This paper shares findings and insights from across IDIN's research program. The paper introduces and clarifies the concept of local innovation and shares two key pathways through which local innovation contributes to local development in the contexts that were included in the research.
IDDS participants and community partners created briquettes made from candle wax, sawdust, corn husks, corn cobs, and pine leaves that serve as an alternative source of fuel. They do not emit harmful toxins into the environment as do firewood, allowing for cleaner air and easier breathing conditions as well.
A team of students from UC Davis D-Lab partnered with the Association of Organic Farmers of Boa Vista do Acará (APOBV) to build an oil distillation device as a follow-up to IDDS Amazon in 2016. They designed an oil distiller that can be built with local tools and materials, operate in humid conditions with fire as the primary energy source and produce oil at high quality in a high quantity to sell to tourists in local markets. This report chronicles the development and testing of this device.
IDDS participants and community partners developed an alternative system for heating the temezcal, a traditional sauna-like structure that is used for bathing in Santa Catarina. Previously heated solely through open flame, which contain smoke that can be dangerous and irritating to lungs and eyes.
Additionally, this team of participants created an educational campaign promoting the use of LED lightbulbs, since although they are initially more expensive they result in lower monthly bills. This report is in Spanish.
This report was created by a team of participants at IDDS Hogares Sostenibles. It aims to share information and knowledge gleaned from the team’s work during the summit.
IDDS participants and community partners recreated a cookstove with feedback from local community members. Unlike most local cookstoves it is round, which is prefered for cooking. It uses technology similar to a rocket stove to heat with less fuel than other cookstoves. This report is in Spanish.
This report was created by a team of participants at IDDS Hogares Sostenibles. It aims to share information and knowledge gleaned from the team’s work during the summit.
This handbook presents insights and methodologies from recent biomass cookstove R&D programs at multiple institutions to achieve higher performance, lower cost, and improved usability. This handbook will help cookstove designers and enterprises to integrate the latest R&D innovations into their products and support further innovation.
This handbook was written by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab, led by Dan Sweeney, with research and editorial support from Megha Hegde, Kendra Leith and Amy Smith, in partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. This was inspired by their work with small- and medium-scale cookstove and fuel manufacturers, including at the International Development Design Summit for Cookstoves in East Africa in 2017. Participants used design thinking and cookstove R&D to develop creative solutions to challenging problems in household and commercial cooking in the region.
This dissertation by KNUST student Benjamin Donkor evaluates the performance of a mixed mode solar dryer with a backup heater. The dryer was evaluated on the parameters of drying rate, efficiency, and drying time with and without the backup heater.
This dissertation by KNUST student Gloria Baaba Aboagye investigates the potential of using charcoal briquettes produced from dried coconut husk as an alternative source of biomass fuel. The briquettes were evaluated along several physical and combustion properties, including calorific value, thermal efficiency, and emissions compared to traditional charcoal.
In Ghana, about 73% of households rely on solid fuels for cooking. Over 13,000 annual deaths are attributed to exposure to indoor air pollution from inefficient combustion. In this study, assessment of thermal efficiency, emissions, and total global warming impact of three cookstoves commonly used in Ghana was completed using the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) Water Boiling Test (WBT) protocol. Statistical averages of three replicate tests for each cookstove were computed. Thermal efficiency results were: wood-burning cookstove: 12.2 ± 5.00% (Tier 0); coalpot charcoal stove: 23.3 ± 0.73% (Tier 1–2); and Gyapa charcoal cookstove: 30.00 ± 4.63% (Tier 2–3). The wood-burning cookstove emitted more CO, CO2, and PM2.5 than the coalpot charcoal stove and Gyapa charcoal cookstove. The emission factor (EF) for PM2.5 and the emission rate for the wood-burning cookstove were over four times higher than the coalpot charcoal stove and Gyapa charcoal cookstove. To complete the WBT, the study results showed that, by using the Gyapa charcoal cookstove instead of the wood-burning cookstove, the global warming impact could be potentially reduced by approximately 75% and using the Gyapa charcoal cookstove instead of the coalpot charcoal cookstove by 50%. We conclude that there is the need for awareness, policy, and incentives to enable end-users to switch to, and adopt, Gyapa charcoal cookstoves for increased efficiency and reduced emissions/global warming impact.
In this paper, KNUST and MIT D-Lab researchers detail their research on the development and design of a solar dryer with biomass backup heater for drying fruits.
