A wood biomass stove named the Iwate Type Pellet Stove has won Japan's Good Design Award for fiscal 2004. The stove was jointly developed by the Iwate Industrial Research Institute and Sunpot Co., a heating equipment maker.

The Good Design Award was established nearly 50 years ago by the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan to promote quality improvement of industrial products. This award has been a strong incentive to enhance product quality in various industries in Japan.

This award-winning stove, the world's first pellet stove that burns tree bark as fuel, and was introduced to the market in 2002. It has a forced flue system and operation is fully automatic, including ignition, extinguishing and temperature control. In case of an earthquake, it also has an automatic fire extinguishing function. Also, its pellet loading slot has been placed low to make it easy to use, especially for the elderly.

The flickering flames in the stove can be seen through heat-resistant glass, framed with Nanbu Iron, the specialty iron of Iwate Prefecture. The pellet stove received the award this time for incorporating the use of a new energy source into an interior design product.

Iwate Prefecture with its expansive forests has been working towards making good use of wood biomass energy. As one of its initiatives, the prefecture produces 2-4 centimeter long cylindrical bark pellets made by compressing wood from the thinning of forests, wood chips and bark. In conventional pellet stoves, it has been difficult to produce continuous combustion, because bark pellets generate much ash and soot. The newly developed Iwate Type Pellet Stove, however, has succeeded in making effective use of bark as fuel.



Posted: 2005/01/23 11:19:51 AM
Japanese version

TAG Eco-product/Business , Ecosystem , Energy , Local government , Manufacturing industry , University/Research institute