Everyone here at MCC/MCA Mongolia is getting back to work after returning from their week-long Naadam celebrations and vacations. Naadam is Mongolia's biggest holiday, involving competitions in the fields of archery, horse-racing, and wrestling, and this year UB played host another successful and festive Naadam.
Prior to Naadam, I got the chance to travel to the 12th Khoroo of the Chingeltei district in UB in order to visit one of the Energy and Environment Project's product distribution centers and talk to some ger district residents who have benefited from the fuel-efficient products. The center has distributed ger insulators, fuel-efficient stoves, and fuel-efficient vestibules. In addition, the EEP project has worked with UNDP to help ger district residents fund and build energy-efficient homes. Each of the products and projects are aiming to combat the rising levels of air pollution in UB, while also making heating more affordable for ger district residents. We visited people who have benefited from each of the Energy and Environment project's products. Here are their stories:
We first visited Ms. Khandkhuu, who was forced to sell all of her families belongings when her son fell ill. After he recovered, they bought a ger insulator and a fuel-efficient vestibule from their khoroo’s product center. Their resulting savings in fuel, from from 4-5 tonnes to only 2 per year, gave them enough extra savings to buy a new television and new, better wood for their ger’s frame. B. Khandkhuu said that her family is planning to invest in a fuel-efficient stove after Naadam and before the weather turns cold and said she was worried about the rising levels of pollution in Ulaanbaatar. The savings they receive from the increased efficiency of these products provides further incentives She expressed her gratitude toward the Energy and Environment project’s work and stated that she hopes others in Ulaanbaatar will follow suit and buy more environmentally-friendly products.
We then visited a fuel-efficient home in the 12th Khoroo. Ms. Tsendsuren purchased a fuel-efficient home for her family as a part of a cooperative arrangement between UNDP and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Before this home, she had always lived in gers. In total, she was given 9 million TMN in financial assistance from the cooperating partners, one of which is the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which enabled her to afford the newly built house. The new home has hot and cold running water, uses a fraction of the fuel she previously used in heating, and gives her enough space to work from home, where she has started a business making Mongolian traditional clothing.
Finally, we visited Mr. Magsarjav, a Mongolian film star who has been using one of the Energy and Environment project’s fuel-efficient stoves longer than anyone else in Mongolia. He claims he now can fill it with fuel, go to sleep, and his house stays warm until morning, allowing him to sleep through the night and, according to B. Magsarjav, making his neighbors very envious. He boasted that his neighbors did not believe how little fuel he had to use or how little smoke was emitted until he brought them to his house and let them see it for themselves.
The visits were a great way to see the EEP's progress and success in action. New product centers are being opened to widen the distribution of these products to more residents of Ulaanbaatar, and it is hoped that this winter will see 60,000 new fuel-efficient stoves being sold to Mongolian residents.
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