<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Our testing shows that cooking bands boil water with 42% less wood than a three stone cookstove with a rock bed.  Remember that rock beds make three stone cookstoves a third more efficient and reduce smoke by more than half.  <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082620302775">Here is that article</a>.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style=""><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-82536a3c-7fff-5dcb-60d5-2fe5a63e76d7" style=""><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">THREE STONE W ROCK BED</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">5 litres of water</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Time at which water boiled: 23 minutes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Fuel used: 1.2kg.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:small;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:159px;height:89px"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_euPbO3r0c5l3KczRAbIKflOnO5dIQ2J3s7yldeS8TOfgQszTdpnZYowgJ6NRSuAmR9b3_TPBg3RrK5GH8Qjf2mXq_oZJYy8pGHcb7Q-McDdA7RbtJTLUjkLti1KnSh1L0i3q0Zz7rJkgGChFA0mEXzKSDt0I8518haxVIay7oD1iVg5JtqptU3iNg" width="159" height="89" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">BAND</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">5 litres of water.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Time at which water boiled: 15 minutes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Fuel used: 700g.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Much less smoky than three stone with rock bed</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size:small;line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:157px;height:88px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VksVVTzfJWB0M5KnWZ6DyJWnFuAjElHzJaPZpTknVT9_S6IiNG0qnnlqdBQf-gllKBmb9MxPxZL3nGARDpoFTTbaTRvYqe-7Or5Txm50R4cuAjIV1rl2__Dv54zN_AM4vcl1PPrFU1WO_RsKroXamkWc_O40Z3ipJZ59cNpKb_UHbYKSjSzw9HrPVA" width="157" height="88" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Cooking bands are also faster and less smoky.  They do not require tending.  Elephant grass stalks, maize stalks, bamboo and cassava stems can be used in bands.  Biochar can be made.  A pair of bands (20 cm) costs around 1 USD.  Bands with a 25 cm diameter work well in school kitchens.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">I hope that others can test further.  I worry that my guys may bring bias into their testing.  And they have no training on testing.  (Thanks to Norm Baker who intends to test bands with maize stalks.)</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Kevin McLean<div>Sun24.org</div></div></div></div></div>