Stove Testing Update – Release of Water Boiling Test Protocol 4.2.3
The Alliance is pleased to support advancements in cookstove testing by debuting the latest version of the Water Boiling Test (WBT), 4.2.3. The WBT is the most common test for stove efficiency and emissions, and it is designed to simulate the cooking process in a laboratory setting. The Alliance collaborates with testing experts to provide key tools for conducting tests and documenting results.
The WBT 4.2.3 spreadsheet and updated protocol are now available on the Testing Protocols page. These documents will enable testing centers to analyze efficiency and emissions results by conducting up to ten stove tests runs, which allows for verification of results. The spreadsheet also includes updated calculations with options that can be used with a greater variety of emissions testing laboratory setups, making them more relevant and functional for global testing organizations. Special thanks to Ryan Thompson and David Sherman, students at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and other testing experts who worked on and provided input on these updates.
In addition to these spreadsheet updates, WBT 4.2.3 includes new features to help partners share stove and fuel performance results. We have integrated reporting format requirements from the IWA Tiers of Performance Report into the spreadsheet to allow for simplified reporting mechanisms. The WBT 4.2.3 spreadsheet can be directly imported into the Clean Cooking Catalog for rapid, convenient sharing of test results. This can be done by visiting the Catalog test results submission form, entering basic contact and stove information, and uploading the spreadsheet. The Alliance’s Standards & Testing team is working with partners to enable direct upload for other laboratory and field testing results, and we will also be adding this feature to other testing templates.
For more information on how to use the spreadsheet, other updates, and how to directly share WBT 4.2.3 results in the Catalog, please reference the protocol document.