[Stoves] MUST CHARCOAL BE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

[Kevin]

Dear AD

I find your observations about fuel preparation very interesting. I think they are very important in understanding the significance of one of the obstacles to fuel preparation for stove systyems.

In an extreme Poverty Economy, such as exists for very poor people who are struggling to attain the basic essentials of life, about the only asset and resource these people have is time and their labour. 

Stickwood can be burned directly in a Rocket type stove. with no further preparation. Or, it can be burned in a box type stove by cutting or breaking to length. However, there is considerable extra preparation to reduce fuel size to the degree required for a TLUD.

 Does this extra preparation effort act as an obstacle to more widespread use of the TLUD Stove? Under what circumstances would this extra preparation effort be justified?

Best wishes,

Kevin


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Anand Karve 
  To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves 
  Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 11:59 PM
  Subject: Re: [Stoves] MUST CHARCOAL BE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?





    Dear Otto,
  from the point of view of chopping wood into small pieces, we found bamboo to be an ideal type of wood. It is very easy to split bamboo vertically into strips of 2 to 3 cm width, and once the bamboo has been split, one can break the strips into pieces about 10 to 15 cm long, even with bare hands. 
  Yours
  A.D.Karve
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Otto Formo 
      To: Kevin ; Otto Formo ; Discussion of biomass cooking stoves 
      Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 7:01 AM
      Subject: SV: [Stoves] MUST CHARCOAL BE A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

      Any type of fuel need some kind of refinement or preparation, dont forgt that.
      This goes for charcoal and fuel for the TLUD`s as well.
      I would not say that cutting branches with a machete is "highly" prepared fuel.

      # Certainly, it is a very simple task to chop smaller wood with a machette. A simple "fuel chopper" can do this very easily also. However, the labor for chopping is excessive, and creates much extra work for the Cook or her/his helpers. With a "Whole Body Machine", (eg, a treadmill or a "Walking Pump") an adult in good shape can deliver a maximum of about 1/5 of a Horsepower on a sustained basis. (5 people equals a 1 HP engine) On the other hand, a machette, operated by one arm, can perhaps deliver .01 to .05 HP (20 to 100 people on machettes equals a 1 HP engine) Things become very different when waste products, such as fruit pits, screened mill waste, etc are available. The labor content is greatly reduced, and the only other step required is adequate drying. The TLUD can thus be a superb tool for efficiently burning such a fuel, that would otherwise be difficult to burn effectively. Rocket style stoves need "stickwood", that can be burned directly with minimum processing. Both stove systems are very good for "the right fuel", but are very bad when fed the wrong fuel.




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