Unlike the pan that charges your phone by boiling water over an open fire, the BioLite Camp Stove will cook any number of food items while at the same time charging your devices. This could come in handy in the back yard, or on your next camping trip. Because you never know when you’re going to need to call someone in case of an emergency, but you can pretty much be assured you’re going to have to eat.

What the Camp Stove does is convert the heat generated by fire into electricity, which in turn powers a small fan to improve the combustion of the burning wood. Basically, it’s self-propagating power as long as you’ve got wood to stoke the flames. Surplus power of one to two watts can then be used to charge your iPhone or any other device that uses USB to recharge.

Here in developed nations, we would consider this a camping accessory. But think about other parts of the world where cooking on a wood stove is commonplace. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could generate electricity simply by doing what they normally do? This has definite global possibilities. Especially since BioLite claims it requires half the wood of a regular stove, and cuts smoke emissions by up to 95% while nearly eliminating black carbon. The stove weighs less than two pounds, and can boil a liter of water in just four minutes. The best part is that it doesn’t require wood to work; you can also use pine cones, brush, and sticks.

This is still a concept at the moment, but is expected to launch in April 2012. No word yet on cost or how widely available the first run will be.

Source: SlashGear