[Stoves] Would anyone out there help turn coffee husks into some useful renewable energy source in Karagwe, tanzania?

[David G. LeVine]

>These factories produce a lot of coffee husks (thousands of tons).
>Unfortunately, these husks have no commercial value at all. Instead, after
>the season, they are set on fire. The fire goes on for months.

Joseph,

Were I to go to a factory and tell them that I would let them pay me 
to haul off the husks, hey would tell me to "take a hike."  However 
if I told them I would pay them (let's say) $0.25 (US) per ton, they 
would probably be happy to have me remove them and not need to worry 
about the fire hazard.  I might even be able to offer to take them 
for free and get them.

Briquettes of fuel are common, but will you be able to get the investment back?

The questions are simple:

1.) What is the cost of raw materials?
2.) How much does it cost to create the final product from the raw materials?
3.) What do the alternatives cost?
4.) Is there a market for the final product?
5.) What is the initial capital investment needed?
6.) Will there be sufficient ROI (Return On Investment) to encourage 
investment?

If the final product (including labor, etc.) costs less than the 
alternatives, it may be viable, but inertia will make the battle long 
and uphill.  Then the popularity of the product will cause the supply 
of raw materials to dry up.

In the US, wood pellets were a cheap source of heat, they now cost 
$275.00 (US) a ton.  Let's assume you can package one briquette and a 
stove body for less than the alternative fuels cost.  Would the 
people be willing to experiment with it?  What if a few prominent 
people (like the village religious elders) were given samples?  Would 
their endorsement be worthwhile?

Regarding the stove, I envisioned a "tin can" with fins and a 
perforated top and bottom holding one briquette and being discarded 
(like a food can) once the center burning briquette was 
consumed.  Imagine the briquette as a cylinder (like a coffee can) 
with a star shaped hole in the center.  On initial firing the hole is 
small but the area is large, as it burns, the narrow "fins" burn off 
more quickly and the opening gets rounder until the entire fuel 
supply is used up.  Because the fuel is an insulator, the can stays 
cooler until the end (when it gets hot enough to discolor the can.)

One of the smoke burners might also be a viable stove.  The stove 
itself might not be replaced, only the "fuel can."  Even if the 
savings are good in the long term, getting people to pay for their 
stoves might be difficult, look at the US Cellular Handset 
market.  In the cell world, the handsets are heavily subsidized to 
get the buyer to contract for services.  If the fuel canister cost $1 
(US) and the stove cost $5 (US) "giving away" stoves with a 6 pack of 
canisters selling for $12 (US) might be worthwhile if repeat sales of 
the canisters at $2 (US) each were a reasonable expectation.

The economics of the product and the social engineering of the sales 
and marketing effort are difficult, the engineering is simple.  With 
little (or no) profit, the product and business are doomed to failure.

David G. LeVine
Nashua, NH  03060