Our Mission is to develop, build capacity, and disseminate technological solutions for meeting household energy needs in underserved communities that help improve health, enhance safety, and reduce adverse impacts on the climate.

Aprovecho’s History

Aprovecho Research Center is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that was founded in 1976. For more than 45 years, we have provided various services involved with biomass cooking and heating stoves including:

  • Initial design or re-design of cookstoves to achieve improved heat transfer and combustion efficiency. Working in the field with users to assure the effectiveness and market viability of the new stove.
  • Manufacturing and sales of the laboratory and field emissions equipment to measure PM2.5, CO, CO2, CH4, VOC, and black carbon emitted from biomass cookstoves. Other combustion parameters are also available (temperature, air flow, gas velocity, O2).
  • Training of laboratory and field staff to operate the Laboratory Emissions Monitoring System (LEMS) to test and improve cookstove performance. Testing of cookstoves using the Water Boiling Test (WBT4.2.4 and ISO 19867) and Controlled Cooking Test with the emissions hood in the lab and field and a variety of field tests.
  • Providing designs and assistance to five high volume factories in the USA, Africa, India, and China. The combined output of approximately five million stoves per year is frequently supported by carbon credits. 
  • Conducting research to improve the technical understanding of cookstoves.
  • Partnering with researchers in the humanitarian engineering program at Oregon State University to collaborate on projects and train undergraduate, master’s and PhD students.