I-Corps: Solutions for the Global Cooking Problem: Developing Stored Solar Stoves

世界卫生组织称，约有30亿人仍在使用明火和漏灶中的固体燃料做饭和取暖。这种烹饪和加热会产生严重的室内空气污染，其中含有一系列危害健康的污染物，包括能深入肺部的小煤烟颗粒。在通风不良的住宅中，室内烟雾可能比可接受的小颗粒水平高出100倍。妇女和儿童的接触率特别高，因为他们在家庭壁炉附近的时间最长。每年有近200万人因使用固体燃料造成的室内空气污染而过早死亡。收集燃料消耗了妇女和儿童的大量时间，限制了其他生产活动，并使儿童无法上学。在不太安全的环境中，妇女和儿童在收集燃料时面临受伤和暴力的风险。不可再生的生物质收获助长了森林砍伐，从而导致了气候变化。低效炉灶燃烧排放的甲烷和黑碳（煤烟颗粒）是影响气候变化的强大污染物。提出的技术解决了这个巨大的市场和相应的国内市场，寻求绿色烹饪替代品，使用无燃料和无火焰设备，储存能量，以便在用户需要时烹饪。在这个建议中，团队提出了一个并行(a)研究、(b)开发和(c)现场测试的策略，这三个努力中的每一个都通知其他的。这种三管齐下的方法使用精益启动模型，该模型提倡与最终用户进行交互，并避免围绕可能不被现场采用的解决方案进行长时间的研发。该团队打算与州立和国家公园合作，开发用于测试的烤架/炉子原型，并将与当地公园、露营地和大学/校园设施合作，为原型的开发获得投入。公园设施管理人员的初步反馈表明，人们对绿色、清洁、无燃料的烹饪方式非常热情，这种方式可以降低火灾风险，仅州立公园就有215,000个露营地。

The World Health Organization asserts around 3 billion people still cook and heat their homes using solid fuels in open fires and leaky stoves. Such cooking and heating produces high levels of indoor air pollution with a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small soot particles that penetrate deep into the lungs. In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can be 100 times higher than acceptable levels for small particles. Exposure is particularly high among women and young children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth. Nearly 2 million people a year die prematurely from illness attributable to indoor air pollution due to solid fuel use. Fuel gathering consumes considerable time for women and children, limiting other productive activities and taking children away from school. In less secure environments, women and children are at risk of injury and violence during fuel gathering. Non-renewable harvesting of biomass contributes to deforestation and thus climate change. Methane and black carbon (sooty particles) emitted by inefficient stove combustion are powerful climate change pollutants. The proposed technology addresses this large market and a corresponding domestic market that seeks green cooking alternatives with a no-fuel and no-flame device that stores energy to cook when the user needs it.In this proposal, the team proposes a strategy of concurrent (a) research, (b) development, and (c) field testing, with each of the three efforts informing the others. This three-pronged approach uses the lean start-up model which advocates interaction with end users and avoids prolonged R&D around solutions that may not be adopted in the field. The team intends to work with state and national parks to develop prototype grills/stoves for testing, and will also work with local parks, campgrounds, and university/campus facilities to gain input for development of prototypes. Preliminary feedback from park facility managers indicates a very high level of enthusiasm for a green, clean, fuel-free cooking alternative that reduces fire risk, and there are 215,000 state park campsites alone.