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Burn Design Lab’s Eco Stoves

A Vashon Island company is saving lives—and the planet—one stove at a time.

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This article originally appeared in the March 2012 issue of Seattle magazine.

In a design studio on Vashon Island, Peter Scott is cooking up solutions to big problems. His company, Burn Design Lab, is on a mission to reduce global warming and respiratory illness by creating highly efficient and affordable stoves that can replace the open-fire cooking pits used in developing countries. Those pits pump out emissions that make people sick and pollute the air, and they contribute to deforestation as trees are chopped down for fuel.

Scott started making stoves more than 15 years ago, after seeing extensive deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; now, his company’s superefficient stoves are found in several countries, including the Congo. The Burn team designs and engineers a new stove specifically for each location, to make the best use of available materials and fuels, and to work well with local cuisine and culture. The stoves are then mass-produced in country. At press time, Burn was ready to start manufacturing a new stove in East Africa, hoping to produce 3 million units in the next 10 years.

 

 

A San Juan Island Home for All Seasons

A San Juan Island Home for All Seasons

With an eye toward the future, Prentiss + Balance + Wickline helped two Seattle professionals design a house perfect for weekend getaways now—and permanent living during their post-retirement years.

It was early 2017 when a Seattle-based empty-nester couple started searching for a property in the San Juan Islands. They still had jobs in the city, but were nearing retirement and wanted a home they could use on weekends, and eventually settle in after they left the workforce. Initially, the two weren’t planning on a…

Can Alaska Kelp Help Washington Crops Beat the Heat?

Can Alaska Kelp Help Washington Crops Beat the Heat?

A Ketchikan company is working with WSU researchers to see whether its kelp-based biostimulant can help grapes and berries withstand environmental stress.

From the floatplane, reddish-brown kelp traces the edges of the small islands between Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island like brushstrokes on the surface of the water. Up close, on a rare 70-degree July day in Alaska, the kelp is glossy and beautiful, though the wind coming off the water makes it nearly impossible to…

PlantCon Is Coming for Seattle’s Windowsills

PlantCon Is Coming for Seattle’s Windowsills

The nation’s largest gathering for houseplant lovers makes its Pacific Northwest debut this August with 200 booths, hands-on workshops, and a DJ.

My house is full of plants, enough that I’ve lost count. Houseplants have the same suspicious math as tattoos: One is rarely the final number. I propagate cuttings in jars of water, regularly rearrange corners of the house in pursuit of better light, and like to imagine the entire collection is improving the air. That…

Noir Lux Lights Up Fourth Avenue

Noir Lux Lights Up Fourth Avenue

The Seattle candle brand’s new two-level pop-up brings workshops and community gatherings downtown through September.

It’s often said that good things come in threes, and for Colina Bruce, founder of the lifestyle and home fragrance brand Noir Lux, that’s certainly proving true. With a flagship shop in Belltown and an outpost in Ballard, Bruce is rounding out a Noir Lux trio with the opening of the Noir Lux Collective on…