A friend of mine told me about this "BioLite Stove". It's a small camp stove that generates electricity and provides a USB output for charging devices. (There is a "home stove" version too.) Pretty cool sounding, but a little pricey at $129.95 (MSRP).
Yeah, there’s a water pot like that too. Would be nice to have, but pricey!
I imagine the price will come down, and efficiency will go up in a few years.
“Buddy of mine got one- works good. It’s not awesome at charging, but the fan makes it a mini blast furnace. Just keep feeding little twigs and it’ll boil water quickly and warm hands forever.”
Wow, interesting, first thought when I read the title was - LOL WTF :D?!
Looks cool+it uses biomass, not natural gas, which is great=infinite heat if used in are full of said biomass!
Back during the 1920’s and later, the Soviets were using Thermocouples to power radios, lights and other devices. All you have to do is use thermocouples (same as in your water heater) to use heat to generate a small electrical current.
The Russians issued the setup to rural residents so that they could listen to the radio even though there was no electrical power in the area.
That way, Stalin could make sure that peasants could listen to all the latest propaganda, without using batteries they could not buy because they had no money and were not available anyway.
Hunters could put some thermocouples near the campfire and the power generated would give power for a radio or lights.
I saw these a few months back and did quite a bit of reading.
The principle is sound but the output from the TEC is quite low and relies on a good temperature differential. In other words, the hotter your water gets, the less power is developed.
I concluded that they were a little like those lights with solar panels - helpful to have extra trickle of recharge but not up to the job as the only means of charging.
As a way of cooking, they are apparently very good.
For more interesting reading, do a web search for WOODGAS STOVES
