[Stoves] Hope for stoves for developing countries

[psanders at ilstu.edu]

Dear Jose and to the Stovers,

Prof. Forjaz is one of the very top leading academics in Mozambique, and heads
the arquitecture school there.  He has had an ongoing interest in cookstoves
for many years, and assisted me greatly when I was in MZ.

Personal opinion:  I hope that we are closing in on a solution to the 
stove and
fuel problems facing the developing countries.  The existing stoves that rely
on "big-wood" have some respectable successes, but none have started a
groundswell, grassroots, massive success story that creates a bandwagon impact
with widespread adoption and adaption.  All the successes in the past are
important steps.  But we must continue to seek a more major solution that can
be locally implemented and sustained.

I am biased, but I think it will be related to the micro-gasifiers of the TLUD
and AVUD types.

> We would be very grateful for any answer that can fill us with hope.

How soon will there be a solution?  It will be like cell phone/mobile phone
technology for communication that has swept the world in a decade.  When a
stove solution comes, it will take only a few years to reach most corners of
the world.  I hope that gives you some hope.

Now I must go to my garage in order to have an incremental step ready 
for Stove
Camp in July.  It relates to user-friendliness and low cost, not to clean
combustion.  We already know that the micro-gasifiers are cleaner and can use
more types of biomass.

Paul

Quoting Jose Forjaz <joseforjaz at tvcabo.co.mz>:

>
> Dear Paul
> I read with great interest your last mail( ...as well as the previous 
>  ones...).
> Being a university professor I think that I can understand most of it 
>  and some, if not all, of what your correspondents discuss.
> I am extremely hopeful that one day we, in the third(...or even  
> fourth...) world  will take advantage of your devoted research
> and will manage to reduce our monthly expenses in domestic fuel to an 
>  acceptable level.
> As you well know what we need is a cheap, self produced, low  
> maintenance, rugged  stove that burns most of the rubbish that
> we produce ( which is not much...).
> The fact is that 99% of my fellow mozambicans would not understand 1% 
>  of what you go about in your mail.
> I also know that you are writing mails to expert researchers and  
> cognoscienti that can discuss those matters with you at the same
> technical and scientific level.
> However: can we, simple people, know what goes or, in other words:  
> can we hope to have a stove that does what is defined above
> as indispensable to the improvement of our lives in a foreseable future?
> The answer to this question is of vital interest to some tens of  
> millions of people in my region.
> We would be very grateful for any answer that can fill us with hope.
> My warmest regards.
>
> Jose Forjaz>
>    www.joseforjazarquitectos.com
>    Avenida 24 de Julho 67? Maputo
>    Moçambique
>
>    Tel. 258.21.493015
>            258 21 496031
>    Fax.258.21.493016
>    Cell 258.82.3013600
>


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