Cleaner Cooking Camp - Malawi 2014

Recently on the 14 March 2014, a cleaner cooking camp was held in Lilongwe, Malawi to push forward the cleaner cooking agenda with its improved health, social and economic benefits. After the event we met up with some of its organisers and exhibitors to discuss the use of bamboo as a sustainable fuel to be used in stoves.

 

Stoves01a

Back - Adrian Sutton, Mark Oprins

Front -  Mbumba Chigalu, Christa Roth, Grant Blumrick, Jannet Nsiska

With feedback from Christa Roth, we decided to test bamboo in a simple, naturally ventilated gasification stove and do some comparison burns between bamboo and timber fuels. We tested against Black Wattle and Eucalyptus, two invasive fast growing timbers, commonly found in Southern Africa. The results for were most encouraging, less than 0.5kg of bamboo is required to cook for an hour! I have uploaded the results to YouTube - see below.

Bamboo vs Eucalyptus

 

 

Bamboo vs Black Wattle