[Gasification] [Stoves] The Ultimate Stove Test

[Thomas Reed]

Dear Ken, Naomi and All:

You are so right that our primary client is the few billion women 
cooking under minimal conditions.  (And for gasification, her husband 
who wants electricity.)

A major part of the problem for her is getting fuel.  She is conditioned 
to use sticks. 

The WoodGas stove can burn short twigs, but likes chunky fuels.  Many 
plants/trees produce great quantities of seeds/nuts which no one thinks 
of as a fuel.  I have been particularly impressed by using the 
eucalyptus nuts and palm nuts in our WoodGas stoves.  I can collect 
these for free at my son's home in Long Beach.  However, I am sure that 
there must be hundreds of similar species producing chunky fuels ideal 
for WoodGas Stoves.  I'm testing acorns now. 

My colleague Ed Burton in Willets, CA is producing a suite of machines 
to harvest "chunkettes", pieces of WeedFuel trees cut to 1 1/2 in long 
by 1/2-1/1/2 in diameter.  They will be ideal for both stoves and 
gasifiers.  (See http://www.edburtoncompany.com/   )
 
I hope some of you farflung stovers and gasifiers will suggest (and try) 
other species. 

Onward

TOM REED                      THE BIOMASS ENERGY FOUNDATION

naomi luckett wrote:
> Ken...
> Spoken like a true gentleman!
> If it don't cook right, I can get/afford the fuel...
> then it ain't gonna happen!!!
> When a woman has 6 people to feed...often more...
> lives in absolute/dire poverty...
> the last thing she will be considering is the carbon credits/national or
> global implementation /combustion/capability etc...
> she will be thinking how far do I have to walk to get fuel? how much will I
> have to carry? how much will it cost and how long will it last for???
>
> THE BIGGER PICTURE
>
> keep it in mind guys  (and gals!)
>
> Naomi
>
>
>
> On 10/12/07, ken goyer <kgoyer at comcast.net> wrote:
>   
>> Dear friends,
>>      We shouldn't lose sight of why we are making stoves and for whom
>> we are making stoves. The ultimate TEST of the stove is whether or not
>> it is accepted and used. The woman must be able and willing to use the
>> stove.  The best stove in the world will  go for naught if it is
>> rejected by the consumer. One half of the people in the world live in
>> cities. They don't go out and cut their own fuel. Their fuel is offered
>> to them in the marketplace.  Most people are unimaginably poor, and at
>> their wits end. Fuel is chosen because it is expedient.  Many places
>> lack industrialization and infrastructure such as transportation. Even
>> in the country, people need to burn what they can find and often don't
>> have much choice. It seems to me that a woman  who hauls fuel on her
>> head, sometimes for miles, would prefer to maximize it's use rather than
>> haul the charcoal back to her fields. What we can do is to present
>> choices. But if these choices are to see fruition,  we need to think
>> through the whole equation.  How much does it cost?  Is it practical?
>> Will it help? As well as  "is the combustion and heat transfer in my
>> stove better than the combustion and heat transfer in your stove?"
>> Let's remember that the customer is always right (whether they are
>> paying or not), and they have the final vote  :-).
>> Best regards,  Ken Goyer
>>
>>
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