A number of Ugandans depend on nature as a major source of energy for their domestic consumption like preparing meals, boiling water and heating homes. Unknown to them however, are the health hazards and toxicity that affects them as a result of the incomplete burning of wood and other fuels.

A resource friendly Enviro-HE- Stove with a filter and high-combustion heat chamber has been introduced in Uganda to help reduce the amount of fuels used in homes that households would be able to save on their energy budget at the same time reduce the rate at which the environment is being degraded.

Mr Larry Hunt, the president of Enviro Fuels Manufacturing says the HE stoves use clean burning fuel (CBF) pellets of coal that burn smokeless as an alternative to wood and other hazardous combustibles.

"It is smokeless when cooking. Only steam from boiling water; it burns coal which is the most abundant fuel on the planet in an environmentally sensitive, cost effective and fuel efficient way while at the same time allowing the cook to use a familiar method of preparing daily meals with a minimal amount of wasted time and energy," Mr Hunt narrates.

The stove that produces nearly 100 per cent combustion when used and remains safe to touch on its exterior even when the core temperature reaches 1,400 degrees was demonstrated in Kampala.

Mr Hunt says the stove was introduced to help people in the war-ravaged areas of northern Uganda as they return from the Internally Displaced Camps.

He says the project sponsored by donors would also benefit war-affected areas in other countries including Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan among others.

"It is made of stainless steel that would work for 50 years and offer an opportunity to save the cook and others from cancer threats resulting from smoke and heat," Mr David Musiime a city lawyer says. "But most importantiy these stoves have been made with a gadget to process safe drinking water which has been a challenge to many Ugandan rural homes".

Mr Musiime says the initiative to restore the environment and mitigate exposure to health dangers would be used to boost tree planting as well as conservation of the existing ones.

"The idea is that we need the people to feel the expense in that each family will be required to plant at least 20 to 30 trees to acquire the stove. The distribution will be done through local structures in both political and church administration because they can identify their people better," Mr Musiime said.

Mr Hunt says the stove saves up 720 hours in a year which time has been wasted with women at home looking for firewood or charcoal.

He says a tonne (1000 kilogrammes) of coal pellets costs US$160 (about Shs304,000) while a stove costs 12pounds (about Shs37, 800) but would be distributed for free at a cost of planting a given number of trees.

"A stove can use a minimum of eight to 10 pellets for a meal which is less than a quarter a kilo and for a small family it requires 0.45kilogrammes a day implying that one home needs a minimal of 164.25kilogrammes of coal," says Mr Hunt.

He adds, "The expenses are minimal because the stove uses up to 10 per cent of the heat compared to the current stoves where only 25 per cent is used and the 75 per cent is wasted."

Mr Musiime is optimistic that the newly invented stove does not discriminate on the basis of income inequality.

Currently, a sack of charcoal costs between Shs23,000 to Shs25,000 and with the project, "both high and low income earners will manage to foot similar bills for preparing meals without affecting nature or being affected with smoke," Mr Musiime says. On observation, the stove design directs the heat generated in its heat chamber to the burner level, preventing the heat dissipation that occurs with other stoves.

Mr Hunt says that, "As a result, less fuel is necessary for cooking. Tests have shown that the Enviro HE Stove requires not more than one third of the fuel required in current commonly used stoves to achieve the same useable heat for the same amount of time."

He says that using poorly vented or unvented stoves results in many toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxides, formaldehyde, carcinogenic polycyclic organic matter, small particulate matter, and elemental residues.