Fuel-Efficient Wood-Burning Stoves
"The stove changes life greatly," Don Diego says. "In the first place, we no longer eat on the ground; the stove serves as a table. Food is more hygienic, less dangerous for the children. No longer is there smoke in the house. And the important thing is that with the stove we use little firewood... Before we cut down one tree every month, now we cut one tree every two and a half months."
Don Diego García is the head of a household with 6 adults and 8 children in the town of Tiak'tak in the mountains of northwestern Guatemala. His family previously used an open-pit fire to cook their food, the standard method for the rural poor. Not only does this type of cooking create high levels of smoke in the home-exposing women and children in particular to the harmful chemicals that are released-but because the heat is not contained, it also requires large amounts of firewood to achieve and maintain temperatures high enough for cooking food.
With EcoLogic's support, the Garcias installed a fuel-efficient wood-burning stove in their home. The fuel-efficient wood-burning stoves use up to 60% less firewood, resulting in a drastic reduction in the number of trees cut down for fuel. The stoves also eliminate harmful smoke from the home, reducing the incidence of respiratory illness, especially in women and children.
Community members engaged in forest and water stewardship activities receive priority when stoves are introduced to a village. In exchange for receiving a stove, each family commits to either protection or reforestation of nearby forests or adopting agroforestry, which restores trees to the landscape.
Stoves are currently being constructed in the following EcoLogic projects:
- Totonicapán, Guatemala
- Huehuetenango, Guatemala
- Sarstun, Guatemala
- Olanchito, Honduras
- Atlántida, Honduras