Partner Spotlight: Rocket Works
With organisations such as The Economist talking about the ‘aspirational consumer’ in Africa, and with the growing middle class population across the continent, it is no longer adequate to look at Africa as a region without consumer aspirations.
As a continent that receives large amounts of financial aid and charitable donations, Africa is a hot bed for Non-Government Organisations. Paradoxically, it is also the continent that has the highest number of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Combining the vast economic needs of the region and the personal aspirations of individuals is the challenge faced by many organisations and companies operating in the region. A team in South Africa is rocking the clean cookstove world doing just that. They have built a market leading natural-draft stainless steel wood stove that is durable, aesthetically pleasing and clean burning. Independent laboratory tests confirm that emissions are in the territory of the high-end fan stoves and gasifiers.
The Rocket Works Wood Stove is a high efficiency wood burning stove; it is designed to accommodate multiple fuels when required. It significantly reduces smoke after initial combustion, thereby reducing the likelihood of carbon monoxide poisoning and reducing the emission of black carbon particles. The outer cage remains cool to the touch even after hours of cooking due to its innovative design. The Rocket Works stove is made from high quality, heat resistant stainless steel allowing for years of regular use. It can boil five litres of water in 15 minutes, using as little as 250g of wood, which is significantly less than traditional cooking methods and its emissions are the best in its class.
Basic Specifications: mass: 2.95 kg; height: 270mm; diameter: 240mm.
The Rocket Works Survival / Disaster Relief Pack is ideal for providing an entire cooking pack in a box. This cooking pack includes a 5lt pot, a Rocket Works stove and a stainless steel spoon. Other product offerings include a gel fuel insert and a charcoal stove.
By designing a stove that combines the living necessities of warmth and food with functional aesthetics and safety, Rocket Works is achieving their aspiration to improve the livelihood of people, reduce cook fire related deaths, reduce carbon emissions, reduce deforestation, and empower women by reducing fire wood collection time.
The design team spent countless hours marrying the aspects of functionality, strength and aesthetics into one stove. They are working towards a production capacity of 2000 stoves a day, which should be realized within the next few months. Stoves can be assembled in their production facility, or with specially designed manual tools, on site. This flat-pack option creates the opportunity to empower local entrepreneurs and tradesman to build sustainable clean cookstove supply businesses.
Rocket Works’ has created a new product and a revolutionary manufacturing process that can easily be replicated anywhere in the world. Making both the product and the business model easily adaptable in any country that has a need and organizations to support the clean cookstoves movement.
Rocket Works has chosen to partner with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves because it is only though strategic partnerships, with players that are leaders in their respective fields and geographies be it distribution, fuels, consumer adoption or other, that the goal of global adoption of clean cooking technologies will become a reality.