[Stoves] thermoelectric cooking pot now available

Tue Dec 27 16:57:59 CST 2011

Not long ago the list was alerted to the pending commercialization of an electricity generating (via a thermoelectric module) cooking pot for the developing world - the Tellurex WorldPot - but I have not yet been able to prove that it is available for sale or testing.

But another one is TES NewEnergy's Hatsuden-Nabe, for sale in the U.S. here:
http://theepicenter.com/cgi/order.cgi?page=camping_hiking_and_backpacking_accessories.html&cart_id=%%cart_id%%

There are several videos there, and I recommend the folding biomass stove related one (pot demo starting at 3:20), since the pot specific one just demos the charging process using a boring propane camp stove.  But that one does monitor the output and show an interesting detail when they demonstrate an increase in power when additional (cold) water is added to the pot during "cooking", since that results in a greater temperature differential across the TEG.

The pot produces up to ~2 watts at 5 VDC, the only output connector is a USB one, and it costs $USD 250 - no mention of how much stove firepower it needs, but I imagine that it is related to the volume of water in the pot (but if too little is used then you are just producing electricity, not cooking food or sterilizing water?).  Expect an irreversible disaster if the pot ever boils dry, since solders that have typically been used in TEG modules melt not far above 200 C.

Details on experiences in the developing world is quite scarce at this point - I could only find preliminary information and promotional videos from Uganda and Haiti, where it is called Wonder Pot and the manufacturer seems to be responsible for these efforts:
http://micro-power.jimdo.com/
A 12 watt version is due out soon, three stone fire enabled phone charging and LED lighting are demonstrated in the videos (a fan assisted cook stove would be an interesting twist, requiring as little as ~1 watt), and no one is talking yet about how much additional biomass people might be tempted to use due to the addition of this new technology to their lives.  

Charlie

While I was roaming the web for details I came upon another a similar product:
https://www.thepowerpot.com/

that is not yet for sale.  It is rated at 8 watts and appears to target the modern backpackers, who might tend to use it with well behaved camping stoves.  

________________________________
 From: Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at gmail.com>
To: Stoves <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org> 
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 9:10 AM
Subject: [Stoves] Drinking straw that eliminates the need to cut any firewood at all

Dear Friends

This is a device that eliminates the need to boil water to sterilise it before drinking. I do not have figures handy for Kenya showing how much (if any) fuel is used purely for purifying drinking water, but were this approach to reduce the need for stoves and fuel it will have an impact on the natural environment and health in the household.

Regards
Crispin
+++++++++

LifeStraw: A Filtration System That Saves Millions of Lives and Dollars

By medGadget

Dec 21 2011, 4:02 PM ET 1

A cheap, easy to use, and highly effective tool, the LifeStraw is able to kill nearly 100 percent of the bacteria and
 viruses found in water

Here at Medgadget we cover the latest in high-tech medicine, so it is no surprise that many of the devices we profile help doctors save lives, but cost millions of dollars. That is due primarily to the fact that the developed world has overcome diseases and conditions, such as diarrhea and dysentery, that continue to ravage large swathes of the Third World. Yet cheap technological solutions exist that can save millions right now, and LifeStraw from Vestergaard Frandsen, is a perfect example. The Swiss company that makes it has been supplying mosquito nets to regions suffering from malaria and is now addressing diseases arising from dirty water with a device that purifies it at the point of consumption.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Elisabeth AnneMarie Wilhelm from Vestergaard Frandsen, who gave us an overview of the company's efforts. Because a lack of clean water -- and the infrastructure to supply it --
 is typically due to more structural issues within the affected nations, there is often no hope that water treatment plants are going to be built and pipes installed any time soon. And so for decades entire regions around the world have been resorting to boiling water using locally chopped wood as their only option of purification. Not only is this probably not very good for the environment, the amount of time and labor spent harvesting wood could be going into other tasks, like laying pipe for example.
The LifeStraw Family is a cheap, easy to use, and highly effective filtration system that will remove just about all pathogens (99.9999 percent of bacteria, 99.99 percent of viruses, and 99.9 percent of protozoan parasites) from water that is poured through it. The device requires no electricity and is a purely mechanical filter that relies on the weight of the water in the one-meter-tall column to perform the filtration. Because of the design of the
 device and, unlike the previous iteration, the fact that it does not use any chemicals for water treatment, it has been shown to work effectively for at least 18,000 liters (that's three years for a family of four), and possibly for a lot longer if proper regular cleaning using the blowback pump is performed. And unlike a multi-million dollar water treatment plant, the LifeStraw does this for about $25 and without the local government having to be competent or caring.

One current project that doesn't require any private charity or government assistance that revolves around the LifeStraw is Carbon for Water. Vestergaard Frandsen, a for-profit firm, has been able to distribute about four million LifeStraws throughout a province in Kenya by collecting funds via carbon credits that are traded in exchange for the saved carbon from all the firewood that would have been burned. Whatever your view on global warming and carbon credits, not having to have
 four million people burn firewood every day while improving their lives and their health is not a bad proposition.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/lifestraw-a-filtration-system-that-saves-millions-of-lives-and-dollars/250245/#.TvM9WyxWMk0.facebook

------------
Forwarded by Don Calkins who says
“He who believes himself spiritual proves he is not.”

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