Jan. 5 - Ready, Set...

Enjoying Udaipur, the City of Lakes.

Following an exciting and refreshing weekend, the team regrouped to begin the test phase of our research project. Few changes were made to the original design of our stove experiment. We are comparing the performance of three different cookstoves in three different settings.

Two of the three stoves are high efficient cookstoves (HECs). This type of cookstove is designed to improve the combustion of wood by increasing the airflow and upward funneling of heat to the cook surface. Improved efficiency means food cooks faster with less wood and less smoke. Big picture: HECs could help us to reduce household air pollution and deforestation in rural India.

The three types of stoves being compared:

Ø  Darfur Stove, an HEC developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2005 for refugees in Darfur; the stove has been very successful in this particular region; it was modeled off the TARA Stove, a smoke-reducing Chulha actually designed for rural India; the TARA Stove was produced by the social enterprise called TARA, which stands for Technology & Action for Rural Advancement

Ø  PCS-I Premium Cook Stove was developed by a company called Envirofit; it is produced in India specifically for rural Indian families to cook with less wood and less smoke

Ø  A street stove purchased from a market in Udaipur last week; it consists of a metal semicircular cylinder attached to a pan; we added a metal grate inside the cylinder to elevate the placement of the firewood to increase airflow

Each stove was selected to compare different factors, including design, price, availability, materials of construction, durability, and ease of use. In addition, we are testing the stoves in different settings to see how variations in demographics, environmental pressures, socioeconomic factors, and culture might also affect preferences, demand, and usage. The goal of varying our test sites is to explore how different groups interact with the same stove.

The three settings being compared:

Ø  Udaipur, a city

Ø  Gogunda, a block or town (50 km from the city)

Ø  Karech, a village (75 km from the city)

The purpose of our test is to determine whether or not the HECs actually produce less wood, less smoke, and require less time to cook traditional meals as marketed. I recognize the fact that we are comparing too many things all at once and our sample size is far too small to be able to report with any level of statistical significance. However, we have designed our experiment in such a way that we will be able to gather several layers user feedback about the performance of each stove. What worked? What didn’t work? How could the stove be improved? Did the stove consume less wood, require less time, and/or produce less smoke? And if they are interested in the stove, how much would they be willing to pay for one?

All of this information will be vitally important for us to refine the design of our solar-powered cooker. Our current stove captures and stores thermal energy from the sun to cook food. Whether or not we proceed in developing this particular technology is yet to be determined based on what we find out from this experiment. This is an important disclaimer because I’ve learned to avoid two things in particular when problem-solving as an engineer: 1) selecting any one concept early on, and 2) prematurely assuming technology is the answer. I am excited to see what concepts we generate within and beyond the technology realm. With us all working together, I am confident we can succeed in developing a sustainable method of cooking that is good for people and the environment.

So how do we succeed in innovation that has high-impact and is ethical? By taking both bold risks and baby steps. I am actively learning how to do this better, to balance passion and reason, immediacy and patience, action and reflection. This is a vital skill set because we are working with people in a dynamic system, not a static lab.

With this in mind, I’d say what we did today was an important “baby steps” day:

B-Step 1: Assemble and calibrate stoves. We boiled a liter of water with each stove to establish an average baseline efficiency for all three cooking setups in a “controlled environment”. Raw data was averaged, analyzed, graphed, tabulated, interpreted, stored…

Boiling water with the Envirofit Stove.

B-Step 2: Confirm and clarify field test methods. The team finalized the test procedures, test questions, and test observations after working with the stoves themselves. We went over our plan of attack several times so everyone knows what is going on and is on the same page BEFORE we start testing in the field. There are lots of intended and unintended variables in our test system; consistency is vitally important!

 

Team circles up around Dr. H.S. Udaykumar to finalize plans.

The three cookstoves pictured left-right: local stove with grate, Envirofit, Darfur.

 

Step 3: Soak it all up. Reflect on what we are doing and why we are doing what we are doing. Have some chai, have some fun, and then get some sleep…tomorrow is finally show time!

Team bonding at sunset at Monsoon Palace.