Harry Stokes

Harry Stokes is executive director of Project Gaia, Inc., a nonprofit that facilitates development of alcohol fuels. Project Gaia was founded in 1995 and began its work in Africa in 2000. It has affiliates in Ethiopia and Nigeria and collaborators in many other countries.

Harry Stokes is a forester by training with a Master’s in Forestry (1974) from Duke University School of Forestry (now the Nicholas School of the Environment).

Project Gaia’s affiliate, Gaia Clean Energy, provides cookstoves and fuel in the refugee camps of Ethiopia as an Implementing Partner to the UNHCR, for which it won an Ashden award (2008). Harry is a winner of the World Bioenergy Award (2012).

Project Gaia works with bilateral and multilateral development agencies, governments and private partners to assist in developing alcohol fuels. Project Gaia works directly with local businesses to assist them to commercialize stoves and fuel in their markets.

Project Gaia provides consulting in alcohols, biofuels and cookstoves to UNIDO, the World Bank, ECREEE, GIZ, and many other entities, including national governments.  Project Gaia recently completed a study in Assam, India, on cooking with methanol-fueled cookstoves.

Harry is a member of ISO technical committee TC-285 that addresses clean cooking solutions and ASTM Subcommittee E48.A0 that is developing a standard for ethanol cooking fuel.