Editor, Washington Post, April 18, 2012

Have you heard the story about the economist who was asked what he would do if washed ashore on a desert island? — “I would pick up a rock and assume it was a radio”

The so-called “improved” stove in the Indian study reported on by Brian Palmer (“Too many cookstoves spoil the effort to cut indoor air pollution” April 17) was not clean in any important way and so of course did not improve health.  It was a simple local stove that did not change combustion to reduce smoke.  Unfortunately, many NGOs and other well-intentioned groups involved in stove dissemination are convinced by their own rhetoric and at most a few lab tests that their stove is truly improved and will be adopted even though they do no systematic field testing to show it works well in practice or will be used by people over time.

The lesson learned long ago is that “you don’t get what you expect, but what you inspect”  Just calling something “improved” (or a radio) does not make it so.

The word “improved” is a marketing trick with a long history.  Half the products on shop shelves all over the world are called “improved.”  Maybe the box or color is changed, but the word works by tricking us into buying things with the assumption that it is improved in a way that is meaningful to us without the seller having to actually show that it does.  Adding “improved” to the label of products gives you a bump in sales every time – which is why it is done.   But it does not make them into radios.

In contrast, before our RESPIRE study mentioned in the article we spent eight years in Guatemala, actually measuring stove performance and use.  We proved that our stove lowered indoor pollution by a factor of ten in households over years, well before we started the trial to understand the health benefits.  Currently, we have electronic monitoring devices in place that measure stove usage –a decade after introduction the households are still using their stoves 90% of the time.   We have described this in detail in over 40 articles in the peer-reviewed biomedical literature, in which we showed that infants whose smoke exposures were reduced by 90% had 50% less pneumonia, the chief cause of child death in the world

The article claims that the Indian “improved” stove was cheaper than the one we used.  The data show otherwise.  A $10 stove that few use, gives few benefits, and lasts a few months is extremely expensive – not cheap.  A $100 one that lowers pollution exposure, people like and use, and lasts for a decade is much cheaper.

We also learned that the particular stove we used is not perfect by any means, even though locally accepted.  Global understanding of how clean stoves have to be to obtain serious health benefits has changed significantly as a result of our work.  Cleaner stoves are needed than nearly all those now being promoted, although some provide partial benefits.  Thus the name of the new Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves – not “improved” ones.

Please do not compare our study with one that started by assuming a rock was a radio.  And do not think that by doing so that it has shown anything at all about what a real radio can do.  Or a truly clean cookstove that people like and use.

Kirk R. Smith, Professor of Global Environmental Health, UC Berkeley
Principal Investigator, RESPIRE project
krksmith@berkeley.edu

BioChar BBQ

BioChar Stove Building Workshop
on Saturday, April 28th  from 10am to 2pm
at S.E.L.F. – Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry / Seattle Maker Space
4710 Ballard Ave. NW, Seattle, WA. 98107
(Located at the former Viking Fire Foundry)

We invite you to participate by building either the Estufa Finca Five Gallon BioChar Farm Stoves pyroneered by Art Donnelly at Seachar.org OR build a derivative design of the smaller Dome School Soup Can Emergency / Camping / Tea Light Stove.

The Estufa Finca Stove is great for BBQing in your backyard WHILE creating BioChar for your garden (if you choose to include the cooktop and air base add-ons to your stove).

The Dome School stove is great for understanding the principles of gasification and biochar creation while replacing traditional expensive proprietary backpacking equipment.

Either stove is good to have around and know how to use in personal / community emergency preparedness as well as building sustainable solutions for our soil and environment.

If you are a Estufa Finca alumni we have started a  Estufa Finca BioChar Farm Stove Users Group to help bring users together and share their stove use experiences.

If you are planning on taking the Estufa Finca stove design and introducing it to other parts of the world we invite you to participate by showing up early, help setup the workshop, and possibly help other stove builders with the more tricky parts of the stove build.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop please RSVP to SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com. Details and updates available the Facebook Event Page

Larry James [ Steve Anderson, Michael Kacena, Adam Reeder, Donna Lawrence, & friends] are SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com
SeaChar.org – Volunteer / Stove Builder / Instructor / Nickelsville BioChar Stove Project
S.E.L.F. – Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry – Worker Owned Cooperative
SELF Reliance through Action, Education, and Community Cooperation.
Co-founders – Seattle MakerSpace – Industrial, Sustainability, and Permaculture MakerSpace located in Ballard Seattle

additional details below…

Join us on Saturday April 28st, 10am – 2pm, at the Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry (4710 Ballard Ave. NW, Seattle, Wa. 98107), for an BioChar Stove Building Workshop. Learn a little about biochar and build a TLUD ( top lit updraft) clean burning, fuel efficient, biochar producing cook stove.

* $25 donation – build and take home a “Dome School Stove”. This mini-TLUD is the perfect camping/hand warming/ tea light version of our big stove technology.
* There elegant micro-gasifiers are, affordable, easy to build and safe to use. You will NEED to bring [Preferably Pre-emptied and washed]
(4) tin cans for this stove: (1) 46oz. can [tomato juice], (1) approx. 32 oz. [crushed tomatoes], (1) 18.5oz. Progresso soup, (1) 15oz. can [tomatoes].

The Progresso Soup Can being the most necessary, we often have extras of everything else. Alternately a 20 oz. be substituted for the Progresso Soup.

* $75 donation – build and take home a five gallon “GARDEN MASTER Stove”. This gardener’s version of our “ESTUFA FINCA” project stove, makes clean heat and soil building biochar from your garden and yard wastes. All materials and tooling for making this stove will be provided.

* $30 donation – build the Cook Top and Air Base add-on if you are already using a ESTUFA FINCA Farm Stove and just want a convert the basic stove into a freestanding backyard BBQ.
(The Air Base and Cook Top option is also available pre built for a $40 donation)

* Along with building stoves, we will be learning a little about biochar and how to use it in the your garden and/or replace your backyard BBQ.

* Bring a snack, a pair of gloves and if possible a pair of safety glasses, and ear plugs. If you are planning on trying your stove after the build, bring a cup and/or a pot to heat your food up in and something to eat off of.

* Everyone will have a lot of fun, most people will go home with a tested stove, and an expanded understanding of biochar. If you wish to stay later, we will test out our new creations by cooking up whatever is brought to share.

If you wish you may make an additional donation that will go directly to SeaChar.org. We are recommending $25 donation for the workshop and their continuing efforts in reducing carbon emissions while improving lives. You can use the PayPal button on SeaChar.Org website at: http://seachar.org/wordpress/?page_id=96
or mail checks to SeaChar.Org @ 603 Stewart Street, Suite 906 Seattle, Wa. 98101

Please RSVP! so we know how many materials we need on hand…

Bring your cash and/or checks to the event.
For this workshop Contact: S.E.L.F. at  SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com for more information and directions. (be sure to subject line BioChar Stove Build Workshop)

Reinvent fire with us and build a better future.

Larry James
SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com
(206) 552-8865 (my cell till there is an office phone setup)

P.S.
We are currently accepting applicants to join the Seattle MakerSpace an industrial Maker Space in Ballard Seattle. There is common workbench space available as of April 1st, 2012. We are converting the free space, putting together a common tool list, membership dues/fee schedule, and website. There will be basic membership (use of common space/tools during hours of operation) and limited number of keyed 24/7 access membership available. Subscribe to the below announcement list or visit our website for updates and more details. Come make cool stuff with us!

To get updates on any future classes, workshops, and/or events at Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry, email SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com, add yourself to our Google Group Announcement list at S.E.L.F. Announce – https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/self-announce, or visit the Seattle Makerspace website at http://seattlemakerspace.wordpress.com/

Print friendly PDF Google Document here

*PLEASE READ TO THE LAST LINE,  A.D.

By Brian Palmer, Monday, April 16, 2:43 PM

One of the most talked-about public-health initiatives is improving indoor air quality in the rural developing world. Traditional cookstoves — mud basins in which villagers burn wood, charcoal or dung — are the main obstacle. The fire releases particulate matter that contributes to pneumonia, lung cancer and heart disease, among many other maladies.

The problems disproportionately affect women, who do most of the cooking in this population, and the children who are often nearby. The World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution kills
2 million people every year, about as many as malaria and tuberculosis combined, although this number is in some dispute.

Over the past two years, the United States has pledged 
$105 million to fighting the cookstove problem. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly spoken about it. And of course, no global health issue is complete without a Hollywood advocate; in this case, it’s Julia Roberts.

The main goal of the effort is to replace traditional cookstoves with “clean cookstoves,” which are more efficient and often feature chimneys to direct fumes out of the home.

An ambitious goal

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which the U.S. government helped found in 2010, aims to help 100 million households replace their stoves with clean alternatives by 2020. But there’s a potential problem with this ambitious goal: A new study suggests the replacement stoves may not make any difference.

Clean cookstove advocates have based their strategy on two kinds of studies. In observational studies, researchers compare the prevalence of pneumonia, lung cancer, low birthweight, etc., in traditional-cookstove houses with rates in houses that use clean cookstoves. That’s a good place to start, but it’s subject to all sorts of confounders. Families with better cookstoves are likely to have more money, better nutrition and superior access to health care. So the differences in health status may have little or nothing to do with the stoves.

There has also been a single large-scale prospective study, known as RESPIRE. (The name stands for Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects.) The study showed that clean cookstoves improved air quality and health, although not nearly as much as was suggested in the observational studies.

There are several reasons, though, to question RESPIRE’s results. First, the brick and metal stoves tested in its study were the Cadillacs of clean cookstoves. They cost $100 to $150 apiece, which is more than the average annual per capita income in many poor villages. Rolling out these stoves to
100 million homes would be hugely expensive.

More problematically, the conditions of the RESPIRE study probably weren’t realistic. Field workers trained families on the use and care of the test stoves, and returned weekly to make sure the stoves were being used properly. When the stoves broke down, the field workers arranged for repair. Such intensive intervention would be nearly impossible on a large scale.

Studies challenging the ability of clean stoves to improve health and environment are beginning to come in. In March, researchers from India and California published a study showing that certain clean cookstove models occasionally release a larger volume of certain pollutants than the traditional stoves they’re intended to replace.

‘Up in Smoke’

Three American researchers released a randomized, controlled study Monday that is even more damaging to the clean cookstove movement. In their study, entitled “Up in Smoke,” Rema Hanna of Harvard University and Esther Duflo and Michael Greenstone of MIT sold clean cookstoves to more than 2,600 households in 44 Indian villages, then followed the families for three years.

As in RESPIRE, the stoves in this study featured a two-burner system and a chimney to direct fumes out of the house. Made primarily of mud, the stoves cost just $12.50 each; the families paid 75 cents for the stove, installation and maintenance. Training sessions were offered, but field workers didn’t continually retrain the families or call in maintenance for them.

“Up in Smoke” studied more than 10 times as many people as RESPIRE, and followed them for more than twice as long. The larger scale enabled researchers to get a sense of how stove usage changes over time, and how those changes might affect health.

The results were beyond disappointing.

By the end of the study, most families were barely using the clean cookstove at all. Owners eventually allowed their stoves to fall into disrepair, ignoring cracks that undermined the functioning of the chimney. When they did use the stoves, many used them improperly.

For example, when they were cooking in one pot, they often failed to cover the second burner. Others failed to clean the chimneys. These mistakes undercut efficiency and allowed fumes to flow into the house.

As a result, the stoves were no more efficient in practice than the traditional models they replaced. The families burned the same amount of wood, so indoor air pollution continued unabated. (From a wider environmental perspective, that means the clean stoves didn’t slow deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, either).

Air quality measurements barely budged in the test homes. In the first year, exhaled carbon monoxide levels dropped a modest 7.5 percent in families with clean cookstoves. (Exhaled carbon monoxide is used as a proxy for particulate matter, because researchers can sample a person’s breath rather than test the air in a house.) By year two, air quality had returned to pre-study levels.

It’s not clear how much of a decrease in particulate matter is required to improve health, but the small improvement seen in the study clearly wasn’t enough. Lung functioning, incidence of respiratory illnesses, the body mass index of children in the household, and infant health outcomes such as birthweight and infant mortality, did not change significantly.

Does this mean we should give up the fight against indoor air pollution? Certainly not. Anyone can see that traditional cookstoves are unhealthful. But the study is a reminder that public health is a tricky business: Just because a solution works in a laboratory — or among a small group of closely watched test subjects — doesn’t mean it should be rolled out to 100 million households. Human behavior has to be tested as rigorously as the efficiency of hardware or indoor air quality, because it can undermine all of our efforts.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and its partners are working to fill the gaps that remain in medical, technical and behavioral research, with further studies in Ghana, Nepal and Kenya. The International Standards Organization recently promulgated guidelines to evaluate clean cookstoves. These efforts, plus the the “Up in Smoke” study, suggest we’re not yet ready to distribute clean stoves worldwide.

As Greenstone notes, “This isn’t an argument against spending money; it’s an argument against spending money unwisely.

BioChar BBQ

There is a BioChar Stove Building Workshop on Saturday, March 31st  from 10am to 4pm at S.E.L.F. – Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry / The Foundry MakerSpace
4710 Ballard Ave. NW, Seattle, WA. 98107
(Located at the former Viking Fire Foundry)

We invite you to participate by building either the Estufa Finca Five Gallon BioChar Farm Stoves pyroneered by Art Donnnelly at Seachar.org OR build an derivative design of the smaller Dome School Soup Can Emergency / Backpacking Stove.

The Estufa Finca Stove is great for BBQing in your back yard WHILE creating BioChar for your garden (if you chose to include the cooktop and air base add-ons to your stove). The Dome School stove is great for understanding the principles of gassification and biochar creation while replacing traditional expensive proprietary backpacking equipment. Either stove is good to have around and know how to use in personal / community emergency preparedness as well as building sustainable solutions for our soil and environment.

This is a fund raiser event to convert our Worker Owned Cooperative into The Foundry MakerSpace / Seattle MakerSpace in Ballard Seattle.  A portion of the proceeds will go toward Seachar.org’s continuing efforts as well as helping The Foundry’s Worker Owned Cooperative open it’s facilities to provide a Community Industrial MakerSpace in Ballard. Our primary focus being sustainability projects, skill sharing, Metal, and Fire.  Current activities have included stove making, metal casting (aluminum and bronze)  welding, black smiting, metal working, woodworking. and 3d printing. Future activities may include glass working, even more sustainability and permaculture projects, etc.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop please RSVP S.E.L.F. on this Facebook Event Page http://www.facebook.com/events/251809421578755/ or email SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Larry James [ Steve Anderson, Micheal Kacena, Adam Reeder, and friends]
FoundryMakerSpace@gmail.com
Seattle BioChar – Stove Builder / Instructor / Volunteer
SeaChar.org for Nickelsville EcoVillage BioChar Stove Project
S.E.L.F. – Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry – Worker Owned Cooperative
SELF Reliance through Action, Education, and Community Cooperation.
Co-founder – The Foundry MakerSpace / Seattle MakerSpace – Industrial MakerSpace located in Ballard Seattle

additional details below…

Join us on Saturday March 31st, 10am – 4pm, at the Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry (4710 Ballard Ave. NW, Seattle, Wa. 98107), for an Stove Building Workshop. Learn a little about biochar and build a TLUD ( top lit updraft) clean burning, fuel efficient, biochar producing cook stove.

* For a $25 donation build and take home a “Dome School Stove”. This mini-TLUD is the perfect backpackers/hand warming version of our big stove technology.
* These elegant micro-gasifiers are, affordable, easy to build and safe to use. You will need to bring [Preferably Pre-emptied and washed] (4) tin cans for this stove: (1) 46oz. can [tomato juice], (1) approx. 32 oz. [crushed tomatoes], (1) 18.5oz. Progresso soup, (1) 15oz. can [tomatoes]. The Progresso Soup Can being the most necessary, we often have extras of everything else. Alternately a 20 oz. can be substituted for the Progresso Soup can.

* For a $75 donation build and take home a five gallon “GARDEN MASTER Stove”. This gardener’s version of our “ESTUFA FINCA” project stove, makes clean heat and soil building biochar from your garden and yard wastes. All materials for this stove will be provided.
*The Cook Top and Air Base addon that convert the basic stove into a free standing back yard BBQ are available for an additional Donation/Purchase. Supplies and Tooling for these will be available for you to build if you have time and/or have built the basic stove already and want these.

* Along with building stoves, we will be learning a little about biochar and how to use it in the your garden and/or replace your backyard BBQ.

* This will also be an preliminary fund raiser for The Foundry MakerSpace / Seattle MakerSpace. Learn how clean burning, biochar-making stoves can build opportunities for everyone, fight climate change and improve lives.

* Bring a snack, a pair of gloves and if possible a pair of safety glasses, ear plugs. If you are planning on trying your stove after the build, bring a cup and/or a pot to heat your food up in and something to eat off of.

* Everyone should have a lot of fun, most will be going home with a tested stove, and an definitely an expanded understanding of biochar. If you wish to stay late, at the end the day we can test out our new creations by cooking up whatever is brought to share with the rest of the group.

If you wish you may make an additional donation to SeaChar.org directly for the workshop. We are recommending $25 donation for their continuing work in reducing carbon emissions while improving lives. You can use the PayPal button on SeaChar.Org website at: http://seachar.org/wordpress/?page_id=96
or mail checks to SeaChar.Org @ 603 Stewart Street, Suite 906 Seattle, Wa. 98101

Please RSVP! so we know how many materials we need on hand…
Bring your cash and/or checks to the event
For this workshop Contact: S.E.L.F. at  SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com for more information and directions. (be sure to subject line BioChar Stove Build Workshop)

Come reinvent fire with us and help build a better future.

Larry James
FoundryMakerSpace@gmail.com
(206) 552-8865 (my cell till there is an office phone setup)

P.S.
We are currently accepting applicants to join The Foundry MakerSpace / Seattle MakerSpace in Ballard Seattle. There is common workbench space coming available April 1st, 2012. We are in process of converting the free space, putting together a common tool list, membership dues/fee schedule, and website. There will be basic membership (use of common space/tools during hours of operation) and limited number of keyed 24/7 access membership available.  Subscribe to the below announcement list or visit our website for updates and more details.

To get updates on any future classes, workshops, and/or events at Seattle Earth Lost and Foundry, email SeaEarthLostAndFoundry@gmail.com, add yourself to our Google Group Announcement list at S.E.L.F. Announce – https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/self-announce, or visit the Seattle Makerspace website at http://seattlemakerspace.wordpress.com/

KAMPALA, UGANDA – After completing her degree in Chemistry majoring in natural products, Angela Mbabazi did not sit home to look for a job, a common practice for many Ugandan graduates.
She devised means of creating employment and transforming rural societies from peasants  to productive and innovative people.
Mbabazi, 26, has made a name in a Ugandan rural village by turning dry maize cobs, banana leaves, and bean pods, cassava sticks among others into green charcoal. This is in measure to ensure reduction in cutting trees for firewood or charcoal.
“Uganda and the world lose millions of tonnes of trees to wood fuel for household, commercial and industrial purposes.
“The number increases year after year due to population pressure. It’s prudent that new sources of energy are developed,” said Mbabazi while showing East African Business Week how she has transformed villagers in Kyampisi about 70km north east of Kampala city with the use of Green Charcoal.
Green Charcoal is made from all wastes, ranging from dry maize cobs, banana leaves, pass pallum, bean pods, and cassava sticks, and any other waste.
The process involves burning the wastes in a locally made burner referred to as a carboniser, which is later taken through a binding process using cassava starch, clay or silicate extracted from rice husks and other materials. They are passed through molds that determine its shape and size.
From the carboniser, according to Mbabazi, the wastes are harvested from the burner machine while sprinkling it with water to cool down. The cooled waste, termed as bio char is put on to a locally made grinding machine, which turns the bio char into powder.
“It is then mingled with soil, clay, cassava starch or silicate extracted from rice husks to make green charcoal,” she says.
She notes that it requires only four pieces of green charcoal to cook a meal that can be consumed by more than 10  people.
The National Forestry Authority, Uganda government forest management body projects that Uganda may import firewood by 2015, if alternative energy sources are not developed or fully utilized to reduce the cutting down of trees.
“It is already being felt because one time the cost of a charcoal over shot that of gas and firewood is becoming scarce and expensive,” adds Mbabazi.
Mbabazi, under the Rural Initiative for Development and Environment Management (RIDEM) project, believe that if many people are taught how to make green charcoal, their dependence on wood fuels will tremendously go down, hence a reduction in deforestation.
“This project is good for us. After learning, we make green charcoal which we sell at Ush1000 ($0.4) per bundle,” says Mr. Abdul Kayima a resident of Kyampisi village adding that “Even their women who used to spend some time gossiping” have utilized the project and time to do green charcoal to add/earn some money.
About 20 residents of Kyampisi village have taken up the green charcoal project, which they make and sell to fellow residents. Other green charcoal is transported and sold to urban residents and supermarkets. Mbabazi takes residents through a two month intensive training in how to make green charcoal, which skills they pass on to fellow residents.
“This is aimed at economically empowering the local community to make a living while preserving the environment,” she stresses.

NAPECA ;
The CEC Council has established a new grant program, the North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) to support communities in their efforts to address environmental problems locally.

From The Climate Foundation;
Converting Municipal Solid Waste to Biochar in North America
http://www.cec.org/Page.asp?PageID=751&SiteNodeID=1084

Who the The Climate Foundation is;
http://www.climatefoundation.org/who-we-are-b

I really like this Foundation because they focus on two of my avocations; StrawBale Construction & Biochar;
http://www.climatefoundation.org/what-we-do-b/straw-retrofitting-education
In addition to the “reinvent the toilet” challenge; Stanford Gates RTTC Project

Home, Health, Energy & Climate………..the four horsemen of Sustainability :)

Monday, February 06, 2012, 07:00pm – 09:00pm Biogas Cook Stoves and the Earth Healing Potential of Biochar On Monday, February 6th, Quimper Grange will host engineer and technology enthusiast, Francesco Tortorici. He will be talking about a revolutionary clean burning cook stove that can use anything from small twigs to peanut shells or even straw for fuel and he will also speak about biochar, the carbonaceous material formed by burning these fuels. Micro-gasifier stoves, as they are called, separate the generation of combustible gases from their subsequent combustion to create cooking heat. Heat is produced from burning gasses and vastly reduces emissions compared to conventional wood burning. Attendees will be given simple instructions on how to build a small efficient biogas stove from found materials and will see a demonstration of its use boiling water. Additionally they will learn about experiments being done locally using biochar as a soil amendment for growing organic crops, and will learn how biochar not only improves garden soil but can sequester carbon for up to a thousand years. Biogas stoves are a valuable addition to an emergency preparedness kit. Francesco‘s interest in appropriate technologies led him to attend the ETHOS (Engineers in Technical and Humanitarian Opportunities of Service) conference in Kirkland last year and through that experience he now works with several NGOs in the northwest that are focusing on promoting clean cook stoves. What Francesco finds most exciting about micro-gasifier stoves is that they are simple to build, easy to use, and can begin to address the issues of poor indoor air quality caused by cooking over open fires which is done by perhaps a third of the world’s population. The program starts at 7:30 pm and is preceded by a potluck dessert/fingerfood social half-hour from 7pm to 7:30pm. Suggested donation: $5-$10. For further information contact: Marla Streator at 385-6924. Location : Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Contact : Charlotte Goldman, 360-385-3455, chargold@earthlink.net Event Sponsor : Quimper Grange Website: http://www.quimpergrange.blogspot.com