Ultimate Open House

From apnews.com

Ben West was scheduled to fly into Haiti’s second-largest city on Jan. 15, to launch a project designed to address a critical problem in a country stripped of as much as 99 percent of its forests.

Haiti needed stoves. Haiti needed stoves because an estimated 800,000 of its residents cook either on an open fire or with an unimproved stove that resembles a baby’s crib with no mattress in it “horribly inefficient,” said West, general manager of the fledgling company StoveTec, a for-profit spinoff of the Cottage Grove nonprofit Aprovecho Research Center.

His trip to Haiti was intended to kick off an effort to put hundreds of thousands of cheap, durable, clean-burning, highly efficient stoves into the hands of as many people as possible for as low a cost as possible.

Then came a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, and “the whole game has changed,” West said.

Now it’s an urgent, emergency Band-Aid project, at least for the short-term, which is why StoveTec has shipped 1,344 cartons filled with flower pot-sized “rocket stoves” that stand a mere 12 inches high but can combust wood and biomass fuels at a scorching 850 degrees Celsius. They’re portable, up to 50 percent more efficient than an open flame and they emit up to 70 percent fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

And they’re an essential component of what people fleeing Port-au-Prince need right now. As many as 25,000 people are scattering out of the city each day and setting up tents in fields on the outskirts, or on the way to Cap Haitien. They have beans and rice distributed by aid workers, West said, but they need to boil water to make it safe, and they need a way to cook that food.

What they need are stoves.

The stoves are being shipped to Miami, where they’ll be loaded onto a container bound for Haiti. Once in the country, representatives from the nonprofit groups Trees, Water and People and the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group will receive the stoves and distribute them to needy citizens, free of charge.

West’s company produces and sells the “rocket stoves” for prices starting at $8 to some of the 3 billion people who cook over an open fire or use unimproved stoves on six continents. He already had put together a partnership between StoveTec and nonprofits based in Haiti, with the aim of 5,000 stoves sold each month.

The company’s cost to manufacture the 12-inch high biomass stoves is about $20, but by funneling money it earns from carbon credit programs into the effort, and selling the stoves to consumers in the United States for about $40, StoveTec can subsidize the venture, getting stoves into the world’s poorest nations for half the production cost. StoveTec can reach 80 percent of the market for these stoves by selling them for $10 apiece, West said.

Selling them, instead of giving them away, makes the effort financially sustainable, but it also fosters entrepreneurial opportunities for distributors and retailers in the target countries and ensures a “buy-in” from customers, West said. People are more likely to use and care for something they had to purchase.

The stoves quickly pay for themselves. The improved fuel efficiency means people save money on expensive charcoal and wood. And tests based on the few dozen units that StoveTec has in Haiti now show even more impressive results than average. Much of what people use for fuel there now is charcoal StoveTec’s stoves can burn wood, charcoal or other biomass such as corn cobs and dung and the stoves in use there now are cutting down on the amount of charcoal needed for cooking by as much as 70 percent, West said.

The plan was to find nonprofits in Haiti that would be exempt from the 35 percent duty on imported goods that could raise the retail cost of the stoves from $10 to $18 apiece, to jump through the necessary hoops to qualify the effort for carbon credits, and to figure out how best to market the stoves to the people.

West’s aim now is to get several hundred thousand stoves into Haiti “quickly,” he said, at a rate of about 5,000 per month.

“People are going into the Dominican Republic, harvesting firewood from there to create charcoal and shipping it illegally across the border to Haiti because they can get over 10 times the price they can in the Dominican Republic for the same fuel,” said Sebastian Africano, stoves program consultant with Trees, Water and People, a Fort Collins, Colo.-based nonprofit that is distributing StoveTec’s devices in Haiti and elsewhere. “Fuel is very expensive there.”

By ANGELA BLACK, Mother Nature Network

Although the EPA has not established official criteria for ranking the greenness of a city, there are several key areas to measure for effectiveness in carbon footprint reduction. These include air and water quality, efficient recycling and management of waste, percentage of LEED-certified buildings, acres of land devoted to greenspace, use of renewable energy sources, and easy access to products and services that make green lifestyle choices (organic products, buying local, clean transportation methods) easy.

Mother Nature Network’s editorial team rounded up their top 10:

10. Austin, Texas

Carbon neutral by 2020 – it’s an ambitious goal, but according to the U.S. Department of Energy, Austin Energy is the nation’s largest provider of renewable energy, which makes its goal to power the city solely on renewable energy within reach. As the gateway to the scenic Texas Hill Country, acreage in Austin that’s devoted to green space includes 206 parks, 12 preserves, 26 greenbelts and more than 50 miles of trails.

9. Chicago

The Windy City has embraced land sustainability far longer than you may think. In 1909, pioneering city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham created a long-range plan for the lakefront that balanced urban growth, and created a permanent greenbelt around the metropolitan area. This greening of the city continues through the Chicago Green Roof Program. More than 2.5 million square feet of city roofs support plant life – including Willis Tower (formerly called Sears Tower) and the city hall building. Also, about 500,000 new trees have been planted.

8. Seattle

The unofficial coffee klatch capital of the country is also sustainable-living savvy. More than 20 public buildings in Seattle are LEED-certified or under construction for LEED certification. Through an incentive program, residents are encouraged to install solar panels on their homes for energy conservation. Sustainable Ballard, a green neighborhood group and sustainability festival host, offers ongoing workshops about how to live in harmony with the environment.

7. Berkeley, Calif.

A great place to find an abundance of organic and vegetarian restaurants is also on the cutting edge of sustainability. Berkeley is recognized as a leader in the incubation of clean technology for wind power, solar power, biofuels and hydropower.

6. Cambridge, Mass.

In 2008, Prevention Magazine named Cambridge “the best walking city.” Thoreau’s Walden Pond can be found in nearby Concord, and education powerhouses Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University are located here. In 2002, city officials implemented a major climate protection plan and today most city vehicles are fueled by B20 biodiesel or electricity. All new construction or major renovations must meet LEED standards. And a project called “Compost that Stuff” collects and processes organic waste from residents, restaurants, bars and hotels.

5. Eugene, Ore.

Known as the Emerald City for its natural green beauty, this baby boomer haven and second largest city in the state has been doing the “green” thing since the 1960s. In 2008, after only one year of service, the Emerald Express, a hybrid public transit system, won a Sustainable Transport award. Cycling is the preferred mode of transportation, made possible by the 30 miles of off-street bike paths and 29 dedicated bike routes, which total a whopping 150 miles of smog-free travel throughout the metro area.

4. Oakland, Calif.

Residents of this port city have access to an abundance of fresh, organic food, much of which is locally sourced. It’s also home to the nation’s cleanest tap water, hydrogen-powered public transit and the country’s oldest wildlife refuge. Oakland also plans to have zero waste and be oil-independent by 2020, and already gets 17 percent of its energy from renewable sources.

3. Boston

It’s hard to think of this city without also thinking of tea – as a commodity, not a drink. Boston ranks high among the urban green elite. Sustainability efforts include a “Green by 2015″ goal to replace traditional taxi cabs with hybrid vehicles, recycle trash to power homes, use more solar panels and use more electric motorbikes for transportation. The city’s first annual Down2Earth conference was held in 2008. It’s designed to educate residents about how to live the most sustainable lifestyle.

2. San Francisco

Declared by Mayor Gavin Newsom to be America’s solar energy leader, this vibrant city of cultural tolerance was a 1960s icon and epicenter for the Summer of Love. But in addition to peace, love and solar power, there’s also an innovative recycling program with an artist-in-residence at the recycling facility. The artist uses his work to inspire residents to recycle and conserve. San Francisco is also the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags, a concept that supports its effort to divert 75 percent of landfill waste by 2010.

1. Portland, Ore.

The city of microbrewery mania and home to megastore Powell’s Books – one of the few remaining independent booksellers in the country – is No. 1 in sustainability. Declared the most bikeable city in the United States for its 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes, Portland certainly makes forgoing gas-powered travel easy. And for lessons in DIY sustainable food sources, classes are available for container gardening and cheese making, or beekeeping and chicken-keeping.