Kenya and UNIDO launch 5-year biomass project. This is welcome news considering that over 68 percent of the population in Kenya use biomass for cooking, whilst Kenya’s Ministry of Energy estimates that up to 95 percent of the energy consumed in rural areas is in the form of fuel wood, agricultural residue and animal waste.
Bagamoyo’s (Tanzania) rapid urbanization and population growth have made it harder for workers like Msilo to keep their businesses afloat and feed their families. Alongside rising electricity costs, the wood most people use for their household and business energy needs is becoming scarcer.
Thirteen women and eight men were instructed on how to produce fuel alternatives to charcoal, using agriculture and crop residues. These residues include rice and cashew husks, wood shavings, coconut husks and shells – all of which can be fashioned into briquettes, whose growing use addresses the shortage of charcoal and other wood-based fuels.
By 2050… smoke from cooking fires will release about 7 billion tonnes of carbon in the form of greenhouse gases in Africa – that’s about 6 per cent of the total expected greenhouses from the continent. — Rwanda New Times
A roundup of who said what, when, about the “raging” debate on the efficacy of clean cookstoves.
VACANCY: Tanzania Forest Conservation Group is looking for an experienced and well-qualified candidate for the position of Technical Adviser for our Sustainable Charcoal Project. Candidates can be of any nationality.
In March, researchers from India and California published a study showing that certain clean cookstove models occasionally release a larger volume of certain pollutants than the traditional stoves they’re intended to replace.
Three American researchers released a randomized, controlled study Monday that is even more damaging to the clean cookstove movement.
“Cheap, disposable, utilitarian appliances.” And, “not enough fuel savings to justify the expense of a clean cookstove.” These are just some of the findings in an new study out by Ideo.org on the cooking habits of Tanzanians.
As Uganda’s woodfuel crisis deepens, slum-dwellers in the capital come up with creative solutions.
Banning timber and charcoal production to protect the country’s remaining tree cover is well intentioned but completely impractical.
Betty Ikalany is eager to include women in her budding briquette-making enterprise. She believes the income-generating potential offered by briquette-making will empower women by making them more economically independent.
She specifically targets women living with HIV/AIDS and girls dropping out of school due to pregnancy because these two groups usually suffer greatly from stigma and discrimination in the community, which impedes their ability to provide a living for themselves.
