Comments on: Clean Cookstoves Protect Women and the Environment

By: Govind Sharma

Govind Sharma — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:50:00 +0000

If you have not used your fireplace in a long time, pests may have built
nests that could clog your flue or chimney chamber. Winter freeze
cycles and moisture combine to take an annual toll on masonry and liner
materials too.
http://www.naglefireplaces.com/stoves

By: Patricia Mcardle

Patricia Mcardle — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:59:00 +0000

I also urge the author of this report to look at the article attached above that describes how retained heat baskets work. They are incredibly simple devices that anyone can make with locally available materials and which offer huge fuel savings. The third device that Ugandan women can use is a solar cooker any day when the sun is shining–so they can save their scarce wood for use at night, early in the morning and on cloudy days. There are many solar cooker projects in Uganda, which you can read about here:
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Uganda

By: Florence Reed

Florence Reed — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:30:00 +0000

We have had very good success with the Justa stove in Honduras and a new stove design created by our staff in Panama. You can read about the Justa at http://www.sustainableharvest.org/techniques/wood-conserving-stoves and the DAMAK in Panama at http://www.sustainableharvest.org/news-articles/articles/newsletter-articles/origin-and-benefits-of-the-damak-wood-conserving-stove

By: Aoife Wilson

Aoife Wilson — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:58:00 +0000

Unfortunately the model of stove shown here has proven to be ineffective.
In 2002, The Ugandan Ministry for Energy and Mineral Development, in conjunction with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), produced a report entitled ’A Comparison of Wood- Burning Cookstoves for Uganda: Testing and Development”. This report outlines the clear scientific evidence that the Lorena stove (which I believe is what is being described above) unfortunately does not do what it was made to do. In summary,
‘Lorena and Dembe stoves are substantially less efficient at high power than a three-stone fire [the traditional method of cooking in this region]. They also have a higher fuel consumption for a 90 minute simmering test at low power, and for cooking a traditional Ugandan meal. They should not be promoted on the basis of fuel saving. The good reputation of the Lorena is due to a self-perpetuating myth………… since other stoves can offer the same additional benefits, such as smoke removal, they should be abandoned in favour of more efficient designs.’

Sadly, articles like (which has already been ‘recommended’ and ‘shared’ multiple times) only help to perpetuate such myths and further promote bad practice.

If the organisation mentioned above are interested in improving their stove program, they could look into the Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation which is based at Makerere University, Kampala (51km from their project in Nkoknjeru).
This independent and internationally recognised stove testing centre uses globally accepted testing procedures. I learned so much from visiting them last year. They seem to have seen more failures and successes in stove design and implementation than anyone else so this puts them in an excellent position to assess how effective a potential project is likely to be.
I also wrote a rough guide for NGOs or Community Based Organisations who are considering introducing such a project within their community. The guide outlines some of the main pitfalls and suggests how they can be avoided. Here’s the link http://lemonadesoldiers.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/info-for-community-based-organisations-intending-on-introducing-a-clean-cookstove-program/

By: Giulia Latini

Giulia Latini — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:26:00 +0000

I was curious about the design of this stove and so did some research and came upon this blog, which you may want to read closely:

lemonadesoldiers.wordpress.com