[Stoves] Stoves Digest, Vol 20, Issue 24

[acparker at xmission.com]

Jeff,

Regarding charcoal burners, another negative I observed while in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, was their voracious appetite for wood.  Not wanting
to travel too far from their market, they stripped everything they could
get their hands on in or near the city -- and this was only to supply
the occasional barbecue (for a city of 2 to3 million), as nearly all
families have access to subsidized gas for cooking.

Ironically, I doubt that the fumes from charcoal production could be
differentiated from the great pall of smoke coming from the myriad fires
burning the ever plentiful weeds that grow there.

As with most seemingly good ideas (ethanol), charcoal burning gets a bad
reputation because those who practice the art tend to follow the path of
least resistence.  It would be great if they would process yard and
lumber waste, bagasse, rice hulls, and other agricultural waste, but
that is more complicated than stripping the roadsides and boulevards of
trees at two in the morning, clearing the hillsides or raiding the dry
rainforest and mangrove sanctuaries.  (Even if they would change to
briquetting carbonized waste, I don't know if the market would accept
briquettes over the traditional aesthetic of carbonized branches.)

I remind those of you who advocate sequestering carbon what the logical
end such activity will take once carbon credits become an
internationally traded commodity.

The recent upsurge in the popularity of socialism has revealed an
alarming trend.  Ecuador, cash starved to pay for new programs,
announced that they would open up one of their Amazon forest preserves
to oil exploration and production unless they were paid the opportunity
cost for keeping it out of production.  Expect to see more of this type
of ecological extortion, as well as export oriented land use laws and a
renaissance in hair-brained domestic industry schemes.  It is a perfect
environment for the worst case scenario with carbon credits.

Be that as it may, I too am impressed with Yuri's efforts and hope that
it can be utilized appropriately and profitably.  There is certainly
great potential worldwide.


Stay positive,

Andrew Parker (not AJH)

"The glass IS half empty!"
		an economist