Energy Efficient Stoves in Haiti

Energy is one of the world's most hot- button issues today, shaping not only individuals' lives, but also foreign policy and the international system. States compete for limited resources and conduct thinly- veiled diplomacy battles over energy sources. "Developed" and "developing" nations haggle over who gets to emit what. On a more individual level, the access to energy, in all its forms and price structures, is even more crucial for a citizen of a developing economy. According to EarthSpark International, an NGO that empowers communities by eradicating energy poverty, roughly 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity. An estimated 2.5 billion rely on biomass (animal dung and charcoal) for cooking and heating. These fuels and technologies are highly inefficient, resulting in both high costs to families and environmental degradation. These consequences in turn limit productivity and growth in a negative cycle. The Co- Founder and Executive Director of EarthSpark International is actually a Ph.D. candidate at CMU's Department of Engineering and Public Policy. He spoke at Heinz last fall about the organization's work providing low- cost, high quality, high efficiency stoves to families in Haiti. Check out their website at: http://www.earthsparkinternational.org/ .