[Stoves] One cent solutions or solutions worth their weight in gold
Frank Shields
frank at compostlab.com
Mon Jan 10 12:21:29 CST 2011
Dear Dean,
I think this is a great suggestion. And after we test the stove fuels
and determine the range 'worst to best' I can do some testing on them
here at the lab. Goal is to see if we can find simple test methods that
is able to measure the differences we see in the stove test. The next
step will be to verify by taking the same fuel and making physical
changes to it in verifying degrees, test it in a stove and plot the
results. Something like that.
Now we are on our way to characterize biomass fuels for individual
stoves. I can't do it without stove testing and, I think, I can help
you, Dean with providing lab testing.
Regards
Frank
Dean Still wrote:
> Dear Richard,
>
> When the TLUD has proper fuels it can burn very cleanly. So expertize
> will become more and more necessary to help design processed fuels
> that emit 90% less CO and PM in practice. Maybe we can make the focus
> of the next Summer Stove Camp "How to Make/Find Clean Burning Fuels
> for TLUDs"?
>
> All Best,
>
> Dean
>
> On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 2:47 PM, Richard Stanley
> <rstanley at legacyfound.org <mailto:rstanley at legacyfound.org>> wrote:
>
> Otto,
> Having introduced the briquettes with the godfather of the
> technology-- Dr Ben Bryant( U. Washington, Seattle, Washington) --
> in Haiti in 2001, and subsequently having worked with several
> Haitian groups online to date, I have to say that the resources
> are there in-country. They are even more plentiful now with all
> the foreign aid packaging/paper and general waste generated as a
> result.
>
> Emergency relief, for all its obvious and good intentions not
> withstanding...I'm sure that we all agree that Haiti's solution in
> the long run, lies in meaningful employment, not aid handouts.
> It is key to focus on that aspect and not more distribution of
> pre packaged solutions that determines long term stability of not
> only the environment but the population and the politics as well.
>
> Having said that, ex president Clinton's observed "one cent
> solution" is apparently turning out to be a good deal more costly
> than that, eh?
>
> That the producers are using trash (as opposed to agro residues
> and carboniferous commercial processing wastes) is an assured
> invitation for 1), substantial cost in sorting and/or 2), lots of
> smoke and stink and other things one does not want in a fire,
> esp., in a cookstove.
>
> Your notes about the briquettes thermal performance though,
> suggest a much deeper problem in the way the project was planned
> and organised in the first place.
>
> Let me back up a bit here for some explanation of my reasoning:
> There are two levels of briquetting:
> The first is the quick-fix operation which sees an easy and quick
> entry, with a great photo op and a big development splash in the
> media..
> Usually too, there is a great focus on the pressing and the type
> of press used but really pressing has little to do with quality of
> the final product at least in comparison to the processing of the
> biomass that preceeds it. But processing is not the sexy part for
> big splash development: Seeing briquettes pop out of the mold is !
> Now quick fix briquetting will usually continue as long as the
> media is there and/or political / donor / private sector subsides
> are there to support production. It gains lots of attention
> because of the very NOTION of the idea, (or the name of the donor
> involved), but not necessarily because of its substance in terms
> of practical self sustaining impact in the long run...In-depth
> thinking of the conseqences of the aid is not a priority.. It is
> where, several months into a project, and generally months even
> years after training, one learns about poor quality briquettes and
> cost issues, frankly.
>
> Briquetting at level 202 is a different story:
> It involves careful attention to the would be producer and their
> awareness of what it is they will be doing--for whom and for what.
> Ie., what impact it will have, not only on their environment but
> -of far more immediate consequence-what impact the project will
> have on their own economic and socal survival.
> The planning of such a project also focuses first on the
> marketability of the product..the more ususal production costing,
> pricing, packaging, the barriers and opportunities present in the
> market place.
> Planning also has lots to do with assessment of resources &
> agoresidue management, (which is to say something much beyond just
> use of paper). It includes selection and pretesting, chopping,
> moistening, partially decomposing-- then recombining with same or
> other biomass-- to create unique fuels-- tailored to the local
> marketplace. Some for example may have aromas traditionally used
> for health or just ambiance. In most all cases they will be
> blended according to the cooking needs of the local market..
>
> And of course there is lots of thought about how the briquettes
> will be used: What about the stove ( or for that matter, no
> stove three stone or other burning "appliance") . What (if any)
> modifications would have to be made to optimise performance.
>
> Thats briquetting 202 and you only find that kind of skill where
> the product is being privately produced and the seller depends up
> on the sale of it and their sustained local credibility for their
> living..Its basically the typical marketplace and/or local
> community environment you find in most of the third world. In
> using the term private enterprise, I use it loosely to include
> conventional private enterprise as well as community or specific
> interest group-based enterprises. All of these can work equally
> well --as long as they are not subsidised or externally
> steam-rolled by politics or institutional interests and left alone
> to be working in direct response to their local market. The market
> too can also be an institution, a clinic, a hospital school or
> the literal commercial market, as along as the same acountability
> , at risk -- at reward elements are at play.
> With now abou 15 years in the game are really quite confident
> that biquettes can work and work quite well under a wide variety
> of resource conditions, cultures and applications. Therefore where
> briquettes are "discovered to smoke or not provide much heat" or
> "cost too much" the question therefore has to be asked, "where
> and how were they trained, under what specific circumstances"?
>
> By comparison to our wood, much less pellet fuel ...A well made
> briquette is in fact, be a designer fuel: It is offers far greater
> variability of content and application. I therefore wonder really,
> who is dealing in something more inferior here...
>
> As to moisture content, agreed that we are not in Norway but we
> know a bit about seasoning wood too. (Maybe many of your cousins,
> like many other good Scandanavians taught us about that, here in
> the pacific northwest ! The briquette is dried to ambient
> moisture, whatever that is. It is both highly permeable and porus,
> in comparison to wood. It can be bone dried from ambient moisture
> in a few minutes by hanging alongside the stove exterior wall or
> near it, before insertion== something many are finding very good
> results with, in fact..The measure of dryness is again something
> one also learns pretty much onsite, in Briquetting 202..
>
> One cent solutions may come and go...but the quality of a truely
> embedded process is worth its weight in gold.
>
> I would warmly invite you to the next briquette producers workshop
> like the one we just hosted in Arusha Tanzania, to see for
> yourself what I am talking about. We can send you a report of that
> conference if you or anybody reading this is interested...The task
> for us now is not how to improve their own skills ( I doubt if we
> could) but rather how to get these real producer and trainers to
> communicate with each other. Hang on and enjoy the ride, as we
> have lots to learn from the real producers and users and trainers,
> in the process.
>
> All the best Otto,
> Sorry to sound like a preacher on this, especially to someone who
> could just as easily preach to me through his own unique experience .
>
> Richard Stanley
> www.legacyfound.org <http://www.legacyfound.org>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 7, 2011, at 12:29 AM, Otto Formo wrote:
>
> > Dear all and Richard,
> > I was told that Nataniel in World Stove manage to get hold of
> some pellets from Georgia and shipped to Haiti?!
> > Thats a total different story, here we are talking about a
> disaster sone and the forestcover on Haiti is close to 2% of its
> originally.
> > The need of suitable biomass fuel for households was also in an
> emergency phase, and still are, I belive...............
> >
> > What I also have heard from Haiti, is that Clinton`s "One Cent
> Solution" briquettes or pucks has not been a success story due to
> the fact of its low energy content and diffyculty to ignite.
> > Iam not surprised, because I have allways been wondering how you
> can add water into a biomass and later sundry it to become an
> efficient fuel.
> > In the cold winters of Norway we can realy FEEL the difference
> of good and bad firewood, either dry, 10% density or raw, from the
> heat transfer of the stove.
> >
> > About Jean`s question:
> > This is in AFRICA and costs is not an issue here and the
> agriwaste are avaiable according to my knowledge of english as my
> second or even third language.
> > To Jean`s further question about.....or both?:
> > I would just say like Paal:
> > Stoves and fuel are linked together...........
> > Just like the Mbawula and charcoal in Zambia.
> >
> > Why give the people of the developing world a "second hand"
> solution, when it can be "solved permanently"?
> >
> > Look at the cellphone industry...............
> >
> > We are going to Sweden, after our visit to Washington next week,
> to see a GEK gasifier to be assembled at the University of
> Uppsdala and find out how it works on pellets.
> >
> > Otto
> >
> >> From: Richard Stanley [rstanley at legacyfound.org
> <mailto:rstanley at legacyfound.org>]
> >> Sent: 2011-01-06 23:40:06 MET
> >> To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
> [stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
> <mailto:stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>]
> >> Subject: Re: [Stoves] When to choose fuel saving stoves over
> briquettes?
> >>
> >> Jean,
> >> Perhaps they could get a donor to import pellets like they
> attempted in Haiti eh ?
> >>
> >> Less facetiously, do you mean to say that there is no
> agricultural residues: leaves, stalks, grasses, straws, fronds
> fens water based weeds etc, chaff husks etc. available ? As well
> are you saying that there are no bio-wastes from commercial
> processing of biomass: viz., sawdust, paper, cartonboard. If that
> is so, then you must be descibing a refugee situation because
> there could be little chance of sustained habitation otherwise.
> >> The needs of one human being in the tropica and at up to say
> 1500 meters can easily be met by 300 grams of such wastes or
> combinations of same.. 300 grams is abou one armful of loosely
> gathered collection of such material at ambient moisture content.
> Out theirya Applciations manual lays out a series of sustainable
> offtakes ( after soild amendment, tilth and even animal feed
> requirements are taken into consideration ---according to various
> land forms and land use patterns, from rural farmland, forest
> land, dry savannah, to even the urban setting...
> >> I would kindly ask where you are intending to set up the
> briquetting activity..Perhaps we or the hundreds we know of may
> know of someone who is already there producing briquettes who can
> train and equip your group. They ill also be best able to tell you
> whether or not it is feasible, with what resources..
> >>
> >> Kind regards,
> >>
> >> Richard Stanley
> >> www.legacyfound.org <http://www.legacyfound.org>
> >> NW Obamaland
> >>
> >> On Jan 6, 2011, at 12:15 PM, Jean Kim Chaix wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi, stovers.
> >>> Question: a community in Africa, where woodfuel is in short
> supply, is considering starting a briquette program. (The area
> does have access to ag waste for briquette-making.) If cost is not
> an issue, should the community invest in briquette making
> technology or try distributing high efficiency cookstoves? Or both?
> >>> Thanks in advance.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> J. Kim Chaix
> >>> CEO & Founder
> >>>
> >>> Green Spaces NYC
> >>> 394 Broadway, 5th fl.
> >>> New York, NY 10013
> >>> USA
> >>> (+1) 917.378.8670
> >>> http://charcoalproject.org
> >>>
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