A Samoan engineering student has created a clean-burning oven which uses one-quarter of the wood of a traditional umu.
John Eteuati with his clean-burning umu. Photo: RNZ
Earth ovens using wood to heat cooking stones are common for communal meals across the Pacific.
Otago Polytechnic student John Eteuati says a typical umu (hangi) is a health hazard and needs 60kg of wood.
He has come up with a design which uses two enclosed concrete combustion chambers like a woodburner, and re-burns the smoke before it is emitted. It has the potential to help in countries short of wood fuel.
Mr Eteuati says he is patenting the design and moving back to Samoa to start producing the new umu.
Otago Polytechnic says it is helping patent the design and move the umu into production. Each oven costs $170.
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