Benefits of the Himalayan Rocket Stove
Saves Trees
Each Himalayan Rocket Stove in use will save at least 1 mature tree from being felled each year, the equivalent which is 2000kg of wood.
Saves Backs
Each Stove saving 2000kg of wood means 100 loads of 20kg each that donโt have to be carried on someoneโs back.
Saves Time
With a load of wood taking more than 2 hours to source, saving 100 loads is saving more than 200 hours of labour each year.
Saves Money
If not being sourced personally, then the wood is being purchased, often illegally from black market sellers who are secretly felling trees for sale.
Save Trees and Wood
Each stove saves trees from being felled, keeping them in the forest doing what trees do best. There are countless benefits of reducing deforestation.
Heating Water
Heating water is a crucial aspect of healthy living and only some people have luxury of hot water on tap. Most are burning additional wood to create hot water outside through the day, which is very difficult to do in the winter months.
Clean Air
By using these stoves, pollution is reduced by a massive 90% or more. There are very few emissions from these stoves as they burn so hot and cleanly, as to be free of polluting smoke and CO emissions.
Health Impact
Women and children do most of the hard work of sourcing and carrying wood for the family home. This has long term impacts on the health of these people, which is reduced significantly and directly by reducing the wood requirements.
Vision : Mission : Rationale
Vision
To save one million Himalayan trees by 2026.
Mission
We aim to benefit the communities and environment of the Himalayas by making highly efficient fuel stoves accessible to people who typically burn wood to heat their homes and cook their food.
Rationale
By reducing the demand for wood, multiple benefits flow through to the people of the Himalayan regions that have long lasting effects on the quality of life and the sustainability of the environment on which people depend. These benefits are numerous and have various direct and indirect impacts. They are articulated in more detail throughout this site, however the main benefits are as follows:
- Wood is currently being unsustainably harvested, leading to deforestation of Himalayan wilderness. This leads to:
- destruction of habitat for wildlife
- lack of wood for future needs
- soil erosion and increased devastation from flooding
- release of CO2 to the atmosphere that would otherwise be bound up in the living tree
- Wood is harvested mostly by women and children. This means that:
- time for other (practical and enjoyable) tasks is reduced
- children have less time for education as they are often involved in heavy load carrying
- health is reduced as a result of the burdensome nature of carrying heavy loads over long periods of oneโs life
- risks of accident are increased due to the treacherous terrain of the Himalayas
- Wood burnt inefficiently creates smoke.
- smoke pollution reduces air quality and respiratory health in villages and communities
- soot settles on snow making it melt faster due to lower reflectivity
- smoke in the atmosphere leads to various global warming impacts