Why not use clay or solar stoves?
How much do your stoves cost to make?
Do you distribute the stoves for free or sell them?
How can I obtain a stove?
Can I have the plans to the Berkeley-Darfur Stove?
Do you only focus on Darfur? Can you expand to my area?
How do you measure a stove’s impact?
Why don’t you produce the stoves in Sudan?
Q: Why not use clay or solar stoves?
A: A solar stove is more like an oven than a stove – it works best with food that is cooked slowly over several hours with no stirring (such as rice). In Darfur, traditional meals are continuously stirred over high heat. The promotion of solar ovens would require a complete change of cooking styles, food eaten, and available ingredients – a logistical and psychological feat. In addition, solar ovens cannot be used to cook a morning meal (because there is not enough sun) – and this meal would still require fuelwood. Given the low durability of low-cost solar ovens (based on cardboard), and the comparable amount of fuelwood that could be saved, we favor durable fuel-efficient cookstoves that can preserve cooking traditions and are more likely to be integrated into Darfuri households.
In controlled settings, some well-made clay stoves use less fuelwood than the traditional three-stone fire, and raw materials are cheaper than for a metal stove. However, tests of clay stoves in the field show that they save minimal (if any) fuelwood in actual use. It is too difficult to retain subtle but key design features as clay stoves are built by unskilled workers. Construction of a clay stove is laborious, and the cost and production time increase dramatically if a highly skilled craftsman is required. Metal stoves can be cut quickly and accurately, and then assembled by an unskilled worker in a way that does not compromise performance. Extensive lab and field testing of well-made clay stoves also shows that metal stoves save more fuelwood, even in controlled settings.
How much do your stoves cost to make?
A:The cost of assembling the flat-kits, shipping them by boat to Port Sudan, and transporting them overland to the camps is approximately $20. This cost fluctuates depending on the production level of workers in the assembly shops, as well as the variable prices of fuel and steel.
Q: Do you distribute the stoves for free or sell them?
A: Ideally, we believe the stoves should be sold at a highly subsidized rate. “Sold” because we want to make sure the stoves are seen as valuable by our users – and selling them is an important way of getting feedback on whether our product continues to meet users’ needs. However, with the stoves costing approximately $20, Darfuri women would not be able to afford the full cost. This is why we fundraise to subsidize the cost of the stoves and the many other costs associated with the project (training assembly shop workers, training users on the most fuel-efficient cooking methods, and so on). Since we have just entered a new phase of the project – assembling and distributing 9,150 stoves in North Sudan – we are exploring different distribution models with our local partners (that is, how much to sell them for, whether it is even feasible to sell them in a refugee camp where so many things are provided free) as we complete the pilot phase of our program.
Q: How can I obtain a stove?
A:Unfortunately, we do not keep a large number of stoves on hand in our Berkeley offices. Because the cost and logistics of producing the stove here in the United States would be prohibitive we do not have any plans to mass produce the stoves as a consumer good in the United States. Furthermore, the Berkeley-Darfur Stove® has been specifically designed for Darfur, taking into account the type of fuel wood available, the winds, the shapes of the traditional pots, the cooking temperatures for the local traditional foods, etc. If you are looking to purchase a stove for a family in Darfur, you can do so by making a donation.
Q: Can I have the plans to the Berkeley-Darfur Stove?
A: The Berkeley-Darfur Stove’s design belongs to our partner, the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. For this reason, we are unable to provide plans to the stove. One of the goals of the Darfur Stoves Project is to ensure the quality of the stoves that are built because an improperly built stove can pose a safety risk and decrease fuel-efficiency. Proper training is necessary to ensure that the correct materials are used, and the proper assembly method is employed.
Q: Do you only focus on Darfur? Can you expand to my area?
A: The Berkeley-Darfur Stove® has been specifically designed for the conditions in Darfur, and would need to be modified for users in other places. Because we have only satisfied a small portion of the demand in Darfur, we are continuing to focus our efforts there. Unless we are approached by a partner with resources and “boots on the ground,” we are not going to expand to areas outside of Darfur before 2011. Once we reach a large scale in Darfur, we plan to work in other areas though our parent organization, Technology Innovation for Sustainable Societies (which has already started a pilot project in Ethiopia).
Q: How do you measure a stove’s impact?
A:The impact assessment surveys we conducted in 2010 have enabled Darfur Stoves Project and its partners to quantify the impact of the project on the livelihoods of women in Darfur. For example, the survey revealed that in order to avoid the risk of attack when gathering firewood, 80% of stove users in Zam Zam camp (the largest displacement camp in Darfur) now purchase firewood from vendors. The data from this survey indicates that by far the most significant impact of the stove is on livelihoods, with families saving $0.95 per day on firewood expenses. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is predicted to last five years, which means that over the lifetime of the stove, it can save a family in Zam Zam more than $1,700. We continue to work with our partners in Darfur to strengthen monitoring and evaluation, aiming to provide further insight into the impact of our project on the lives of Darfuri families.
To calculate reductions in emissions of CO2 equivalent, we use:
The IPCC default net caloric value for wood: 0.015 TJ/ton. The IPCC default CO2 emissions of non-renewable biomass: 109.6 tCO2/TJ. Annual savings of wood per year (see above) of Berkeley-Darfur Stove® over 3-stone fire: 913 kg (1 ton). Therefore, annual reduction in CO2 emissions = 1T x 109.6 tCO2/TJ x 0.015 TJ/ton = 1.5 tons of CO2 equivalent. Total reduction in CO2 emissions over 5 years = 1.5 tons x 5 years = 7.5 tons.
This assumes that a family with a Berkeley-Darfur Stove® uses it for 100% of their cooking. We are currently testing this assumption.
Q: Why don’t you produce the stoves in Sudan?
A: DSP conducted a supply chain study which revealed that the full production of stoves in Sudan would be extremely costly due to lack of access to the correct materials and equipment and a lower production capacity. The study also revealed that shipping fully assembled stoves from India would be significantly more costly than assembling them locally in Darfur. For this reason, DSP chose to use a hybrid approach combining aspects of mass manufacturing and local production. Shri Hari Industries, the Mumbai-based factory that stamps the stove design into flat sheets of metal can produce 60,000 stove “flat-kits” per year with a single shift of workers. To keep costs low, the flat-kits are shipped to Sudan and assembled locally at the Berkeley-Darfur Stove assembly shop.
