Cooking your food or boiling water is for the most part one of those necessities. The most common method of cooking here is by using wood. Although there are numerous solar cookers, it is my opinion that they are just too much work and not that effecient to ever get locals to ever use them. Wood cooking is one of the primary reasons for deforestation so perhaps if we just show them more effecient ways to make their stoves, we could offset the current ways. Well there are ways to cook with wood that use 75% less than traditional ways and in half the time that also emit less smoke. In my opinion the rocket stove is the best and easiest option. So let's get to it!
Click on the picture to see a demonstration on the construction of a 16 brick rocket stove.
So what is a Rocket Stove? A rocket stove/Rocket mass heater is a type of stove combining the air-intake with a fuel-feed slot in an opening ending in a combustion chamber, further leading to a chimney and heat exchanger. Sound technical enough for you? There are several advantages to using this type of stove, they reduce air pollution as well as the amount of firewood needed to cook and keep the food warm by about 75%. It also improves cleanliness reducing soot so respiratory problems are reduced drastically.
A rocket stove is signified by ease of construction and simplicity of building materials while accepting small-diameter fuel such as twigs or small branches, yielding high combustion efficiency and directing the resultant heat onto a small area. These can be made into portable and stationary brick models that incorporate both stove and oven if you choose. The stove on the right is made with only 16 bricks! (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_stove and the references at the bottom)
Dr. Larry Winiarski, now Technical Director of Aprovecho, began developing the Rocket Stove in 1980 and invented the principles of the Rocket stove in 1982. TWP and AHDESA were winners at the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy in 2005 in the 'Health and Welfare' category for their work in Honduras with the 'Justa Stove' which is based on principles of the rocket stove. Aprovecho were winners of the Special Africa Award at the Ashden Awards in 2006 for their work with rocket stoves for institutional cooking in Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
How to Build a Rocket Stove Using Cement Blocks
In less than two minutes, you can learn how to build a rocket stove using only cement blocks. Just watch this brief video, "The 6-Block Rocket Stove," for the easy instructions. Most of the materials can be found at any construction supply store but the one specialty block could be a challenge in foreign countries but you can modify a block to work.
The video's clever design for a dual-burner DIY rocket stove uses only six concrete masonry units (CMU), also known as cement blocks or foundation blocks. By stacking the blocks as demonstrated, you'll be able to channel enough heat from a small fire to cook food in two separate pots.
If you've not familiar with the concept of rocket stoves, these efficient cooking (and heating) devices are typically compact and simply designed. A rocket stove generates heat with substantially less environmental impact than an open fire, burning up about half the flammable material. Fires can be built and maintained inside rocket stoves using small twigs, branches and even grasses — making the devices especially suited to places where wood is scarce. This type of stove is valuable in off-the-grid living and rural applications where gas or electricity isn't available. Rocket stoves can be used to cook food or heat small spaces; some rocket stove plans incorporate heat exchangers for heating large quantities of water.
To build the rocket stove featured in this video, you'll need 3 standard cement blocks, 2 half-blocks and one stretcher unit. As the video demonstrates, the blocks can be arranged quickly, and your rocket stove will be fully operational in a matter of minutes. Start by placing one standard block lengthwise, with its solid surface down, and topping it with the stretcher unit having its openings facing skyward. Flank this arrangement on each end with one standard block, openings turned out to the sides (the side-facing openings will function as fuel magazines into which you'll feed the flames). Place the half-blocks on top to create two vertical chimneys, over which you can place recycled burner grates to support cooking pots and to allow for a draught. And that's it: Now you know how to build a rocket stove for cooking.
The video also includes instructions to build a more compact, single-burner rocket stove using just four cement blocks.
