Practical Action's improved clay stove installed in the Smithsonian!

One of Practical Action's major innovations has been the improved clay stove. This stove is saving lives and rainforests.

In Sudan 13 million acres of forest are cut down each year for cooking fires. In addition smoke from cooking fires kills an incredible 1.6 million people a year across the developing world. This is because traditionally local people have simply had a large cooking fire in their homes producing a lot of smoke. This is a big issue which is seldom talked about.

The improved clay stove developed by Practical Action uses less wood, can be easily manufactured locally from local materials and emits much less deadly smoke.

Now one of these innovative stoves goes on display at the National Design Museum in New York, which is part of the renowned Smithsonian Institution– the world’s largest museum complex.

The stove was selected to be part of its National Design Triennial: Why Design Now? Exhibition which presents the most innovative designs addressing human and environmental problems, and runs from May 14th 2010 – January 9th 2011.

Mohamed Majzoub of Practical Action said, “to be selected by the Smithsonian Institute is a fantastic achievement for Practical Action and a great way of highlighting some of the work we are currently involved with in Sudan. The implementation of the stoves will, we hope, dramatically reduce deforestation and improve the day-to-day lives of those living in displaced people camps following civil conflict.” 

A simple technology that brings fresh hope

Using just locally-available clay and bricks, the stoves can be made in a few simple steps:

1 A line is drawn around the outside of the saucepan most frequently used in the kitchen to determine the size of the stove.		2 Three brick segments with clay stuck underneath them are placed an equal distance apart inside the edge of the circle drawn in the sand.
3 The whole circle is filled with clay to a depth of about 4cm.		4 The walls are then built up outside the bricks although a small part of the bricks are embedded in the wall. The walls are roughly 4cm thick. The wall is built up until it is flush with the top of the bricks.
5 The pan is then placed on top of the bricks and the walls are built up until they are just under the top of the pan. There should be a finger size gap between the pan and the wall.		6 The pot is removed and using a scraper the surface of the stove is made smooth. An exhaust hole is cut in the side to increase the stove efficiency by increasing the air flow, and allow wood to be added without the need to move the saucepan. The stove is left to dry naturally.