Dumbo’s BioLite is carbon-neutral now

The idea, prima facie, of a carbon-neutral stove company is almost impossible to grasp. The entire purpose of stoves is to burn carbon-based material and release its energy.
But, BioLite makes a different kind of stove.
Its HomeStove, which BioLite hopes will replace the open-air fires used by millions overseas to cook food, releases significantly less CO₂ into the air, thanks to the way it’s made.
But as a company, BioLite produces CO₂ in its shipping, manufacturing and basic functions. According to a new carbon audit from BioLite, it has an aggregate emissions footprint of 2,921 tons of CO₂e. The offset that makes the company carbon-neutral now comes in the reduction of CO₂ its stoves provide in comparison to open-flame fires.
Read the full report

“A smoky open cooking fire emits as much CO₂ annually as car in addition to other toxic byproducts that have devastating effects on health,” the company said in its announcement. “The BioLite HomeStove’s clean combustion technology cuts CO₂ in half and reduces harmful emissions by up to 94%. The reduction in CO₂ comes from requiring less fuel due to increased efficiency; this facilitates the dual benefit of lower greenhouse emissions as well as slowing deforestation by requiring less biomass for the same sized fire.”
We wrote about BioLite this summer, when it raised $5 million in a funding round.
We may not think of it as much of a problem in the United States, but open-flame fires are big elsewhere. Wood, peat, dung and other biomass-burning fires are a significant health concern in many parts of the world. According to the Poverty Action Lab, about 50 percent of the world’s households, and 95 percent of those in impoverished countries burn open-flame fires, leading to poorer health for many due to smoke inhalation, and to about 2 million deaths per year as a result.