[Stoves] Stove testing with and beyond the WBT

Thu Apr 4 20:40:56 CDT 2013

Dear Paul and Everyone

Thanks for devoting so much time to considering the tasks ahead and the
alternative paths forward. As you know from your travels we face a huge
variety of testing requirements in the field. It is my hope that we can
create an agreed scientific platform on which to perform a wide variety of
culturally relevant tests that provide normalised results. The Toolbox is a
collection of mathematical and cultural tools for measuring performance over
a wide range of conditions in diverse cultures. 

I am particularly thankful to Cecil Cook for the efforts contributed to
developing the social science tools about which we will hear a lot more in
the coming months. The cultural appropriateness of stoves is often
considered only after a technology has been 'invented'. Being relevant is a
major consideration to marketing campaigns. Sustainability is strongly
desired and being sustainable means being simultaneously an improvement and
desirable from cultural, economic and environmental points of view. It is by
definition a Triple Bottom Line adventure.

We will share as much as we can as and when contributors add to the Toolbox.
Although it is an inadequate description due to the fact it is brief, I have
attached a Powerpoint presentation giving some of the motivating factors for
creating the Stove Testing Toolbox and what can be expected from it.

Very briefly it intends to provide each tool with the purpose, the metrics,
the definitions and the presentation of results for conducting a single
testing element of any performance evaluation. While this is implicit in
many tests, this divides each task conceptually into discrete segments and
creates validated processes that normalises data in order to permit a wide
range of tests to give comparable results. It does not specify any tasks, it
specifies how a task of that type should be done to get a relevant and
correct output.

This is widely done in the fields of assessing engineering performance and
medical research into diseases and treatments. 

Regards

Crispin

Dear Stovers,

Since the GACC Forum in Cambodia, the topic of stove testing "problems and
opportunities" have led me to some thoughts to share, along with some
examples.  In the document I wrote:

I believe that a collection and combination of various tests will SERVE MUCH
BETTER the needs of the cookstove communities than will the overreliance on
the "standard  WBT", even when that WBT has eventually been corrected for
errors in calculation, and formally reviewed openly.

The attached document is for all to read and share with others, and it will
be placed on the   www.drtlud.com <http://www.drtlud.com>    and could be at
the Stoves website if Tom and Erin think it is worthy.

Paul

Paul S. Anderson, PhD  aka "Dr TLUD"
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu <mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>    Skype: paultlud
Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com <http://www.drtlud.com> 

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