Note: This post mirrors information posted by Albert Bates at The Farm’s Ecovillage Training Center website.
The Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF) announces its celebrated Stove & CHAB (Combined Heat And Biochar) Camp will be held at The Farm on Labor Day weekend, Aug 31-Sep 5, 2012. Friday through Wednesday – with Dr. Paul Anderson, Eng. Bob Fairchild, Dr. Albert Bates, Eng. Frank Michael and others.
About the Camp:
Stove Camps are fun-filled, family-oriented, ecologically sustainable events that feature dozens of practical, hands-on demonstrations and workshops.
About the Venue:
Nestled in the hills of south-central Tennessee near the Jack Daniels Distillery and the Natchez Trace, within easy driving distance from Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta and Huntsville, the Ecovillage Training Center and Youre Inn at The Farm provide an authentic experience in rustic ecovillage living, whether you are an experienced Stove Camper or a first timer.
The Farm is an internationally recognized ecovillage and twice recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (1980 & 2011). It is the subject of numerous books and documentary films and home today to a few hundred 21st century pioneers.
Camp Costs:
Reserve now while spaces last! Purchase your online tickets and save money and time.
VIP Pass — SOLD OUT!
Six Day Pass — Full Camp Adult $775
Six Day Pass — Full Camp Couple $1100
Six Day Pass — Full Camp Child $150
You get: all the workshops, our gourmet vegan all-meals pass, choice of campsite or dormitory
Six Day Pass — a la carte
Adult (campsite but no meals): $625
Couple: $700
Child (under 16): $100
Nursing Infant: free!
Student: $400
Retired: $400
Low-income: $400
Non-profit organization: $400
Day Pass — $125
Gourmet Vegan Meals ($10 per serving, estimated, as space allows)
Private Rooms — SOLD OUT! contact us for list of nearby motels.
Campsites — free with all registrations, with access to showers, water, and outdoor toilets
The five-day Camp features hands-on experience plus theory & instruction on gasifiers of numerous types, but focusing on pyrolytic top-lit updraft (TLUD) technology for cookstoves (and larger devices for thermal energy and biochar CHAB). Each BEF Camp is a structured learning experience, where the technical foundation, practical skills and fabrication methods of constructing biomass-fueled devices are taught and put into practice with hands-on efforts by the participants.
The Farm’s BEF Camp starts with a social gathering Friday evening, followed by three days of structured learning, building, and burning. Typical days are divided be-tween discussing combustion concepts, learning fabrication techniques while building small prototype devices that demonstrate the concepts, and operating the devices on both supplied and locally available fuels. Evenings are either social gatherings (including one meal prepared on the stoves) or additional time to fabricate and operate biomass-burning devices, collaborating in small groups of 2 to 5, and learning from insights and experiences of fellow participants. The final two days feature focused applications of the acquired skills to individual circumstances dictated by personal interests, unique fuels or culturally specific opportunities (determined based on participant interests for each camp). The instructors work in conjunction with small groups of “makers and testers”, with supplies available to prototype concepts and verify designs.
Workshop topics include:
Theory and Practice of Biomass Gasification: TLUDs, Retorts and Gasifiers
TLUD Micro Gasification: Cooking with gas from biomass
Running a GEK: using gasification vapors and modifications for making biochar
Joy To The World 5-gal TLUDs to Jolly Rogers 55 gal TLUDs and retort combinations for biochar production
CHAB Devices: Heat, Heat Transfer, and Heat Exchangers; Capturing and using heat from batch and continuous TLUDs
Dealing with special fuels such a Jatropha seeds, rice husks, leaves and briquettes
In 2011 stove camps were located in Australia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Honduras and Uganda. In 2012 camps will be offered in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Honduras and Kenya. Each BEF Camp has sufficient differences and updates to merit repeat attendance. Camp sizes are limited to 15 to 30 participants (subject to change in special circumstances).
Tuition does not include transportation, lodging, and most meals, but a lodging and meal plan is provided by Youre Inn at The Farm. An airport shuttle may also be possible. Reservations and pre-payments of tuition are appreciated to assist efficient running of the Camp. For those who desire, tent & RV camping is available, without RV hook ups but both with showers and toilets.
Each participant will have ample time to pursue specific interests, including the making or use of stoves and CHAB devices for specific purposes, such as: residential cookstoves, including the combustion device and the stove structure; Institutional cookstoves, in 55-gallon drums or in alternative structures; the Chip Energy Biomass Furnace (200,000 Btu/hr plus biochar) and the Biomass Grill/Stove; we expect to have some 50 samples of fuels, ranging from llama dung to briquettes, chips, pellets and Jatropha seeds. Well-dried fuel will be supplied at no charge.
For further information contact: ecovillage@TheFarm.org
Both Global Village Institute (GVI) at The Farm and the Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF) are 501(c)(3) organizations to which donations (such as sponsorships of BEF Camps) are tax deductible in the USA.