For people in the developing world, a stove can be the thing that saves them, and the thing that kills them. But one professor of engineering is looking to change that by making primitive stoves safer and cleaner. And the device that does it costs one dollar.
University of Iowa professor H.S. Udaykumar invented the device after visiting Rajasthan, a region in western India. He spent several weeks investigating the cooking patterns of women in the village. He found that women, who do the majority of the cooking in the area, were using large amounts of firewood from the nearby national forest and wildlife refuge.
This overuse of wood was causing deforestation in the protected region, as well as causing serious physical harm; according to the World Health Organization, the black carbon produced by burning wood in primitive stoves kills over 4 million people globally every year, and is the leading cause of death in children under five. A WHO fact sheet notes more than 50 percent of premature deaths among children under 5 are due to pneumonia caused by particulate matter such as soot that is inhaled from household air pollution. The WHO also estimates that 3 billion people worldwide still rely on primitive stoves.
A solution was simple: a metal grate insert that sits inside the typical three-stone hearth, yet reduces toxic smoke by 90 percent. With increased efficiency in burning fuel, it reduced wood consumption by about 60 percent.
Smarter mobile stoves have been around for some time — in fact, many charities are devoted solely to providing clean-burning, open-air stoves for people in underprivileged regions — but these stoves can cost anywhere from $30 to $150. By contrast, the insert created by Udaykumar's team costs a single U.S. dollar.
"It's a glorified grate, really. And so it's simple to make," Udaykumar said in a press release.
Indeed, the insert is so simple it barely seems like an invention: it separates ash from the burning wood, which allows more air flow under the fuel. According to the University of Iowa, the insert increases efficiency, decreases emissions, and drastically cuts the black carbon air pollution that proves fatal for so many families.
Currently, 2,000 of these inserts exist, but the team is working speedily to get more in place next year.
