Rene Nunez Suarez is responsible for what should help half the planet’s population. He has invented and patented an extremely fuel efficient wood burning stove meant for cooking. Reports state this stove uses 90% less fuel than a traditional stove.
Every site I have looked it has praised Suarez over and over again. They place his stove on a pedestal. Its amazing. Now ask someone in a third world about it and see what the answer is. Suarez who? What stove? Save wood? I wish.
The interesting story is the background to Suarez. This man hails from El Salvador, lives with his mother, and drives a ’90 Kia. His wife left him and took the children. He has spent his life savings on this stove (some reported US$2.5 million). In turn, he’s won an award and received a patent. Whoop dee doo. Who really cares if no one uses the damn thing?
Suarez had a brilliant idea and has thus far lost out. He wanted to develop a better way to cook and thus save fuel and time for many people, even those in his own country. Instead, no one is buying the stove. The poor folk in third world countries haven’t the money to purchase it and their governments are focused elsewhere. Environmental groups are traditionally cash strapped or uninterested in actually investing in anything that would help the planet.
So I am imploring my readers, if someone out there is looking for a good thing to invest in, consider his stove. Consider the vast implications before continuing: If everyone who needed one had one, we could cut half the planet’s cooking related pollution down by around 90%. In turn, 90% less fuel means 90% more trees spared. We still need to revive our forests but sparing them is even better. The environmental impact would be enormous.
According to Treehugger, this device sells for $325. Perhaps ramped up production and economies of scale would drive the price down reasonably. Hell, we can build laptops and sell them to the third world but close to $100 each, why not a stove?
If you’re interested, read more at the Seattle Times. If you’re more interested in energy efficient cooking, look at the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group.
Muddy Geek 