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More Efficient Woodstoves For Household Use - KHGS Jayaneth - 128869D
More Efficient Woodstoves For Household Use - KHGS Jayaneth - 128869D
Woodstoves for
Household use
K. H. G. S. Jayaneth
128869D
Content
1.
Introduction......................................................................................................... 1
2.
Traditional Woodstoves........................................................................................ 2
3.
3.2
4.
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 7
5.
Reference............................................................................................................ 8
List of Figures
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1.Introduction
Cooking has become a basic and an essential activity in every home in the
world. In about half of the world's homes, people use biomass, while others
use gas, kerosene or electricity for cooking. Most of this biomass is used for
cooking on traditional, inefficient stoves or poorly constructed stoves, where
most of the energy is wasted, and leads to a high level of air pollutants
emitted to the atmosphere.
In Sri Lanka, as a developing nation, more than 50% of energy requirement
is provided by biomass, and 80% of this biomass is actually consumed for
cooking food. Out of that 80%, firewood is the largest contributor for
cooking, and widely used as the fuel for stoves.
Burning firewood obviously has environmental impacts. The burning process
releases greenhouse gases and soot which pollutes the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases cause global warming, which has irreversible impacts on
both living beings and the planet Earth. Using firewood, in general, involves
cutting down trees. This destroys natural habitats, decreases amount of
Oxygen in atmosphere and contributes to land erosion. In addition to those
impacts, wood smoke interferes with normal lung development in infants
and children. Wood smoke exposure can depress the immune system and
damage the layer of cells in the lungs that protect and cleanse the airways.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), toxic air pollutants
are components of wood smoke, and it can cause coughs, headaches in
healthy people.
Therefore, burning firewood inefficiently should be addressed globally, while
promoting other renewable energy resources for cooking. Development of
cooking stoves is a necessity to improve energy efficiency, protect
environment and prevent safety and health hazards.
One of the easiest and most economical ways to improve the quality of life
for those using firewood as a fuel is to provide improved and efficient
woodstoves. A lot of research and development work is going on all over the
world on the use of woodstoves in the rural domestic energy sector in the
developing countries.
This report explains some of the improved woodstoves compared to
traditional woodstoves widely used in developing countries.
2.Traditional Woodstoves
In most of the rural areas traditional three-stoned woodstoves as shown in Figure 1,
which has an open fire arrangement with low efficiency less than 10% is used with
firewood as the fuel source. Cooking on an open fire arrangement has many
shortcomings. These include very low cooking efficiency
(5 8%) ,
difficulty over control of the fire, exposure to heat and smoke, and fire
hazards.
To provide higher efficiency, a stove should satisfy two things - Change the
energy in the wood to heat without wasting energy and get the heat into the
pot. If the fire is very hot, most of the energy in wood will be converted to
heat. If it is not, some of the wood will turn to smoke or black soot, and it will
not be changed to heat. The wall around the fire should stop heat and keep
it inside the stove. If the walls are made of mud or other heat transferring
material, the required heat levels for complete burning will not be
maintained. Provision of air passage is also very important for complete
burning. If the level of Oxygen inside the stove is not enough for the burning
process, complete burning will not happen, and the overall efficiency of the
stove will be reduced.
To deliver all the produced heat to the pot, the bottom and the sides of the
pot should be exposed to the fire. If the heat goes through the bottom and
the sides of the pot, that will let most heat be used for cooking.
Positive impacts of this stove are, it enables a lower grade fuel to compete
with modern fuels, reduces the use of firewood and improves the kitchen
environment and related health hazards.
Uganda Stove is a submerged pot rocket type stove which uses firewood
as the fuel. Exposing the sides as well as the bottom of the pot to heat
improves fuel efficiency. It uses insulate materials between the pot and
stove body, which prevent heat transfer to the outside.
4.Conclusion
Biomass is one of the major energy resources in developing countries. Most
of the people in developing countries use firewood as the fuel for daily
cooking. Using inefficient traditional stoves cause irreversible impacts on
both mankind and the planet Earth.
Therefore, the efficiency of firewood burning should be improved to enhance
the condition of living and to protect the environment. By improving
woodstoves, most of the impacts of firewood burning can be reduced.
5.Reference