FOREST CONSERVATION

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FOREST CONSERVATION
Is sawdust an efficient alternative to wood as a
fuel?
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Do you know this?

• Where are forests found?
• Why are forests important to us?
• What is the main fuel used to cook food in
  villages or deep rural areas ?
• How do the villagers obtain their fuel?
• What kind of life will man experience if forests
  are destroyed?
• What is sawdust?
• How can the use of sawdust help preserve our
  forests?

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Where are forests found?
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Why are forests important to us?

• Provide many valuable products like rubber,
  fruits and
• nuts, meat, medicinal herbs, lumber, firewood
  etc.
• Used by local people for hunting and fishing.
• Provides income and jobs for people who work
  in
• industries.
• Forests are home for tribal hunter-gatherers.
• More than 2.5 million people rely on forests
  for fuelwood.
• Forests replenish the air by using up
  carbon-dioxide and
• giving off oxygen.

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Why are trees cut down?

• For agricultural purposes.
• For providing timber or pulp (used to make
  furniture, paper etc.)
• For use as firewood.
• To create more space to live in

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SOUTH AFRICA - Reasons why forests are
destroyed rapidly
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What is sawdust?

• Sawdust is produced as a
• waste product during the
• processing of lumber.
• It comes from wood that has been cut and
  processed to make things like furniture.

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From where do we get heat to cook our food?

• Wood
• Kerosine
• Paraffin
• Gas
• Electricity
• Sun
• Coal

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Wood vs Sawdust

• Our group conducted an experiment to compare the
  burning efficiency of sawdust and wood.
• Equal weight of sawdust and wood were taken and
  used to heat one litre of water respectively.
• Sawdust was packed into a sawdust stove and the
  wood was placed in a pile on the ground.
• In each case, recordings were taken on the time
  it took to bring the water to boil, colour of the
  flame, amount of smoke given out and the time it
  took for the entire fuel to burn out.
• Our recordings showed that.
• that sawdust took less time than wood to catch
  fire
• Sawdust stove produced very little smoke when
  compared to the burning of wood during the
  initial stage.
• Later there was no smoke produced by the sawdust
  stove, while the burning wood still produced a
  lot of smoke.
• The wood fire burned out very quickly in 2
  hours while it took 5 ½ hours for the sawdust to
  complete burning.
• The underside of the pot over the sawdust stove
  contained very little soot while there was a lot
  of soot on the pot over the wood fire.
• From our observations we feel that sawdust can be
  a good substitute for wood as a fuel

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Wood vs Sawdust.cont
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Using a sawdust stove

• A sawdust stove can be made from a simple empty
  tin with a hole cut out at the bottom.
• Sawdust is packed tightly into the tin leaving
  two canals which provides a smooth circulation of
  air.
• A small dry twig is used to start the fire in the
  stove.
• Though it takes some time for the sawdust to
  light up, once it has lit up, it burns steadily
  for about 6 hours until all the sawdust is used
  up.
• No smoke is produced.
• No more wood is neededthe sawdust burns by
  itself and because it is tightly packed, will
  take a long time to burn out.
• There is enough heat produced to cook a complete
  meal.
• There is no soot produced.

Air canal Tin Air canal
Tightly Packed sawdust
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Why use sawdust as a fuel?

• It is considered to be a waste product.
  Therefore it can be obtained cheaply.
• Wood comes from a renewable source - the trees.
  Trees can be replanted.
• Less trees need to be cut down.
• Burning sawdust in a sawdust stove produces very
  little smoke and helps to reduce air pollution.

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Conclusion

• I feel that if sawdust is used as a cooking fuel,
  it will help to reduce the rate at which forests
  are being cut down.
• This in turn will act towards the prevention of
  extinction of animals that depend on forests.
• Global warming and air pollution is also reduced.