EcoZoom is a certified
B Corporation that makes charcoal, wood and
biomass
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
cook stoves. The company has offices in Portland, Oregon and
Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi Riv ...
. EcoZoom holds the exclusive license to distribute stove technology designed by
Aprovecho in developing countries and a second license to distribute in the United States.
History
EcoZoom was started in April 2011 by Ben West to increase the distribution of improved cookstoves in developing nations.
Timeline
2011
*January – EcoZoom receives B Corporation status
2012
*January – EcoZoom joins the Portland State University Social Innovation Incubator Vector Program
*February – EcoZoom completes a 10,000 stove pilot program with the Mexican government to replace open-fire cooking and indoor cooking stoves with a double burner stove called La Mera Mera
*November – EcoZoom is named by Sustainable Business Oregon as a Sustainable Business Award Finalist
2013
*May – EcoZoom opens up second office in Nairobi, Kenya
*September – EcoZoom Case Study is used by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to demonstrate product design process to increase adoption of stoves
Product design
EcoZoom stoves use a
rocket stove
A rocket stove is an efficient and hot burning stove using small-diameter wood fuel. Fuel is burned in a simple combustion chamber containing an insulated vertical chimney, which ensures almost complete combustion prior to the flames reaching t ...
design for efficient combustion of fuel. As a result, less fuel is used compared to an open fire with less smoke emitted, helping cooks from inhaling harmful smoke while using less natural resources.
Business model
EcoZoom sells stoves direct-to-consumer in the US while completing multiple international projects in Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, Rwanda, Somalia, and South Africa.
See also
*
Cook Stove
*
List of stoves
This is a list of stoves. A stove is an enclosed space in which fuel is burned to provide heating, either to heat the space in which the stove is situated, or to heat the stove itself and items placed on it. Stoves are generally used for cooking ...
*
Portable stoves
A portable stove is a cooking stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, used in camping, picnicking, backpacking, or other use in remote locations where an easily transportable means of cooking or heating is needed. Portable stove ...
*
Rocket stove
A rocket stove is an efficient and hot burning stove using small-diameter wood fuel. Fuel is burned in a simple combustion chamber containing an insulated vertical chimney, which ensures almost complete combustion prior to the flames reaching t ...
*
Wood-burning stoves
*
Aprovecho
References
{{reflist
Stoves
Companies based in Portland, Oregon
Benefit corporations