Ethanol burning stoves reduce deforestation & improve health - Gaia Assoc wins Sustain Energy award

[JohnWxy]

ONe of the major causes of deforestation is the gathering of wood and woody plants for firewood. THis leads to denudification of the land in semi-arid areas and contributes to desertification. THe Gaia association started distributing ethanol burning stoves which use ethanol made from local waste materials (such as molasses left over from sugar production). This is a promising developement not only for fighting deforestation but also for health benefits for the people using the stoves as the stoves produce NO Soot, and very low CO2 emissions.

Gaia Assoc wins Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy for distribution of an ethanol burning stove which leads to less harvesting of local wood and provides health benefits (produces NO SOOT and very low carbon monoxide).


http://www.oneclimate.net/2009/04/13/gaia-2008-ashden-award-ethanol-stoves/">The Gaia Association won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2008. They are producing and distributing an ethanol stove in refugee camps in Ethiopia. The ethanol is produced from waste molasses.

Refugees in Ethiopia, as in many countries, rely on fuelwood for cooking. Women who spend long hours collecting fuelwood outside refugee camps are frequently attacked, and there is extensive deforestation. The Gaia Association has provided ethanol-fuelled stoves to 1,780 refugee families, enabling clean, comfortable cooking and preventing wood use. The ethanol is produced from locally-available molasses, a sugar by-product which previously caused pollution. The Gaia Association is starting to supply stoves and ethanol for other refugee camps and also for new housing developments in Addis Ababa, and a local factory is producing the stoves. Stoves are also being introduced in Addis Ababa, and local manufacture has started.


Gaia - 2008 Ashden Award: ethanol stoves


http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/10/16/gaia-bringing-ethanol-stoves-to-ethiopia-in-bid-to-reduce-soot-co-and-reduce-deforestation/">Gaia bringing ethanol stoves to Ethiopia in bid to reduce soot, CO and reduce deforestation

In Ethiopia, Project Gaia and its sister organization Gaia Association (an Ethiopian NGO) are leading a global initiative to promote the simple alcohols, ethanol and methanol, for household cooking and appliance use, and are leading with a high-performing stove, the CleanCook stove. This stove, developed by a Swedish inventor 30 years ago and popularized in developed world markets by the Swedish company Dometic AB, is ‘Best Available Technology’. It burns hot and clean, producing 1.5 kW per burner, closely resembling the performance of a propane gas or LPG burner. (NOte LPG or Propane are expensive fuels_JW)

It produces no soot and very low carbon monoxide (CO). Alcohol can be sourced locally from agricultural feedstocks and residues (ethanol), or even from landfill gas, gasified wood waste and flared gas from oil fields (methanol). Gaia is
currently commercializing the stove in Ethiopia, and runs a stove project for the UNHCR in several refugee camps where the camp residents have no access to traditional fuels. To date approximately 6,000 stoves have been disseminated.

[pscot]

1. When I was in the service we used

gasoline stoves when we went on manoeuvers. They were very effective. We burned av-gas because that's what we had. Alcohol makea lot less heat, but local availality is the key.