FM 20 January 2011.
GTZ, the German government body that promotes sustainable development, asked Aitken to develop a marketing and distribution strategy for a wood stove called the Rocket Stove. Aitken was so impressed with this device that he has since taken over the importation, marketing and distribution from GTZ. He has imported two container loads so far and is hoping for World Bank funding before he imports the third…
Why a Development Agency promotes the import of such items while these should be produced locally for creating the so much needed jobs and the localisation of our production for responding to climate change and peak oil ? Regards PL Lemercier Renewable Energy Centre PE
Why a Development Agency promotes the import of such items while these should be produced locally for creating the so much needed jobs and the localisation of our production for responding to climate change and peak oil ? Regards PL Lemercier Renewable Energy Centre PE
I concur, we are already manufacturing cheap wood stoves in South Africa, see http://www.woodstove.co.za for more details.
I concur, we are already manufacturing cheap wood stoves in South Africa, see http://www.woodstove.co.za for more details.
There will always be a conflict between importing Chinese products and encouraging entrepreneurial activity. I doubt however whether the the cheap wood stove Manie is talking about (R 900 to R 1400) excluding installation and delivery will ever compete with the R 400 to R 500 for the Rocket stove fully delivered and ready for use. The added advantage of the Rocket stove in question is that it has seen 25 years of development by Aprovecho Research Center in the USA and uses ceramics to raise temperatures and allow smoke-free operation and reduces fuelwood consumption by 50%. I installed 90 of these in a rural village, with hoods to extract the little smoke that comes off it via the existing chimney infrastructure. We are educating South Africans on the complex thermodynamics of a wood stove and if it takes a Chinese product to do that, then so be it. See http://vuthisa.com/news/#17April
There will always be a conflict between importing Chinese products and encouraging entrepreneurial activity. I doubt however whether the the cheap wood stove Manie is talking about (R 900 to R 1400) excluding installation and delivery will ever compete with the R 400 to R 500 for the Rocket stove fully delivered and ready for use. The added advantage of the Rocket stove in question is that it has seen 25 years of development by Aprovecho Research Center in the USA and uses ceramics to raise temperatures and allow smoke-free operation and reduces fuelwood consumption by 50%. I installed 90 of these in a rural village, with hoods to extract the little smoke that comes off it via the existing chimney infrastructure. We are educating South Africans on the complex thermodynamics of a wood stove and if it takes a Chinese product to do that, then so be it. See http://vuthisa.com/news/#17April