Darfur stove

I am in contact with Michael Helms, a phd in the Center for Design Research about the stove he is working on in Darfur.  here is some info:

http://www.darfurstoves.org/

from the site:

what is a berkeley-darfur stove?

It's a life raft, a call to action and proof to Darfur refugees that their problems have not been forgotten.

The stove itself is nothing more than a handful of metal pieces but combined with creative problem solving and engineering innovation, it becomes a symbol of hope. It can keep women safe and help them provide better nutrition to their children. Because the stove frees women from hours of searching for fire wood, they can reallocate that time to money-making ventures like weaving mats.

But it's not just hope for Darfur families. It's hope for Darfur itself. Since it uses significantly less fire wood than a traditional three-stone fire, the Berkeley-Darfur Stove gives the environment a chance to recover. And that's really all that Darfuris want — a chance to recover.

With more and more refugees crowding into camps, the land has been stretched to its limits. It now takes women 7 hours or more to find fire wood.

Every time a woman leaves the safety of the camps, she is at risk of rape and mutilation. It has become so dangerous that up to 80% of families in some regions of Darfur miss meals for lack of fire wood.

The Berkeley-Darfur Stove can change all of that — and you can help.

safety

The Berkeley Darfur Stove provides women in refugee camps a measure of safety. Because of the efficiency of the stove – four times more efficient than traditional 3-stone fires and two times more efficient than clay stoves, these women need to leave the camps much less often to forage for fire wood.

This stove fully encloses the open flames, and thus substantially reduces the danger of the dense straw-and-stick shelters burning down because of open fire cooking. The stove produces much less smoke and thus reduces smoke inhalation in the cramped shelters during indoor cooking.

better nutrition

A significant majority of the refugees miss one or more meals each week due to a severe scarcity of fuel wood for cooking. Furthermore, a significant fraction of refugees reported selling a part of their food rations to middlemen for cash to purchase fuel wood for cooking their meals. Health risks are increased due to the stress and conditions of living as a displaced person in a refugee camp. A consistent diet is important and our stoves are addressing this issue. 

income potential

The wood is rapidly becoming scarce, and it already takes an average of 7 hours per trek to find enough wood to cook family meals. By saving wood, the women save time, allowing them to reclaim their lives. In our surveys, some women said they are so exhausted that they would use the extra time to simply rest; but others said that would put it towards income earning activities such as making mats.

Additionally the Darfur Stoves Project designed this light metal stoves so that they could easily be manufactured, in large numbers, in Darfur with simple tools — enabling the refugees to reclaim the dignity by being part of the solution, and earning an income by building stoves.

How much does The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® cost to make?

The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® is very reasonable to make and design/production enhancements continue to drive the cost down further. Each stove currently costs about $30 to make. We expect that number to continue to decrease as production of the stove becomes more efficient.

How come you aren't making stoves for $1 like I've heard in the press?

We have not found it realistic to make such a high quality fuel efficient stove for anywhere close to $1. With the scarcity of fire wood in Darfur, it does not make sense to produce a less fuel efficient stove when a more fuel efficient solution exists – a less fuel efficient stove will not make a woman safer or help her save firewood.

Why are you selling The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® instead of giving it away?

The Darfur Stoves Project and its parent nonprofit, TISS, believe in making recipients of aid a part of the solution. We believe that people who are asked to pay at least a nominal amount for the stove will hold The Darfur Stoves Project (and its local partner) accountable if their stove does not perform as expected. We want our stove owners to have a stake and be involved in the solution. To that end, we have set up production facilities in Darfur and hire local Darfurians to produce the stoves. The nominal amount our partners charge for the stove is set slightly above the local scrap-metal value of the stove. The majority of the cost of each stove is underwritten by donations. For families that simply cannot afford the cost of the stove, we have established a special fund to ensure that every family that needs a stove gets one.

What makes The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® so special?

The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® is 75% more fuel efficient than the traditional 3-stone fires commonly used in Darfur. It is over 50% more fuel efficient than the clay stoves – and is much more durable. In fact we have designed the stoves to last a minimum of five years whereas a clay stove's lifespan can be as short as four months. But what makes The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® most unique is that it is a solution that Darfurians helped to create. We field tested The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® with women in Darfur refugee camps and incorporated their comments into the design of the stove. It is so valuable that many women who have already received The Berkeley-Darfur Stove®, move it each night to their bedside to protect it as their most prized possession.

Why not use a clay or solar stove?

We extensively tested many types of stoves before deciding on the metal stove. We chose not to develop a clay stove because extensive lab and field testing showed that a clay stove was not the most fuel efficient choice. Given the scarcity of firewood in Darfur, it does not make sense to produce a less fuel efficient stove when a more fuel efficient and cost-effective solution exists. A less fuel efficient stove will not make a woman safer or help her save fuel. While solar stoves are a great technology, they are not appropriate for the climate of Darfur or for the foods cooked in Darfur which require a hotter temperature, and higher thermal power input than current solar stoves can produce.