Ten years ago, 9-year-old Ken Lou Castillo discovered a way to recycle materials into clean-burning firewood and became Guatemala's youngest inventor.

Lou Castillo's ecological firewood was named Mr. Fuego (Mr. Fire), according to EFE. The invention earned the child a spot in the Guatemala Inventors Commission and the Erick Barrondo Order, an award given by the Guatemala government to children who excel.

The idea for Mr. Fuego came when Lou Castillo wanted to find a way to deal with his smoke allergy. Tired of missing fire-friendly family activities, the child spent "many weeks," testing materials, EFE reports. He was eventually able to complete the project with the help of his father.

The ecological firewood was made of various recycled materials, including sawdust and paraffin.

"I had an idea, and I carried it out," Lou Castillo, now 19-years-old, told EFE. "Later it turned into something that would help other people, not just me."

According to the inventor, a Mr. Fuego log saves wood as its two-hour-long burn creates a heat so intense, that it would take six wood logs the same size to maintain an equal fire for just as long.

Mr. Fuego has gotten increasingly popular since its creation.

"In Guatemala you can find it in all the supermarkets, and it's also exported to Costa Rica," Lou Castillo said.

Nowadays, Lou Castillo, who currently studies communication at a private Guatemalan university, has other wood concerns on his mind. He laments his country's deforestation rates, which have increased over the past few years.

In 2013, The Redd Desk reported that from 2006-2010, deforestation in Guatemala increased 3.42 percent. In the same time period, the country's deforestation rates reportedly increased faster than its re/afforestation rates (plantation and regrowth rates).

According to EFE, the amount of firewood consumed by Guatemalans in 2012 was equal to almost 70,000 barrels of oil. These barrels represent 60 percent of Guatemala's total energy consumption in 2012.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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