Toward a Better Cookstove

A Lorena stove in action.

In parts of India they’re called chulhas, in Malawi chitetezo mbaula, in Central America the Lorena, and in East Africa the jiko. The names and designs vary, but the principle is the same:  a low-cost, efficient stove that replaces the open fire.

It’s hard to overstate the difference a better stove can make. In many parts of the world women cook over open fires in unventilated huts, filling the living space with smoke that stings the eyes and creates respiratory problems. Children burn themselves on the embers. An open fire requires lots of wood or other burnables, which means stripping the countryside in order to burn it.

An efficient cookstove requires a fraction of the wood, since it burns only exactly what is needed and sends heat directly to the pot. A flue routes the smoke outside, and the air receives less soot and carbon dioxide.

The building material is anything from clay to metal to concrete, and requires an exacting attention to design. To learn how it’s done, read this PDF.