Grantee Research Project Results
Haiti Clean Stove Project
EPA Grant Number: SU835340Title: Haiti Clean Stove Project
Investigators: Bond, Tami C.
Current Investigators: Bond, Tami C. , Huang, Chuqian , Sherman, David
Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2013
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Charcoal use is a major contributor to the extensive deforestation in Haiti. According to USAID, approximately 70% of Haitian household needs are met with charcoal or firewood (Nexant, 2010).The team aims to design a Top-Lit UpDraft (TLUD) cookstove for the town of Leogane, Haiti which will: (1) be locally manufacturable; (2) use locally available, low quality biomass such as agricultural residues for fuel; (3) utilize char produced to continue cooking; and (4) result in the displacement of charcoal as the primary cooking fuel in Haiti. Providing Haitians with the means to produce improved cookstoves that utilize available low quality or waste biomass as fuel represents an opportunity to decrease charcoal demand and curb deforestation.
Approach:
The team will work on an improved TLUD design on campus, based on observations of and input from Haitian businessmen, stove makers, vendors, and everyday stove users made during the site assessment trip in May 2012. Meanwhile, the project will liaise with local businessmen, Wilson H’Odiore and Fritz Pierre Louis, to develop the capability for local stove manufacturing and fuels processing. The student team will then return to Leogane in January 2013 to implement the new cookstoves.
The community will be seeded with an initial batch of cook stoves manufactured in Haiti, and educated on proper stove use. Waste biomass will be processed locally into a viable fuel and distributed alongside the stoves. Feedback will be gathered on the stove’s manufacturability and serviceability from artisans, as well as on its ease and frequency of use from stove purchasers.
While testing and designing, the team will hold regular outreach events on campus to raise awareness of TLUD stoves as a clean cooking method. Events will include a cook-off using TLUDs and presentations at several engineering fairs.
Expected Results:
The project expects the following results: (1) stove performs better than standard 5 liter Water Boiling Test (WBT) benchmarks of 1500mg of particulate matter and 20g of carbon monoxide emissions; (2) stove design incorporates the capabilities of artisans and the desires of users; and (3) continued use by 75% of stove purchasers in Leogane at the end of P3 Phase I. Knowledge of existing literature on stove performance will be advanced and expanded upon with a handbook to serve as a framework for future implementation of TLUD technology in other communities.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
pyrolysis, gasification, alternative energy source, renewable fuel, fuel efficiency, monitoring resource consumption, waste to energy, agricultural byproducts, biomass, sustainable economics, holistic design, environmental education.Progress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.