[Stoves] Rotary project question

Mon Nov 27 08:29:55 CST 2023

Hi Paul, 

Here my thoughts: I have several issues with this stove:

1)  the fuel: it is using charcoal and not firewood. Of course charcoal has less particulate smoke emissions than firewood, but on the primary fuel use efficiency it is worse as you lose a lot of firewood (at least half of the primary energy)  in the process of making the charcoal in the first place. 

2) the capacity: I wonder for how many students they cater at that school, because I dont see this stove suitable for large pots beyond 20 litres capacity that you would expect a school would need. I have seen really large pots up to 600 (six hundred!) litres being used in schools in Uganda, so this stove here is a mere household size stove and not particularly useful for schools.

3) the fuel savings: they are not spectacularly good but within the range of any well-designed and properly executed institutional firewood stove that should save between 66-80% of firewood compared to an open fire. So that is not the big selling point. 

4) the cost: it seems very steep. For that budget Ken Steel Engineering in Malawi would probably supply you 50 firewood stoves including a matching 50-100 l stainless steel pot.

5) in line with the cost is the complication of the solar panels and batteries. I also don’t think that the place to store the battery next to the hot baking oven will do the lifespan of the battery any good. 

Just my five cents

Christa Roth 
stoves at foodandfuel.info

Am 27.11.2023 um 15:57 schrieb Paul Arveson <paularveson at gmail.com>:

I received this from a friend and would appreciate your comments:

"I received the email below from a Rotary member in Ithaca New York.  She has put together an $11,620 project (attached) to pay for Vron Engineering of Kampala, Uganda, to build four fuel-efficient stoves at schools in Gulu, Uganda, enhanced with a PV-powered fan to regulate the cooking temperature.  Vron Engineering claims their unit reduces firewood or charcoal use by 80%.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SyWCc-EGis <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SyWCc-EGis>.  The Rotary presentation is very professional, but my unscientific mind is skeptical.  I know that clean cookstoves reduce firewood use, but it seems doubtful that adding a PV panel, battery and fan would further reduce fuel use.  And without the PV panel, it seems excessive to spend $11,000 to demonstrate that clean cookstoves (with stovepipes) actually save fuel—something everyone already knows.  Your thoughts?"

Paul Arveson

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