In 2013, the Kimberly™ wood burning stove was selected as one of 13 finalists for the Wood Stove Design Challenge organized by the Alliance For Green Heat, an independent non-profit.

Partnering institutions included Popular Mechanics magazine, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the U.S. Forest Service, the Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association, and the Masonry Heater Association of North America.

In their review of the 261 entries from around the world, judges selected the 13 wood stove finalists for designs producing high efficiency with ultra-low emissions. Additional considerations in this wood stove competition included innovation, affordability, and marketability.

The 12 stoves which actually completed The Wood Stove Design Challenge were tested and judged on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. during the month of November 2013. The teams competing in this international wood stove design challenge were: Unforgettable Fire’s Kimberly™ team, Dragon Heat, The Firemaster, Helbro Stoves, Hwam Intercontinental, Ofenbau & Feuerstein, SmartStove, Travis Industries, Tulukivi, University of Maryland, Walker Stoves, Wittus and Woodstock Soapstone.

Kimberly™ impressed the judges for a number of reasons, particularly because of its clean burn. John Ackerly, the organizer of the event at the Alliance for Green Heat was quoted as saying, “To our knowledge, there is no other extremely small stove designed to heat smaller spaces on the market that has been certified by the EPA and this third-party testing should give consumers a level of confidence that so many small, uncertified stoves don’t have.”