Cookstove development update

Fred, Stan and I are working like crazy on testing and refining the Gen2.1 cookstove.  Thus far we have made and tested four stoves all with incremental design improvements.  Sadly, we can not yet show any photos or images as the intellectual Property protections are not in place yet.

However, With our testing and minor modifications (will be easy and affordable to incorporate into production). We have greatly improved the usability, cooking efficiency and reduced the material volumes.

We are still on schedule for our launch in late Jan 2018 in Chiapas, Oaxaca and San Luis Potosi.

The world needs more toilets, but Western solutions aren't the answer

Today, 35.8% of the world’s population still lacks access to any proper sanitation facilities.

That’s why in 2015, the world’s leaders agreed to strive for access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030 as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. That means more than three billion extra people will need access to a toilet.

But if we solve this problem with the flush toilets we’re used to in the West, we will have a whole new water access and sanitation problem on our hands. <...more...>

Graphene Sieve Turns Seawater into Drinking Water

A graphene membrane. Photo: The University of Manchester

Graphene-oxide membranes have attracted considerable attention as promising candidates for new filtration technologies. Now the much sought-after development of making membranes capable of sieving common salts has been achieved.

New research demonstrates the real-world potential (...more...)

Gen 2.1 La Mazateca cookstove design at the machine shop

Yesterday was a day of significance. After much too long we finally met with Sound manufacturing (Kent WA) to show them our new stove drawings. It has taken us a long time to get to this point but we are confident in our design and Sound manufacturing to make the tooling.

Our first tools and parts will be for the combustion chamber (smallest part of the stove) to test the tooling manufacturing modeling process.

This is a HUGE step on our way to implementing 50 Gen 2.1 Laz Mataca clean cookstoves in Chiapas this coming fall. We are still working on the intellectual property (IP) filings so I can not show any photos or images yet. I hope to have the IP secured in a month or so. When this is complete we can show the public our innovation.

Israeli Solar Desalination Process Cuts Energy Costs by 90%

Israeli ​startup ​TSD (Tethys ​Solar ​Desalination)​ plans to ​revolutionize ​the process ​with a low-cost,​ off-grid, ​scalable, and ​environmentally ​friendly module ​technology ​using only the ​power of the ​sun. 

The most ​common method ​of reverse ​osmosis using ​membranes is ​costly, energy-​intensive, high-​maintenance, ​and environmentally ​problematic. It ​is best suited ​to mega-scale ​plants built on ​large tracts of ​high-value land ​near the ocean ​and consumes ​enormous ​amounts of ​electricity ​generated from ​fossil fuels. ​Then, the ​treated water ​has to be piped ​great distances ​to farms, ​industries, and ​households. ​ (more)

Shrinking glaciers cause state-of-emergency drought in Bolivia

The government of Bolivia, a landlocked country in the heart of South America, has been forced to declare a state of emergency as it faces its worst drought for at least 25 years.

Much of the water supply to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, and the neighbouring El Alto, Bolivia’s second largest city, comes from the glaciers in the surrounding Andean mountains.
(more...)

Give a Little -- Change Lives

Help support our "La Mazateca" cookstove builders

  After a year of development, our Generation 2 cookstove is almost ready to implement.

Your support now will allow us to get this new design in the field sooner.

Your donation directly supports our cookstove building program in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. That "makes greatness possible" and improves livelihoods for these indigenous, rainforest families and communities.