BPSU-developed cookstove can now be used to light bulb, charge cellphone

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – The Bataan Peninsula State University-developed vertical-fed biomass cookstove can now also be used to light bulb and charge cellphone.

Engr. Jonathan Lacayanga, chairman of research and development in BPSU Abucay Campus and inventor of the cookstove, said BPSU Main Campus College of Engineering and Architecture faculty members Dr. Ryan Dizon and Engr. Rod Munoz, and Engr. Walter Valdez of BPSU Abucay Campus have worked together to make the cookstove into thermoelectric generator.

A thermoelectric generator converts heat into electrical energy. “This is a big help to particularly households that have no electricity. They can now light bulb and charge cellphone”, pointed out Lacayanga.

The cookstove, aside from not polluting the air, is safe, easy to use, consumes minimal fuel, durable and adaptable for different cooking purposes.

According to a World Health Organization 2009 report, about 2.5 billion people in more than 500 million homes worldwide use dirty and inefficient cookstoves.

In developing countries like the Philippines, the use of open fire stove that burn biomass fuel inefficiently are noted to cause hazards to human health, environment, and other household problems.

The cookstove has been recognized by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC), a United Nations initiative, making BPSU one of the about 430 institutions in the world belonging to the alliance and the first in the Philippines.

As a member of GACC, BPSU becomes an implementing partner in realizing the vision of the alliance to provide and distribute 100 million clean cookstoves for biomass dependent households worldwide by the year 2020.