[Stoves] Geopolymer, ceramic like cookstoves

[T Hastings]

Hi All,
I've been reading this list for a while and thought it was about time I
introduced myself and the work I have been doing.

I am Thomas Hastings from Australia and have been doing the
citizen-scientist and design, prototyping and testing work that it seems
many people are doing to help reduce emissions and improve the life and
health for the billions who cook with solid fuels.

My background is in Industrial Design and my "day job" is design and
managing the production of retail displays. My passion is for cookstoves
and the geopolymer material I have been developing.

As I designer, I know how much the cost of material in today's manufacture
with super low labour costs (well relative to Australian labour costs)
affects the end cost of production.

FeCrAl alloys or stainless steels are expensive and always will be. They
can only be produced in capital intensive factories and the pricing is
mature and well developed.

I have pursued a material class that could be, in volume, produced at a
cost comparable to cement. There is a lot of work going on to develop
Geopolymer as a replacement for OPC in building construction. It is very
close nowe, its out of the lab and buildings have been made.

The material developed by Unity Stove is a bit different to but similar to
these Geopolymer construction materials. It does perform exceptionally well
in cookstoves and does not crumble like cement. It can be moulded easily
and unlike fired ceramics, reinforcing and insulating materials can be
incorporated.

We have made prototypes stoves to show how a stove could be made. Whilst
the Unity Charcoal Stove you will see works very well, the Unity Stove
concept is actually a material and method for making stoves using low cost
tooling to many designs.

Whilst I could talk about this for another twenty pages it may be best if
you have a look at some videos for a quick into. Hopefully you will see
that high performance stoves can be made locally and at minimal cost

Thank you,

Thomas Hastings

2 minute introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wth9cwc3_Mc


15 minute video WBT 4.2.3 Test using the Unity Charcoal CO5 stove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3GN0HVMXG4&list=UU3kB6NKWunKR-dcZb3CRYGg
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