard benchmark for all other similar type burners in India.

With the “Venus” burners fitted on the “Servals Kerosene Saving Stove” there is a 30% kerosene saving. The key factor that has contributed to this high saving is the fuel efficiency of the Venus burner itself, combined with the stove design of Servals that optimizes various stove parameters.

Tests have proven that the Venus burner alone saves around 5 % kerosene compared to some other good burners in the market. The saving is around 15 % when compared to ordinary burners. Read here about a simple “ Kerosene saving test format “ …

This product has been described as “a boon to millions of poor families in India” by Anna University, Chennai, India.

They can be fitted on any standard Kerosene stove. They have earned the acceptance of OEM’s (Stove Manufactures) in various parts of the country.

Social Impact of “Venus” Burners

It is a "low carbon initiative". The “Venus” burners reduce the net addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Read more.

The single tube design of Venus burners is safer compared to other burners in the market which have welded joints in the heat zone of the burner. Welded joints in a burner can sometimes fail due to the intense heat in the heat zone.

Because of its better “combustion efficiency”, Venus burners reduces harmful emissions. This means lesser indoor air pollution - better working and living conditions for the family.

Because Venus burners use lesser kerosene, the monthly fuel expense of a household goes down when they use Venus burners. The saving in kerosene consumption depends on what burner they would use otherwise. But considering that the Venus burners save at least 5% kerosene compared to the other good burners in the market, the minimum saving itself is estimated to be substantial. This is a product that can save enough to pay for itself.

Given Servals’ social enterprise based business model, it is estimated that each entrepreneur will be able to make approximately INR 20 - 25 per burner sold by him.

rural energy products, energy saving device,kerosene cooking stove, cooking stove, kerosene, kerosene burner, energy efficiency, fuel efficient

Servals Automation Pvt Ltd - Company Overview

2008-03-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Who are we

SERVALS AUTOMATION (P) LTD (Servals) is the name of the venture.

It is part of the SERVALS Group which has a history of nearly 40 years in industrial marketing.

Servals has been designed as a Social Enterprise and is engaged in the manufacture of socially relevant products, focused primarily on providing clean, green, affordable and indeed sustainable energy for cooking and lighting purposes.

The products of Servals include Energy Efficient Kerosene Burners and Kerosene Stoves. They have also designed and perfected the prototypes for Plant Oil Stoves, Hybrid Kerosene Stoves using straight vegetable oil, TLUD Wood stoves and Plant Oil Lamps.

Some of our more recent notable achievements include - winning the Sankalp 2010 award in the Clean Energy Sector, being nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate for 2011 and being identified by InfoDev as one of the 8 companies leading the technology innovation for climate change

Read More..

Our Mission

We are a commercial organization working “for profit” with a social outlook.

“To bring appropriate technology
to the “bottom of pyramid” to
enhance quality of their life”

Read more about our Value proposition

Our Purpose

We address the global social problem of energy conservation
by encouraging the usage of alternate and renewable energy sources
with a focus on ushering in Rural Economic Independence
especially for people below poverty line in developing countries

What we do...

VENUS Energy Efficient Kerosene Burners and Kerosene Stoves

A patented product
Offering a 30% savings in Kerosene consumption when used on Servals Kerosene Stoves
Is the single largest manufacturer of Kerosene burners in India with a market share of about 7%

SERVALS Plant Oil Stove and Lamps

Enables the use of locally available non-edible plant oil instead of Kerosene
A breakthrough technology that uses plant oil as cooking and lighting fuel.
‘first-of-its-kind’ in the world initiative, this endeavor’s ultimate mission is to promote Rural Energy Independence.
Prototypes ready. Being field tested currently.

Toppling Safe Stove: Special statutory requirement in South Africa. Design getting patented in South Africa.

Kero-Assisted Plant Oil Stove (Hybrid): Twin tank version ready. Worked with Rockerfeller Foundation (Innocentive) for design fine-tuning. The Hybrid stoves were recently tested in Kenya and found to be performing well.

TLUD Gasifier Wood Stove: These wood stoves can accept waste materials like twigs, dry grass, husks etc without felling trees. The gasifier technology also makes the process carbon neutral. With Servals’ recent design enhancements, these stoves have become more user friendly.

Varsha Rain Gun: Redesigned by IIT, Chennai under the Ru-Tag Scheme of the Government of India. Currently used in irrigation. Alternative applications in dust abatement being piloted.

Servals' long term energy plan: SAPL dreams of an energy terrain where all the energy for a household is produced and bought within the local community itself. Working on creating “rural energy entrepreneurs”; spawning a stream of sustainable income generating activities.

Key Stakeholders

➢ Key Management

Mr. P. Mukundan - Managing Director (View Complete profile)

➢ Venture Capital Partners (49% equity)

AAVISHKAAR Micro-Venture Capital Fund (http://www.aavishkaar.org/)
ERM - Environmental Resources Management
GBF - Grassroots Business Fund

➢ Mentors

Villgro - (NGO) (http://villgro.org/)
Social Impact Inc. ( http://www.social-impact.org/ )

➢ Funding Support

L-RAMP (joint venture of IIT – Chennai & RIN) http://www.lramp.org/
Rockefeller foundation, US (www.innocentive.com)
Social-Impact INR (http://www.social-impact.org) Support for Technology solution

Our Business Model

We augment our production resources by collaborating with NGOs. We have a successful model with “Trust for Village Awareness” at Koothambakkam
We work with NGOs to offer Income Generation Activities;We use Self Help Groups as grass root level marketing channel

Key Awards and Recognition

For the Enterprise:

Winner of the Sankalp 2010 award in the Clean Energy Sector - Established Enterprise Category
Nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate for 2011.
One of the 8 companies identified by InfoDev (a program of the World Bank) as leading the technological innovation for climate change
Identified by Cornell University, US as a case example in their Sustainable Global Enterprise Project.
Winner of the L-Ramp Innovation Award for "Award of Excellence - Enterprise Category – 2007”.
Distributor of stoves and burners for the Tsunami affected victims (Tamil Nadu) ; work commended by NSIC

For its products:

Plant Oil Stove - included as "Social Innovation" in the book "Break through" published by CII
2005 Award ‘Most Fuel Efficient Stove’ category by the PASASA (Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa), promoted by leading global petroleum companies such as Shell and British Petroleum
Venus burner - Certified as the most fuel efficient burner in the market with a thermal efficiency in excess of 63% as compared to 55% that was generally accepted as being very good
The BIS wanted to adopt the Servals burner as a standard benchmark for all other similar type burners in India.
Certification from Anna University, describing the product as " Boon to Common Man"

Write to us by clicking here

➢ We'd like to hear from you :

Net-working with Social Entrepreneurs
Global Contacts to carry forward the message of energy conservation and renewable energy to bring in “Cheer to millions of people below the poverty line”
We invite companies and Individuals sharing our vision and are looking forward to brainstorming new ideas, concepts and investment opportunities.
We would like to act as a foundation for budding entrepreneurs/technopreneurs with business plans/ideas sharing our vision

SERVALS AUTOMATION PVT LTD
5/1, (UPSTAIRS)
Balaji Nagar 1st Street,
Eekatuthangal
CHENNAI – 600 097

PHONE : 64577181 – 64577182
FAX : 044 - 45540339
E-MAIL : saplmds@gmail.com; mukundanpa@gmail.com

rural energy products, energy saving device,conservation of water, social entrepreneur, irrigation systems, irrigation equipment, sprinkler, sprinkler systems, cooking stoves, renewable energy, alternative fuel, vegetable oil, energy efficiency, wood stove,Straight Vegetable Oil,biofuel,gasifier,vineet rai, aavishkar,
fuel efficient