Dear Art
Very well said. The point of being able to convince a large player in the field of stoves it being able to show a net reduction in fuel use against the baseline while still producing charcoal. This is I believe technically possible. The heat transfer efficiency has to be much higher. In order to get that the stove structure has to be a modern construction and effective. Once it is clear that overly enthusiastic claims are not distracting us, we can promote the stoves on the basis of a local baseline and the delivered performance. It si not only a matter of money. There are major players who will only accept a major reduction in raw fuel consumption. While obviously there are places where biomass if freely available, that only works in some places. As a great many stoves fit certain local communities it is not a big surprise to find a good understanding about this topic. We should give the programme manages a little credit for intelligence. They are well aware that there are valid and invalid claims being made for all sorts of things. The development world is full of charlantry. The claim that food production - any food- is tripled by adding some biochar is a very hard sell, I assure you. As for me, a non-farmer, trust, but verify. Regards Crispin Hi all, It would be helpful in comparing the merits of biochar producing stoves with other biomass cooking methods, to remember that a statement such as: "Holding back carbon from combustion will increase the feedstock demand." Is completely relative to the comparison being made. Compared to a rocket-elbow based stove with a good operator: no doubt. Compared to the baseline of an traditional open cooking fire: not true. I base only this on the results that Aprovecho produced on the Estufa Finca, using the WBT, the controlled cooking test we conducted as part of the 2010-2011 : Estufa Finca-Santos pilot project and several years of observation and surveying cooks. In a wood to wood comparison we consistently see approx. 40% savings. In the no one is paying for the type of fuel that does best in the Estufa Fincas. Even in a fuel rich area like the Talamanca many people are paying for "stove wood" : cut to length/bundled. best,
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