Aprovecho Research Center (USA) and Shengzhou Stoves (China) received the prestigious 2009 Ashden International Energy Champion Award from Prince Charles for mass producing wood and charcoal burning cook stoves that cost between $4 and $10.

This is the first time that large quantities of inexpensive, high-quality factory made stoves are available. Over 70,000 stoves have been sold in the past year, with a production capacity of 500,000 stoves per year. Stoves are purchased by the container load, ready for distribution.

Aprovecho has worked for thirty years to design and build biomass stoves and has completed over 100 projects in 60 countries. Dean Still, Executive Director of Aprovecho Research Center said, “We knew how to design good stoves, but we had to find Mr. and Mrs. Shen at Shengzhou stoves to manufacture them. Their traditional Chinese ceramics finally made it possible to mass produce high-quality, affordable stoves. Mitigating climate change requires that sustainably harvested wood and charcoal are burned cleanly. Then the amount of dangerous carbon dioxide added to our planet’s atmosphere is reduced.”

Award Photos | Case Study | Press Release

Check out the video also available on Green.tv produced by the Ashden Award