Energy Efficient Cooking Stoves in Lake Atitlán

Summary

Helping local indigenous communities in Guatemala, especially Peña Blanca, to install carbon efficient stoves which use less firewood and allow the community health, educational and financial benefits

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

The stoves, used in place of the three stone fire, have multiple benefits. They reduce carbon emissions, local de-forestation and lung desease, improve air quality in the home and health for local families and allow increased time and energies for local families to be spent on education, employment and micro-enterprises

How will this project solve this problem?

The stoves take 2 to 3 days to build depending upon skill, experience and location. The stoves have an estimated life of 15 to 25 years. The benefits of each stove can be applied for that duration, and the decrease on deforestation for longer.

Potential Long Term Impact

With less trees cut down for firewood, less time spent by children searching for firewood, the necessity that to receive a stove, the family must send their children to school and obvious health benefits, the long-term impact is quantifiable.

Project Message

When I first spent time with the kids during 2007, most of the kids had a heart-wrenching cough. The stoves are helping to decrease this but threre are many more families to reach.
- Joy Peterson, WPF, Director

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources