Strong partnerships are at the heart of meaningful, lasting impact. Burn Design Lab (BDL) continues to strengthen collaboration with Westwind Energy (WWE) in Sierra Leone, working together to refine and scale a high-performing household cookstove designed for the communities it serves.

Building off of BDL and WWE’s collaboration on the household wood stove for rural areas in 2025, the engineering team presented a new West African household charcoal stove for use in the more urban areas. In March, BDL’s Patrick Flores, traveled to Sierra Leone to work side-by-side with the WWE production team transferring the new design.

This visit focused on delivering custom production tooling and equipment improvements transferring the updated cookstove design for manufacturing, and ensuring it performs reliably in real-world conditions. By collaborating directly with local production staff and real-world stove users, BDL was able to iterate on key design elements enhancing both the stove’s functionality and its manufacturability.

This kind of in-person, technical collaboration reflects BDL’s commitment to not only designing effective technologies, but also ensuring they can be produced at scale by local partners. By investing in capacity building and knowledge sharing, BDL and WWE are helping create a more resilient, locally driven clean cooking ecosystem in Sierra Leone.

This includes not only increasing the availability and affordability of stoves on the market, but also creating job opportunities and strengthening local manufacturing businesses. WWE has produced approximately 1200 stoves year to date. With BDL’s improved stove designs and manufacturing systems, WWE is well-positioned to expand its reach bringing cleaner, more efficient cooking solutions to more households across Sierra Leone, with a goal to reach 1million households over the next 5 years.

Together, BDL and WWE are demonstrating what’s possible when thoughtful design meets strong local partnership: solutions that are not only innovative, but sustainable and scalable.

BDL’s household stove testing continues to move forward across multiple projects, supported by a growing team of engineering talent and strong international partnerships. This spring, BDL welcomed two engineering interns and our new Lab Technician. All have played an important role in testing and development work in the lab: Alex Brucher, a Mechanical Engineering student from the University of Washington; Ram Sigatapu, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the Illinois Institute of Technology; and our new Lab Technician, Steph Bayas, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Central University of Ecuador. Together, they have supported performance testing, prototype evaluation, and real-world cooking simulations that help refine stove designs before and after field deployment with our partners.

BDL Expands to Senegal

In partnership with Westwind Energy (WWE), BDL continues development and testing of household cookstoves for both Sierra Leone and Senegal. Drawing from lessons learned through field testing and partner feedback, the team adapted BDL’s finalized Sierra Leone household stove design for use with Senegalese cooking pots, which feature three legs extending from the bottom of the pot. The engineering team also addressed assembly and fabrication challenges through several design revisions that improved component alignment and structural consistency. BDL finalized and delivered wood and charcoal Senegal stove design and manufacturing packages, which were assembled in Sierra Leone and brought to Senegal for presentation and testing at the regional third party lab in early May. BDL and WWE plan to expand into the Senegalese cookstove market with these new household stoves and the established institutional stove for school feeding.

Wrapping Up Phase 1 of Burundi Cookstove

In Burundi, BDL has completed phase 1 testing of the Tagata stove project in partnership with KTF Concept. Baseline and prototype assessments informed a series of recommendations to improving stove performance, durability, and manufacturability. BDL compiled these findings into two detailed technical reports and were presented to KTF over a series of video calls to transfer the design and manufacturing system recommendations to Burundi. Additional combustion chamber testing and simulated cooking of staple foods such as rice and beans are continuing in BDL’s lab as both organizations prepare a phase 2 funding proposal to further advance the stove design for future production capacity.

This spring, Burn Design Lab welcomed supporters, neighbors, and friends to our Spring Picnic and Open House. Held at our Vashon facility, the event provided an opportunity for guests to reconnect with the BDL community, meet our team, and enjoy an afternoon of food, conversation, and exploration. Visitors toured our lab and shop spaces, getting a firsthand look at where stove development takes shape. Staff shared updates on several of BDL’s current projects, including stove development, testing activities, and partnerships that are helping expand access to cleaner and more efficient cooking technologies.

Guests learned about the challenges and opportunities that drive our work and had the chance to see prototypes, testing equipment, and ongoing research efforts in action. These conversations offered a valuable opportunity to demonstrate how engineering, design, and collaboration come together to create lasting impact.

We were happy to see such a strong turnout and engagement shown by attendees. The event provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community, answer questions, and introduce new visitors to BDL’s mission and impact. Thank you to everyone who joined us. We enjoyed spending time together and are already looking forward to hosting the event again next year. If you missed the event and would like to learn more, reach out to info@burndesignlab.org.