InStove (Institutional Stove Solutions) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2012 with the goal of reducing climate damage, deforestation, indoor air pollution, and respiratory diseases by the manufacture and distribution of highly efficient institutional rocket-style stoves in the developing world. Their cook stoves are used in large institutional settings such as refugee camps and schools, and empower those who cook with them through implementation of safe and efficient cook stove technology to minimize personal and environmental health risks. InStove's mission is to relieve suffering, improve health, and reduce harm to the environment through the placement of highly efficient biomass cook stoves in vulnerable communities worldwide.
Contents
- History
- Impact and global health concerns
- 60 and 100 liter stoves
- Stove placements
- Allied technologies
- References
InStove's founders are Fred Colgan and Damon Ogle. The nonprofit is based in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
History
To address the demand for a better way to cook food for millions in refugee camps, engineer Damon Ogle and carpenter Fred Colgan, working with Aprovecho Research Center, developed a highly efficient solid-fuel cookstove for use in institutional settings in 2008. Worldwide, over 43 million displaced people depend upon organizations administering aid in refugee camps. Ogle and Colgan's prototype for InStove's 60 liter capacity cookstove was a rocket stove, powered by internal combustion and 87% more efficient than traditional three stone fires.
In July 2012, Colgan founded Institutional Stove Solutions (InStove) as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. InStove developed the 60 Liter Stove, and in 2013 the 100 Liter Stove, to address climate change, emissions, and deforestation issues. InStove is a partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. As of July, 2015, InStove’s institutional cookstoves have the highest published test scores in the world against the International Standards Organization’s International Workshop Agreement on clean cookstoves.
In order to meet the demands of clinics, hospitals, and refugee camps who also need access to safe water and sterile medical equipment, InStove developed allied technologies including a medical equipment sterilization system, water pasteurizer, and a biomass briquette press.
Impact and global health concerns
Three billion people cook on biomass each day, releasing carbon and particulate matter into the air.
Three-stone cooking fires emit more than 100 times the World Health Organization's recommended limit of pollutants such as particulate matter and carbon monoxide. An estimated seven million people die prematurely each year from air pollution, which is preventable with the InStove's rocket design and ventilated chimney.
The increased efficiency of InStove's institutional stoves means that women do not have to venture as far to gather firewood for cooking, greatly reducing their exposure to gender and sexual based violence such as assault and rape.
60 and 100 liter stoves
InStove’s 60 and 100 Liter cook stoves have been verified by third-party testing center, Aprovecho Research Center, to be tier four—the highest—in 9 out of 11 indicators set by the International Standards Organization's International Workshop Agreement on clean cookstoves. InStove's institutional stoves are manufactured in the United States. At the heart of the stoves is an advanced, insulated metal combustion chamber built from high-temperature 310 stainless steel and 601 nickel alloys. The "rocket stove" design concentrates heat and mixes combustion gasses to create operating temperatures in excess of 1100 degrees Celsius, which allows the stoves to literally "burn up the smoke." This produces a fire that is cleaner and more efficient than is possible otherwise. The sunk-in pot with heat-retaining skirt design allows food to cook more quickly, reducing cooking time by 20-50%.
Each stove placed can offset the carbon footprint of 2.7 American households each year and can save up to 88 tons of firewood annually.
The 60 Liter InStove uses 2 kilograms of fuel every two hours at peak temperature and boils 30 liters of water in 30 minutes; the 100 Liter InStove boils 50 liters of water in 30 minutes.
Stove placements
As of June 2014, InStove has distributed over 1,000 stoves in 27 countries around the world. These include Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya in conjunction with the United Nations, as well as Nigeria., Senegal, and 10 other sub-Saharan countries. A 60 Liter stove was also placed as a part of Opportunity Village, a transitional housing community in Eugene, Oregon as an effort to feed residents and reduce expensive propane costs.
In 2014, InStove opened "InStove Manufacturing Limited" as a benefit corporation to sell stoves to domestic clients such as El Sancho, a Mexican Restaurant in Bend, Oregon which uses a 100-liter stove to sustainably cook large amounts of food.
Allied technologies
InStove has paired their 60 Liter InStove with a medical grade autoclave manufactured by the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry (WAFCO). The unit is designed to serve as either a backup for urban health centers or as a primary system for rural clinics without access to electricity, providing sanitation of medical instruments as well as waste to reduce vectors of disease.
InStove has also created a solution to lack of safe drinking water. The water pasteurizer system heats water to 71 °C to eliminate 99.99% of pathogens to ensure safe drinking water. The pasteurizer is powered by the 100 Liter Stove, and can pasteurize 800 liters of water an hour using about 5 grams of wood per liter. The unit was tested in Ndola, Zambia in October 2013. InStoves are available for commercial purchase as well as humanitarian aid usage.