[Stoves] Minimum Biomass requipment

[Richard Stanley]

Crispin,
Your figures are interesting but I wonder if elevation was taken into  
account...

The standard  figure we have used is 1.2kg of woody biomass per  
person per day in dryland savannah to coastal East Africa. (this was  
derived by world bank and a private french consulting firm known as  
SEED, back in the early 90's and our own studies early in our  
briquette extension effort confirmed it rather closely.. Up in the  
alti-plano in Peru the figure climbs to 4kgs per person per day as  
worked back from their 'quintals'. I do not know what it is in other  
more mountainous regions.

That aside, I maintain that there is biomas and there is biomass...  
it very much depends upon how it is configured and how you burn it.  
While the energy density figures show that the non woody biomass has  
75% (+/-10) the energy value of medium density woody biomass, it is  
all about the efficiency with which it burns. Open air wood burning  
apparently is widely quoted to be only  6 to 10 % efficient. Open air  
hollow core briquette burning will do about 30%. Thus  250 to 375  
grams ( 2 - 3) donut briquettes made properly will nicely equate to  
the 1.2kg figure noted. Burn the same biomass in a loose heap and all  
bets are off...

Either way,  Bq. consumption rate of course rises proportion to woody  
biomass in open burning situations,  as elevation rises...


Richard Stanley,
www.legacyfound.org