Recently at the Cool Product Expo, we got a lot of great questions from people.  As I was explaining our goals for the project, one man asked me, “what do you mean by sustainable?”  What a great question!

Our goal from the start has been to create a cook stove that can be completely sustained within a local market.  One aspect of this is economic sustainability.  From the start, our cook stove has been designed to be as cheap as possible.  It needs to be a product that families living on $1-$2 a day can afford and one that saves them money over time.  (Current prototypes currently “pay for themselves” in about 3 months and are priced below what most potential customers say they would pay.)

But, even if it makes sense economically, our cook stove needs to be something that people want to buy and are willing to assume the risk on.  It’s surprising to some people, but marketing plays a big role even in the developing world.  This is especially true of anything that’s perceived as a risk or an “unknown”.

Sustainable also means being manufacturable using local (or easily importable) materials, tools, and know-how.  Shipping costs are of course a concern, but helping build local industry and entrepreneurship know-how is equally important.  It also fits nicely into our design philosophy of building prototypes, getting them into the hands of users, getting real feedback, and doing it often.

Sustainability is at the heart of what we’re trying to do.