How many abandoned stove projects litter the world? How much money have donors sunk into ill-conceived stove designs? Poorly executed marketing campaigns? And lack of investment in capacity building?
I raise this question because a recent conversation forced me to rethink one of my cherished assumptions: that local stove production was the only way to go.
When good stove projects go bad! Read More »
The human toll of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti has been devastating, with the government reporting more than 150,000 dead in the Port-au-Prince area alone. What, if anything, does the disaster mean for the environment?
Haiti’s Environmental Aftermath Read More »
Malawi’s protected areas generate more than 60 percent of the charcoal consumed in the country’s four largest cities.
MALAWI: Nearly 60 percent of charcoal produced from protected areas Read More »
In the Philippines town of Los Baños, 63 miles to the south of Manila, local town officials are marketing briquettes made of discarded waste paper.
In the Philippines: Four briquettes, a cup of rice, and thou… Read More »
At the height of the Darfur emergency in 2004, women had to sometimes walk as long as seven hours to find firewood outside the refugee camps. The women were frequently the victims of rape during these treks.
Faced with these threats, the US government turned to Berkeley Lab scientist Ashok Gadgil to help find a solution to the problem. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is the response devised by Ashok, his colleagues, and the women of Darfur.
A stove for Darfur Read More »
MONG Riththy Group (a privately held local agro-industrial company) is preparing to put “cleaner” charcoal on the domestic market after a US$10 million investment, its president told the Phnom Penh Post Tuesday. In the coming two weeks, the company is set to introduce between 250 and 1,000 tonnes of Acacia charcoal on the domestic market each month at a price of 1,200 riels (US$0.30) per kilogram, said Mong Riththy. The special charcoal is thought to be cleaner than the domestic charcoal used normally, as it burns at a high heat and does not produce as much smoke as other varieties.
Cambodia: Commercial venture to produce “cleaner” charcoal Read More »
Nedbank announced today that its partnership with Wildlife Works Inc. to make available to the international market African carbon credits has proved extremely successful. The demand for carbon credits from the international business community is extremely strong.
Green dollars pour into Africa on the back of pioneering carbon offset deal Read More »
Following last week’s disaster, there’s a good chance that the number of people in Haiti depending on wood and charcoal for their every day needs has sky-rocketed from about 70% to close to 100%. The Charcoal Project is helping by connecting energy-efficient stove/kiln producers and sustainable biomass briquettes makers with potential government, multilateral, and NGO funders. The Charcoal Project will help by collecting information and matching funders with projects that are capable of delivering immediate solutions to Haiti’s urgent bioenergy needs.
Haiti bioenergy relief initiative: connecting projects and funders Read More »
Seventy-one percent of all fuel consumed in Haiti is wood or charcoal, according to the US Agency for International Development. Every year, the country’s 9 million (and growing) inhabitants burn a quantity of wood and charcoal equal to 30 million trees, according to this essay. That’s 20 million more trees than Haiti grows yearly.
After the earthquake: Haiti’s deforestation needs attention Read More »
OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Long-term efforts to help Haiti recover from the earthquake will have to reverse environmental damage such as near-total deforestation that threatens food and water supplies for the Caribbean nation, experts say.
Haiti’s environment needs long-term help-experts Read More »
The horrendous destruction visited on Haiti last week has sparked a torrent of compassion from around the world. Even the bioenergy community has turned out to support the relief effort. But when the relief agencies move on to the next crisis and the last US marine has returned home, Haiti will still be an impoverished
Haiti: A Chance to Get it Right Read More »
Tanzania figures prominently when you google the terms “Africa, charcoal, poverty, and environment.” The facts and figures I came across gave me pause. Tanzania burns one million tons of charcoal each year, which amounts to clearing more than 300 hectares (about 750 acres) of forest every day to produce charcoal. For context, that’s about 1,000
Is a charcoal crisis looming for Tanzania? Read More »
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