[Stoves] Video

[Tami Bond]

Hi Tom and Stovers,

Chris is now in Honduras for the 3rd year and has a webcam on board the 
ARACHNE. I think we are capturing an image only once per minute or 30 
seconds, but our analysis of the last 2 years tells us that we certainly 
need to know what is going on with the fire!

Kevin, to address an earlier message of yours, I think most of us are 
keenly aware of lab-field differences. This doesn't mean that we have 
all the answers, just that we know it is an issue. That is why we are 
taking the ARACHNE measurements which are the same measurements that 
Aprovecho has, and a few critical others like filter mass, chemical 
composition, light absorption, but done on real cookstoves. Power (car 
battery) and portability are limitations but I think we have a decent 
system.

The lab-field comparison is skewed because it's hard to measure 
particles, and different measurements yield different results. People 
could easily write off the difference between lab and field as simply a 
measurement difference. We are hoping to change that by running the same 
measurements in both places.

The wood type, wood size, and operator behavior are all important 
differences between the lab and field. We think moisture is important 
too, but there's so much other variability that we can't see its effect. 
Much (most?) of the emissions come off during ignition-- depends on the 
food of course-- a good stove must light well in addition to burning well.

Tami