Wednesday - September 22, 2010

Turning Fire Green

Clinton to unveil US funds for clean cookstove push

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce on Tuesday a U.S. contribution of more than $50 million toward providing clean cooking stoves in developing countries to reduce deaths from smoke inhalation and fight climate change.

The U.S. funding, which will be spread over five years, is part of a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves being started to combat a problem officials equate with malaria and unclean water in terms of their health impact worldwide.

Some 1.9 million premature deaths, mostly among women and young children, occur every year due to smoke inhalation from rudimentary stoves, which in many cases consist of a few stones and an open fire inside or outside a shelter, officials said.

Smoke from such cooking methods can lead to childhood pneumonia, lung cancer, bronchitis and cardiovascular disease while contributing to climate change through emissions of carbon dioxide and methane—two major greenhouse gases—and black carbon.

“This is something that touches on climate, on health, on women’s empowerment, on deforestation and on poverty,” Reid Detchon, vice president for energy and climate at the United Nations Foundation, said in an interview.

He said the group would seek to create a market for cleaner, less-polluting stoves and fuels to supply some 500 million households worldwide now using inefficient and dangerous cooking methods.

India, south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were areas in which the problem was most acute.

“You’re not going to solve this problem with aid alone,” he said. “You’re going to have to create a thriving cookstove industry that can supply both stoves and fuels that people want and need.”

Talk about your White Man’s Burden. Those poor benighted natives, cooking their food over a, um, a ... a campfire. A fire! One that burns wood. Or peat. Or dried dung. Or anything they can scavenge that will hold a flame. It’s so primitive. So ethnic. ( And so portable, especially for nomadic populations! All you need is 3 decent sized rocks to balance your pot on, and you build a fire around them. Presto, hot food! And you can find rocks everywhere, so you don’t have to bring any with you. )

Now class, since this is a Democratic Initiative, let’s completely ignore that bit of history wherein John D. Rockefeller created Standard Oil in the 19th century and made zillions by practically giving away kerosene lamps all around the world, that ran on the kerosene his company produced. No, that was an example of evil capitalism, enslaving the natives, and taking advantage of the Lesser Races. It had nothing to do with improving the lives of billions of people, giving them cleaner, safer light and better air quality than the smoky old tallow lamps or burning torches that they’d used before.

This initiative is completely different. Because it will replace their primitive fire and cooking apparatus with more modern Fire™ and give them something bulky and dirty to carry with them everywhere they go. And just think, by enhancing Fire™ with Air™ the things they burn will burn cleaner and hotter, resulting in less smoke and wasted fuel and therefore less Environmental Impact. It’s a win-win situation all around, especially for the pet companies who will eventually have a Clean Stove to sell to the government for distribution, and the other pet companies who will develop and then market Burny Stuff™ for those Clean Stoves to run on! Look how much better the lives of those poor and starvin’ women and children will be, having been subject to the enlightened beneficence of this Democratic Initiative that changed their way of life from cooking over raw campfires to cooking over raw campfires with a thingy on top!!

Clean cooking solutions in the developing world

4/1/2010 // The Norwegian ambassador Wegger Chr. Strømmen participated in the conference Reducing Emissions, Saving Lives: A global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves on Monday March 29, 2010. One of the things he mentioned in his opening remarks was the importance of thinking about diversity when forging the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. – One size won’t fit all. The diversity of this project needs different types of models.

...

Primitive cookstoves are the primary tool for heating and cooking for nearly three million people in the developing world. Poor households use the classic three-stone cooker to prepare their food, while using wood as the basic fuel. These cookstoves creates a smoke that is highly damaging. The smoke causes health problems like cancer, asthma and tuberculoses and the smoke is also the cause of two million premature deaths annually. Women and young children suffer the most.

The use of wood as fuel creates black carbon that in addition to damaging people’s health also is an important driver of climate change, at both regional and global level. The use of wood as fuel also causes deforestation in many regions.

The participants discussed the health and environmental benefits of improved stoves and fuels during the conference. They also mapped out the technical, financial, and commercial opportunities to reach global scale and how to seek agreement on collaboration around an action plan to support large-scale deployment through the creation of a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

The Norwegian ambassador Wegger Chr. Strømmen was one of the speakers at the conference. - It is important to think about the diversity this problem. The gender issue, climate, development and finance issues. The cookstoves are used by three million people from different countries. It is important to have in mind the need of different designs for different populations. It is not only the cookstoves that needs diversity. This project also has a lot of different donors. One size won’t fit all so it is important that we use different types of models.

So the universal solution for Clean Stoves is that a universe of solutions will be necessary. Because you have to respect the fact that different cultures cook in different ways, so we will needs dozens, if not hundreds, possibly thousands, of different models ( and infinite R&D funding ) to solve this problem. Because 3 rocks and some fire are so unadaptable.

This post is getting a bit long, so for those interested, the details of the new wonder stove and it’s new and improved Fire™ are below the fold. With pictures!

The Bad Way:






The Better Way, a 50¢ solution:

A native attempt. Arrow points out error in building; the raised fire brick shouldn’t be attached. Stupid natives can’t even do mud properly.



The Best Way, a $100 government solution:





The amazing Clean Stove from Bio Lite has a totally cool thingy on the side that thermoelectronically generates 1 whole Watt of DC electricity, which powers a tiny fan that blows more air on the tiny fire held within it. Plus it can charge your cellphone! Assuming that you have a heat-proof wire I guess. Because everybody has a cellphone, even primitive natives who haven’t yet advanced past campfires and rocks to cook on.

With the BioLite CampStove you can step off the grid and leave the petrol at home. Whether you’re spending a month in Alaska or a night in the backyard the BioLite stove will quickly and cleanly cook meals using nothing but the underbrush you collect on your journey.

BioLite is a revolutionary stove that makes cooking on wood as clean, safe and easy as modern fuels while generating electricity to charge cell phones and LED lights off-grid.

two different Bio Lite Clean Stove prototypes

The BioLite cookstove is a super efficient wood burning stove that cuts down on wood consumption, captures its own waste heat to drive up efficiency and reduces smoke emissions by 95 percent, according to its makers.

The BioLite, still in development and slated for sale in 2011, nearly eliminates black carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming, especially in developing nations where families rely upon wood-burning fires for cooking. It also cleans up the air inside the homes of the estimated 3 billion people worldwide who cook on wood fires, and can suffer from respiratory issues.

Ok, I guess that “3 million” number from earlier was actually “3 billion”, ie half the world’s population ... living like cavemen ... so the 2 million who die from smoke inhalation and lung cancer caused by cooking over an open fire is not actually 67% of the user base, but 2 out of 3000; 0.0667%. Seeing as 5% of any given population is likely to die anyway, 6 one hundredths of one percent is certainly worth a $50 million investment.

No word yet on any new and improved Burny Stuff™, but I’m sure it’s coming. Since those poor natives have already cut down all their trees, and their damn goats have eaten all the brush, we can sell them sawdust pellets to burn. Or our government can spend our tax money on them, then distribute them for free. It might be time to buy stock in Kingsford. Naaah. That would put money in American hands. Can’t have that. I’m sure the fuel pellets will also be designed and built in China. Nothing toxic or evil will ever be put in them by accident, assuredly.

more links:
http://www.biolitestove.com/BioLite.html
http://www.greenrightnow.com/kabc/2010/06/17/low-emissions-biolite-cook-stove-wins-sustainable-brands-award/
http://www.biolitestove.com/Field_Trials.html
http://www.rocketstove.org/images/stories/new%20mud%20stove%20for%20refugees%20mar%2028%20%2009.pdf
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/travel-stove-creates-electricity-while-it-cooks.php

Hey, all snark aside, maybe this is a great idea. It does look like a cleaner way to burn stuff, and the clay one will build up some massive latent heat after being used for an hour or two. At least as good as any other mud brick oven or stove ever made in the entire history of mankind. And the prototype model was a ringing success; it managed to boil water and cook flatbread, two tasks that heretofore have been done with the use of some fire and a nice flat rock!

The tests included boiling water and preparing tortillas at altitudes ranging from 4,900 to 7,800 ft using firewood sourced through local markets and neighborhood vendors.

But while it’s a great idea for the poor and starvin’ natives, it’s a frickin’ gold mine for the companies that get that sweet, sweet, government contract to build the things. Especially since these companies are already set up to do the actual building in China, where quality control and manufacturing precision reign supreme.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 09/22/2010 at 08:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • TURD WORLD •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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