J. P. Baumer's winning design for a competition sponsored by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1763. |
The Alliance for
Green Heat and Popular Mechanics magazine are launching a Wood Stove Design
Challenge this winter and inviting stakeholders to provide input before it is
finalized. We are particularly interested in talking to stove
manufacturers, universities, inventors and institutions interested in higher
efficiency stoves.
The Wood Stove Design
Challenge seeks to spur innovation in wood stove design. The Challenge is looking for designs that are
affordable for the average American and help burn cleaner and more efficiently
in real world conditions. The Challenge
is modeled after the DOE sponsored Solar Decathlon that “blends affordability, consumer
appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum
efficiency.” Unlike the Solar Decathlon, however, the Wood
Stove Design Challenge is not restricted to university teams. Everyone is
invited to participate. We expect
university engineering departments, for example, to team up with a nearby stove
manufacturer or find other sponsors to support them.
Our draft timeline has pre-applications due in December
2012. A panel of judges will select
finalists to bring their prototypes to Washington in the fall of 2013 for a
next generation wood stove exhibition that will be open to the public,
policymakers and the media. During the
Exhibition, the panel of judges will select the winners. Winners will receive a cash prize and be
profiled in Popular Mechanics magazine.
Partial funding of the Challenge has been provided by the Osprey
Foundation and the Ramsay Merriam Fund.
We are very interested in your feedback on this Challenge
before all the details are finalized.
For a more detailed 2-page draft announcement of the Challenge, please
contact Melissa Bollman at melissa@forgreenheat.org. Deadline for feedback is Friday, January 20,
2012.
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