Rocket Stoves and How They Can Help Our Forests

The largest portion of energy requirements for an average household comes from cooking, heating water and heating the interior of a home. Rocket stoves can cover all these needs while also helping to preserve the forests of the world.

This technology isn’t widely known in North America, yet it has been used successfully in other parts of the world, including Africa and Australia. One of the most successful implementations of this technology has occurred in Kenya where the World Wildlife Federation taught rural communities to make and use rocket stoves for a variety of purposes. Traditional cookstoves in Kenya are of low efficiency, which means firewood is in high demand, leading to deforestation.

The beauty of rocket stoves is that they efficiently use twigs and other pieces of wood available on the forest floor, meaning that trees don’t have to be cut down to provide fuel. These stoves are so efficient that they cut firewood consumption by about 50 percent. Not only do rocket stoves reduce deforestation, they also help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which helps tackle climate change.

Why Are Rocket Stoves So Efficient?

The primary difference between rocket stoves and traditional wood-burning stoves is that the combustion inside these devices is virtually complete. During traditional combustion, wood releases volatile compounds in the form of smoke and soot. In a rocket stove, these byproducts are sucked into the combustion chamber, releasing even more heat to drive the process.

Rocket stoves have large air intakes, unlike traditional wood stoves, which feeds the fire allowing it to burn hotter. Thus, these devices produce a tremendous amount of heat with little fuel. This efficient combustion and heat products allows rocket stoves to power many types of devices when paired with an inner converter. These include:

• • Converted conventional or a purpose-built barrel oven
  • Cooktop or barbecue grills
  • Hot water systems
  • Space heaters

Another advantage of rocket stoves is that they are easy to build with locally sourced components, which means that they are also kind to the environment. The best rocket stove designs utilize a chamber with double walls that are insulated against heat loss, allowing them to burn up to 90 percent less wood. In addition to burning wood, rocket stove can use other combustibles for fuel that include paper, biomass briquettes, cardboard, cloth, manure, moss and charcoal.