Madagascar’s vanishing biodiversity: “We’re all in,” says USAID

Via Surfbirds News — Twenty-five years of environmental assistance in Madagascar by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has achieved major progress in the biologically spectacular nation, but the gains are at critical risk of being reversed – and will likely be lost all together – if the international community continues to punish its government for the ongoing political situation.

Biochar: Panacea or peril?

The problem stems not so much from the science as from the business model for biochar. Bringing biochar into the market for trading carbon credits – which is being considered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)  for inclusion in UN Certified Emission Reductions (CER) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – would kickstart biochar production on an industrial scale. It would create a market for biochar carbon offsets that polluters would buy. That means biochar companies would need enough biomass to fuel their furnaces – and their bottom lines. That could mean more than a billion hectares worldwide devoted to biochar.

Peace Corps launches site providing resources for improved cookstoves and ovens

This post comes to us via the good people at the IAP (Indoor Air Pollution Updates). We thought it might be of interest to our visitors as a resource.

Peace Corps – Improved Stoves and Ovens – Welcome to the Peace Corps Clean Indoor Air/ Improved Cooking Toolkit, your one-stop source for reliable and relevant information about improved cookstoves, ovens and biogas applications appropriate for Volunteer communities.

A kiln that boost crops, cuts CO2 emissions, and generate income? Now we’re talking!

A scrappy four year-old startup thinks it can improve the livelihood of the world’s energy poor by converting 6 billion tons of agricultural farm waste produced annually in developing countries into sustainable biomass fuel (like briquettes or biodiesel, for example) and biochar, a valuable soil additive that can dramatically boost a farmer’s crop yields.

Kyoto CO2 trade may end if no climate deal-UN study

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) – The Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM) may end from 2013 unless the world can agree and put into force a new round of carbon emissions targets before then, a U.N. paper has said. 

Funding: 2010 SEED Awards target Africa

The SEED initiative is calling for applications from small-scale and locally driven enterprises around the globe for the 2010 SEED Award for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development.

Energy efficiency: what Coca Cola’s World Cup video can teach us

While we wait for Coca Cola to help us produce the perfect video that tells the story of energy-efficiency-technology-and-policies-solutions-to-energy-poverty, (they can help us find a better name, too!) we’ve compiled four slideshows recently published in the New York Times that we think help visualize the energy hunger/energy obesity world we live in.

Bob, Luis: It’s about energy efficiency and CC, guys.

A group of Latin American NGOs has called on the World Bank and IDB (InterAmerican Development Bank) to pay greater attention to energy efficiency and Climate Change mitigation and adaptation.

KENYA: Energy saving stoves to save forest cover

The Government of Kenya launches large-scale program to deploy energy efficient stoves. The project, named Promotion of Private Sector Development in Agriculture (PSDA), is designed to disseminate energy saving technologies, geared to improve rural livelihoods.

Uganda: Forest Cover, Wetlands Vanishing

(Kampala) National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) of Ugandawarns that the country’s environment is in danger. as much of its forest cover and wetlands could soon disappear.

Of heat waves and when “extreme weather” becomes just plain vanilla weather

Folks,

First off, apologies for the radio silence over the past week. We were slowed down a bit by the heat wave that struck the Northeastern United States but which seems to have passed, at least for now.

CONGO: End of armed conflict in 2003 signals wholesale devastation of forest in sout of Rep. of Congo

By Arsène Séverin
KINKALA, Congo, Jun 22, 2010 (IPS) – The trees are falling in Pool, and there are plenty of people to hear the sound. In a painful irony, the end of armed conflict in 2003, has signaled the wholesale devastation of forests in this southern region of the Republic of Congo.
All along the 75 kilometre road between the capital Brazzaville, and Kinkala, the southern region’s principal city, there are bundles of wood and sacks of charcoal stacked ready to be trucked to feed the household energy demands of the capital.
Since the end of the civil wars which lasted from 1998 to 2003, production of charcoal and firewood has become profitable for the people in the Pool department, one of 12 administrative areas in the country.
There are farmers who produce nearly 300 sacks of charcoal every three months. A 15-kilo bag of sells for the equivalent of $10 in Brazzaville. Read more.

MADAGASCAR: WWF: with draught & poverty, poor people turn to charcoal-making

14 June, 2010 via WWF website

Toliara – Field staff at WWF Toliara in Southwestern Madagascar have reported a substantial increase of charcoal production in the last couple of months in their zones of operation. Due to the missing rainy season, farmers abandoned their fields by the hundreds and try to make a living producing charcoal. The lack of regulations and control makes the charcoal business an easy one to work in.

Help us track the cost of biomass fuel around the world

We just couldn’t resist preempting Steve Jobs‘ announcement of the next hot Apple gadget with our own launch today, the world’s first Global Biomass Index.

As we indicated before, the index will track the price of biomass and related fuels around the world.

The tool is a work in progress and you can expect to see greater functionality with each new version.

Ultimately, however, the index will only succeed if you help us by contributing information from wherever you are!

So, you wanna deploy cookstoves to every corner of the world? McKinsey & Co. has one word for you: networks

In a meeting this week with the folks from Acumen Fund, we were asked what was holding up the large-scale deployment of improved cookstove worldwide?

The truth is there is no simple answer. Take your pick: low levels of capital investments, tariff barriers, lack of incentive policies, fluctuation price of oil, poor social marketing, instability in the carbon credit market, absence of standards, etc.

Looking for solutions, the folks at McKinsey and Co. think stakeholders would do well to focus on networking and sharing resources.

Listen to the Harvard Business Review and they’ll tell you the US needs to spend more time investing in social entrepreneurs in the developing world and less playing the role of incubator.

Haiti RFP stove announcement: Quick wins environmental health project with community benefits

We’ve received the following announcement:

Dear Improved Stoves Working Group,

In the framework of the Environmental Health Protection and Management platform, we would like to let you know that IOM (International Organization for Migration, not to be confused with Institute of Medicine of the National Academies) has funding available for quick wins environmental health project with community benefits to be started on July 1st and completed on September 1st.

Budget is of $20 000 to max of $70 000 per project.

Project submission details:
Deadline for submission: June 30th by midnight.
To be sent to sfernando@iom.int. Please copy Megan.Rapp@unep.org with any submissions.
Good luck and best regards,
Megan Rapp
———————–
Megan A. Rapp
Research Assistant
United Nations Environment Programme
Haiti Mobile +509 3841 8126
megan.rapp@unep.org
Skype: megan.a.rapp

OK, UNDP, what’s the REAL plan to alleviate energy poverty?

OPINION

We almost choked on our first Red Bull of the day when we opened up our social media apps and stumbled upon this tweet.

How could we possibly not be excited by the influential David Roberts (Grist) tweeting about the UNDP’s call for greater attention to alleviating energy poverty as a key strategy to achieve the MDGs?
But, like a puzzled puppy who’s favorite chew bone has been taken away for no reason, we were disappointed by what we read when we clicked on the link: it was yet another lofty paragraph written in “development-ese” leading to a bunch of UN reports about how important energy poverty relief is to achieving the MDGs.

Hey, folks at the UNDP, a list of reports does little to sway policy-makers and public opinion.
To really move the needle on this issue we need a coordinated marketing, communications, and advocacy strategy that will engage public opinion and decision makers.
At The Charcoal Project we think a window for action will soon open up when the US Congress takes up discussion on a national energy (and climate change?) bill later this summer. This will be the time to lobby key Congressmen and [...]

Now we’re cooking: USAID to grant some $20m for indoor air pollution over 5 years

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to award a five-year $100 million Cooperative Agreement, Supportive Environments for Healthy Households and Communities. Approximately 20 percent of the proposed work will focus on indoor air quality. The RFA lists “increased use of alternatives to cooking with biomass fuels using traditional stoves and/or increased use of housing improvements to improve indoor air quality” as a key environmental health intervention.

Energy Obesity vs Energy Poverty: Will US Corporate CEO’s address them simultaneously?

Bill Gates last week joined the CEOs of GE, Bank of America, Xerox, Lockheed Martin, and others, in calling for the United States to modernize its energy systems with investments in cleaner, more energy efficient technologies.

What seemed especially eerie is how the group’s exhortation could easily have been uttered by the top CEOs of companies based in developing countries.

How BP is going to help alleviate energy poverty

BP, the US Congress, and the White House don’t know this yet, but we think the Macondo gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is going to help put better cookstoves, fuels, and policies in the pots of the world’s 3 billion energy-poor households.

Charcoal Production Wreaks Environmental Havoc in Somalia

By Amanda Wheat
Although Somalis are no strangers to devastating droughts, uncertainty about weather patterns are rising with the temperature. As the climate changes and crops dwindle, many Somalis are forced to find alternate means of income. The result is an increase in charcoal production, which further compounds the degradation of Somalia’s forests and livelihoods. Read more.

A Great Stove with A Killer App

If only we could figure out a way to combine the allure of sexy technology with the utilitarian nature of energy-efficient cookstoves. (And did I also mention reducing emissions and fuel consumption?)

Well, guess what, folks, this may have finally happened!

To achieve cookstove scale we need standards

What’s more important: reducing fuel consumption or reducing emissions of black carbon and other toxic gases?

The answer is, of course, both, but designing a stove that meets the highest current ratings in emissions reduction and energy consumption at a reasonable cost has so far proven elusive.

Coming up with the right standards will be critical to getting cookstove projects to scale, especially since carbon-credit financing will be vital for some projects to make financial sense, says Dean Still of the Aprovecho Research Center.

North-South divide grows over use of biomass to generate electricity

As Climate Change negotiations get underway in Bonn, a coalition of green groups has released a report sharply criticizing the United States for its projected use of biomass for electricity generation.

American Power Act to fund biochar R & D as part of “fast CC mitigation” strategy.

Even though there are still a few skeptics out there, we were excited to learn that the current draft of the American Power Act acknowledges the potential role biochar can play in capturing CO2 during the biomass combustion process. Whether or not this language will end up in the final draft of the APA that will land on Bo’s desk for approval remains to be seen.  By the way, the last we heard the legislation would be submitted for debate in the fall.

Below is the excerpt provided by Victoria Kamsler, Chair of the Biochar Offset Group out of Toronto, Canada. The group has been actively lobbying G8 summit leaders set to meet in Canada this month to offset their emissions by contributing to a global biochar project development fund.
Source: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

Published Wednesday, 19 May, 2010 – 14:04
US Senate Climate Bill: “Achieving Fast Mitigation” Through Non-CO2 Strategies

The Senate climate bill unveiled last week by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) contains a section entitled “Achieving Fast Mitigation” to address non-CO2 climate forcers, including black carbon soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These non-CO2 greenhouse gases and pollutants, together with [...]

The seeds of change in Africa’s economic climate

Some entrepreneurs and financiers believe that Africa can benefit from the economic opportunities of climate change. They hold a radically different vision of the climate trends, seeing the chance for jobs and development, instead of just doom and gloom.

The Darfur Stoves Project: A Market Solution to Poverty

Today, three billion people—nearly half the world’s population—burn coal, wood, dung, or compost to heat their homes and cook their food. In addition to the deforestation associated with open fire cooking, especially in regions of conflict, the need for fuel often leaves searchers vulnerable, exposing them to risk of attack.

Yo, IPCC & CC movement! (cough, cough) Here’s an easy win: Black Carbon (wheeze, wheeze)

The IPCC and the climate change movement are missing the boat on a crucial fix.

Why black carbon abatement is not one of the central topics of discussion by the climate change movement is a mystery to me given the findings in this report.

Hey, sub-Saharan Africa, feeling energy poor? Take a mobile phone and call me in the morning.

Is someone selling you counterfeit malaria pills? Let a mobile phone check on that for you. (1)

Too poor to have a bank account? Try mobile banking.(2)

Are you a herder in Kenya or Tanzania and have a sick goat? Track it on a mobile phone. (3)

Someone trying to pull a real estate scam on you in Lagos? Let Google’s Android handle that for you.(4)

Now, the World Bank is wondering if the mobile phone story may be the ticket out of energy poverty for rural sub-Saharan Africa.

Compilation of Energy-Efficient Cookstove videos on YouTube (via IAP Updates/USAID)

We are pleased to share with you this list of 25 cookstove-related videos posted on YouTube and curated by the good people over at USAID’s Indoor Air Pollution News Update.

Thanks IAP Update for doing this!

REPORT: Indoor air kills 2.2 million young Chinese

BEIJING (AFP)  More than two million Chinese youths die each year from health problems related to indoor air pollution, with nearly half of them under five years of age, state media cited a government study as saying.

The study released by the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said indoor pollution levels can often be 5-10 times higher than those measured in the nation’s notoriously bad outdoor air, the China News Service said.

Tanzania to loose forest cover by the end of century

The Citizen Daily
Tanzania’s entire forest cover will disappear in about 10 to 16 decades if the current high level of deforestation is not checked, a new survey warns.
While the survey by Conservation International, a non-profit organisation with its headquarters in Washington, DC, United States, has revealed that 2,300 square kilometres of forests is being destroyed yearly, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has put the annual deforestation rate at whopping 4,200 square kilometres. (Read more.)

Can The Hartwell Paper bring biomass & energy efficiency out of the development wilderness?

OPINION

I almost cut myself shaving this morning while listening to a BBC News story about The Hartwell Paper, which I’d only heard about en passant.

The Hartwell Paper was drafted by a group of academics in an attempt to offer a radically different way of framing the issues raised by climate change, and hence a different set of approaches for tackling them.

I’m writing about this now because, if the ideas put forward gain traction, they have the potential to place energy poverty and unsustainable biomass dependence where it belongs: out of the sustainable development wilderness and into the center of the human development policy debate.

The Nut Graph

Via BBC News, I give you, verbatim, Professor Mike Hulme, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, England.

On Emissions Cut

“To move forward, we believe a startling proposition must be understood and accepted.
“It is not possible to have a “climate policy” that has emissions reduction as the all-encompassing and driving goal.
“We advocate inverting and fragmenting the conventional approach: accepting that taming climate change will only be achieved successfully as a benefit contingent upon other goals that are politically attractive [...]

A Man, a Stove, a Mission

Nathaniel Mulcahy’s speaks with the urgency and precision of someone on a mission and with little time.

Although he has patiently and politely dedicated the better part of an hour to our conversation, I know that the moment he hangs up he will be off to complete a million tasks on his to-do list.

Mulcahy has good reasons to be in a hurry. The first one is that he cheated death seven years ago following a really bad accident, so he’s a man on his second chance.

The second reason, which is linked to the first, is that he is determined to bring energy-efficient cookstoves to the world’s 2.4 billion people who sit at the bottom of the world’s energy ladder. They are the poorest of the poor who lack access to modern fuels and must make do with wood, charcoal, and animal dung to meet their everyday energy needs.

NYT: United Nations: $35 to $40 billion global plan to expand energy use and reduce carbon

UNITED NATIONs – At least $35 billion to $40 billion of annual investments will be required to link all people in the world with modern forms of energy by 2030, a goal that must be reached while reducing heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, a U.N. advisory group recommended yesterday.

UN report Energy for a Sustainable Future is pie in the sky

OPINION – Do the energy poor, especially those who depend on biomass for their primary fuel have to wait until electricity magically arrives in their home before they can get rid of their three-rocks-and-pot that is killing their children, mother, and wives?

This question was actually bravely posed at the UN last week in a closed door Q&A session held after the release of a report called Energy for a Sustainable Future.

The response given was, literally,”nothing.” Nothing is being done for the energy poor until electricity arrives.

Hey, World Leader, how about a side of biochar to go with your next meeting?

So what is this thing they call biochar, you ask?

It’s been described as the Swiss Army knife, or the “killer app” of climate solutions.

Now, leaders of the G20 have a chance to put it on the map!

Germany investing in Uganda renewables, including biomass

One of the startling facts I refer to when discussing the dire biomass situation facing a number of  Sub-Saharan countries is Uganda’s announcement last year that the country is set to run out of woodfuel by the end of the decade.

It looks like someone in Germany thinks Uganda’s situation is dire enough.

Take that Greece!

MDB: Civil Society Calls on World Bank to Reform its Energy Lending

By Matthew Berger / WASHINGTON, Apr 26, 2010 (IPS). Against the backdrop of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings this weekend, numerous groups have chimed in on the need for and direction of a new World Bank energy strategy.  (…) The new energy strategy will try to bridge the dangerous gap between increasing energy access and not exacerbating the effects of climate change. As such, energy likely represents one of the most contentious areas of the bank’s lending policy.

Recycled trash to fuel Haiti

A few weeks back, a radio reporter from US-based Public Radio International contacted us to discuss charcoal, woodfuels, and briquettes projects in Haiti.
We are pleased to share with you her story.

“Before the recent earthquake, Haiti was no stranger to natural disasters. In recent years, thousands of people have been killed by floods and landslides. To understand why the toll is so high, one need look no further than the country’s bald mountains. Haiti has lost about 97 % of its forests. And the main culprit is the nation’s most popular cooking fuel: charcoal. Reporter Amy Bracken looks at one effort to provide a tree-saving alternative: briquettes made from trash.” 

Read or listen to the complete radio report.

BBC: Life-saving stove in the Congo

First the FT mentioned it.
We blogged about it in December.
Then CNN’s Anderson Cooper did a piece.
Now it’s the BBC’s turn to take a whack a it, albeit with a twist.

Whatever the case, I always learn something new from this story.
In this case, it’s the alarming statistic that 90 percent of the women who travel to the forest for fuel reported been harassed, raped, or experienced violence while collecting woodfuel.

When it’s Earth Day in America, is it Earth Day everywhere?

OPINION

So, to answer the question, “when it’s Earth Day in America is it Earth Day everywhere?”

The answer is, sadly, no.

New feature: Charcoal Price around the world

Tracking the price of charcoal within a country or region can provide valuable insight for researchers and entrepreneurs.

Such information could help inform the pricing of briquettes, the relative cost of biomass in a region, and much more.

In a few days we will post a section on our website’s homepage where you can track the values of charcoal from reporting countries. The information will be plotted using Google Earth and will also be available in a tabular format.

But in order to do that, we need your help!

Please send us an email with the following information:

1. Location, Country, Date. Multiple locations within a country or region are encouraged.

2. Unit of measure (wt. or volume). We’ll do the conversion on this end.

3. Cost in local currency
4. Optional information: cost of competing biomass fuel. For example, woodfuel or briquettes. And, if at all possible, cost of LPG, kerosene, or whatever the next superior fuel option available locally by volume or weight.

Here’s an example from my native Nicaragua:
1. Location, Country: Granada, Nicaragua
2. Unit of Measure: “Quintal” bag (I think this is roughly 1 bushel (bu) = 2150.42 cu in = 4 pk ≈ 30.283 L)
3. Cost [...]

Encouraging partnership on sustainable biomass for Latin America

Addressing today the newly minted Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a series of promising initiatives.

Not surprisingly, the one that really grabbed our attention was the following:

Advancing Sustainable Biomass Energy: The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are inviting interested countries to collaborate on scientific exchanges to advance renewable biomass energy that is sustainable. The initiative aims to generate and share information that can be applied by participating ECPA countries for expanding production and usage of renewable biomass for energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions while minimizing impacts on natural resources. USDA will serve as the U.S. technical lead agency and will coordinate U.S. government technical assistance to partners in the region.

ECPA is comprised of voluntary initiatives focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner fossil fuels, infrastructure, and energy poverty.
Further information is available at: www.ECPAmericas.org.

WHO: Boosting improved cookstoves by 50% by 2015 would yield $105 billions/year for energy poor

Equipping 50 percent of  households that burn biomass with improved stoves by 2015 would cost about $2 billion upfront but would almost immediately yield $37 billion in fuel savings, leaving a net gain to the world’s energy poor of some $35 billion.

Over a ten year period this would generate an economic return of U$105 billion.

MONGOLIAN Capital grapples with smog problem from IAP

At two to 10 times above Mongolian and international air quality standards, Ulaanbaatar’s PM rates are among the worst in the world, according to a December 2009 World Bank report. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that health costs related to this air pollution account for as much as 4 percent of Mongolia’s GDP.

A balancing act in the Cardamoms

The Central Cardamom Protected Forest (CCPF) in Cambodia is a 400,000-hectare zone that the government created in 2002.

Conservationists see the Cardamoms as an ecological jewel. It is home to dozens of threatened species, including some that have become extinct elsewhere, as well as a vital watershed that supports hundreds of thousands of people downstream of its rivers.

But the CCPF is also home to more than 3,000 isolated villagers, many of them indigenous Khmer Daeum whose ancestors have lived in the forest for centuries.

In dealing with them, authorities have two choices: Offer a stick, or offer a carrot. Officials can tell the communities to stop using their ancestral forests outright, or work with them to end destructive commercial poaching and logging.

Tool: generating carbon credits from stove projects (PCIA)

The latest quarterly update from the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (Bulletin 23)is dedicated to harnessing the power of the carbon credit market to support stove projects around the world.

Green tech, clean fuels for the rich and wood, charcoal, and animal dung for the poor.

Industrialized and emerging nations are poised to leap into the clean fuel and green technology future, leaving behind nearly a third of the world’s population who is destined to continue burning wood, charcoal, and animal dung using noxious technologies that have remained unevolved for the last 3000 years. What’s up with that?

Brazil introduces plan for charcoal consumption to protect native

BRASILIA, March 16 (Xinhua) — Brazil’s Ministry of Environment on Tuesday announced a plan to encourage industries to use charcoal that is not made from native trees in efforts to protect forest and the ecosystem.

According to the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in Cerrado (PPCerrado), Brazilian companies are not allowed to buy charcoal made from native trees of the Cerrado ecosystem.

The PPCerrado, to take effect in 2013, is the extension of Resolution 3545 of Brazil’s Central Bank, which rules that any producer who fails to comply with environmental laws should not be qualified for applying for credit from the Central Bank.

In 2007, Indoor Air Pollution from inefficient biomass combustion cost Peru U$321,123,160

Peru could have bought every rural poor two energy efficient stoves in 2007 for the equivalent of what Indoor Air Pollution cost the country. That would be U$321,123,160 in 2007, in case you were wondering.

As we discussed last week, The Charcoal Project is leading a research on a global analysis that would put a price tag on the inefficient domestic combustion of biomass as practiced today in the vast majority of the developing world.

The figure mentioned above comes from the World Bank’s  Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) reports published on their website.

We randomly selected the 2007 assessment for Peru.

Where does one turn to for support in implementing stove & briquette programs?

We realize that not every stove and briquette program is viable until some serious “ground-truthing” has occurred.

But who, or what agency, does one turn to to carry out this work? What multi-lateral or development agency is spearheading the coordination of a global effort to ramp up the adoption of green technology and clean fuels for the Bottom Of the Pyramid? Does one have to go knocking on every agency or NGO door for support?

Every week we get several emails from all over the world asking for help in establishing a stove or briquettes program. From Burkina Faso, to Kenya, to Nicaragua, Malawi, and Laos, and it’s frustrating not to be able to help them with concrete steps or information. 

If the use of improved stoves and briquettes can significantly reduce the impact on public health, the environment, poverty, and climate change from inefficient biomass combustion, why is it then that it’s taking the development community so long to come up with a coordinated solution? Whatever the case, the energy poor need help and it’s not getting to them.
If you read this post and work for an international development agency, non-profit, or government that is [...]

Battle of the manufactured stoves

One thing we’ve learned is that stoves are a bit like dogs: they come in every shape, size, and specs.

From the scrappy mongrel that’s hardwired for survival, to the pedigreed hound that’s bred for speed, they all have traits their fans will swear by.

So, when a report evaluating the performance of various mass-produced stoves landed on our desk(top), we pounced on it!

One company’s quest to serve hot stoves to the Bottom Of the Pyramid

We’ve been scratching our heads wondering why energy-efficient stoves have not caught on among the world’s 2.4 billion energy poor.

Stove prices are relatively affordable, the advantages seem fairly obvious, and the technology is simple, proven, and effective.

So what’s the hold up?

Valuing global biomass fuel consumption

We recently announced The Charcoal Project’s intention to help quantify the cost to society of current levels and practices of biomass consumption in the developing world.

Once we discover the direct and indirect costs of “business as usual”, we can then figure out the cost-benefit of pushing for the large-scale adoption of energy efficiency technology and policies.

Starting today you will find a section titled Biomass in Numbers on the right-hand column. Here you will find blurbs and links to information that will help us better understand the true cost of energy poverty.

World’s Pall of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves

by Jon R. Luoma for Yale360

Two billion people worldwide do their cooking on open fires, producing sooty pollution that shortens millions of lives and exacerbates global warming. If widely adopted, a new generation of inexpensive, durable cook stoves could go a long way toward alleviating this problem.

With a single, concerted initiative, says Lakshman Guruswami, the world could save millions of people in poor nations from respiratory ailments and early death, while dealing a big blow to global warming — and all at a surprisingly small cost.

Meet the brave men and women of our Advisory Board!

So, you’ve been wondering how decisions get made at The Charcoal Project? Is it just Kim and Nina and the elves?

Not always.

We receive invaluable input from individuals who voluntarily serve on our Advisory Board.

TCP to sponsor cost-benefit review of global biomass dependence

While much attention has been paid to the social and economic impact of Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), we feel strongly that compiling more comprehensive data on the environmental costs (including Climate Change, loss of ecosystem services, etc.), and impacts on labor productivity and poverty alleviation would help establish the baseline necessary from which to begin a comprehensive review of current policies and cost-benefit analysis of energy-efficiency promotion on a global scale.

It’s official: black carbon declared gaseosa non-grata

It seems like (BC) (aka soot or particulate matter), is finally being recognized as one of the top worst greenhouse gas offenders.

Regardless of whether you think it contributes 20 or 50 percent of climate warming “radiative forcing,”  Congressional hearings held earlier this week in Washington have ensured that this byproduct of biomass and fossil fuel combustion will forever live in infamy.

This erstwhile symbol of the industrial revolution has been definitely declared gaseosa non-grata.

Black Carbon can refocus attention where it’s most needed

BC’s  new-found notoriety, may be one of the best things to happen to the biomass & bioenergy community.

That’s because international public opinion — especially those on the forefront of the fight against climate change — will hopefully now turn their attention on this villain — along with their principal emitters: the energy poor who depend on biomass as their primary source of energy.

Time for action on black carbon, US Congress warned

[USAID/IAP Updates] Black carbon soot, produced from incomplete combustion of diesel fuel and biomass, is one of the largest contributors to climate change apart from CO2 and should be a prime target of policymakers according to scientists and experts testifying at a hearing Tuesday of the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

“Black carbon packs a powerful punch when it comes to climate change, absorbing solar radiation while in the atmosphere and also darkening the surfaces of snow and ice, contributing to increased melting in vulnerable regions such as the Arctic and Himalayas,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD). “The good news is that it only stays in the atmosphere for up to a few weeks, making it an ideal target for achieving fast cooling through aggressive mitigation measures.”

World needs a Nick Stern report on energy poverty

OPINION

How much does energy poverty cost?

How much is lost in productivity by societies dependent on traditional biomass fuel?

What is the monetary value of global deforestation for biomass fuel use?

What is the cost (in CO2-equivalent) of the volumes of black carbon being pumped into the atmosphere?

What percentage of national budgets go to treat illnesses attributable to indoor air pollution from inefficient biomass combustion?

How much potential income is lost from the estimated 1,500,000 people who die annually as a consequence of exposure to indoor air pollution?

Sarkozy: more funds needed to fight deforestation

PARIS (AP) – Rich nations must contribute more to a climate change fund and help fight deforestation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a conference Thursday on saving the world’s forests – a key defense against global warming.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper reports on stove project in Congo

CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week reported on a story we published back in January. The short video highlights a stove project run by international relief agency Mercy Corps in one of its refugee camps in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Watch the video

Women Key to Reduce Impact of Climate Change in Nigeria

Gifted with huge reserves of oil and gas, Nigeria is today one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  But despite its natural wealth, the country is struggling to provide basic energy for its own citizens, two-thirds of whom currently live on less than a dollar a day.

In this story, a non-profit makes the case that, sometimes, a more “modern” fuel can play an important role in helping meet a country’s specific energy development goals.

Malawi: Improved stove and kilns program cashes in on carbon offsets

So you think you can’t reduce energy poverty, cut greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and turn a profit at the same time in one of the world’s poorest countries?

Conor Fox thinks otherwise.

UGANDA: Landslide linked to deforestation kills hundreds.

(BBC) More than 300 people are feared dead after heavy rain caused a series of landslides in the mountainous eastern region of Bududa in Uganda. A trading centre in a village was flattened, leaving shops and houses buried under the mud, officials said. Rescuers are digging in the mud with hand-held tools as mechanical diggers cannot reach the affected villages. President Yoweri Museveni visited the affected area, and criticised residents for settling on a floodplain. The president also said the disaster could be partially blamed on local farmers for stripping the land of thick plant life. Some 86 deaths have been confirmed, with local officials saying at least 250 people remain missing.

Nicaragua: Of Hurricanes, Volcanoes, Crocodiles, and Energy Poverty

In October 1998 I walked out of a Costa Rican jungle after narrowly escaping a disastrous film shoot with crocodiles.

The near fiasco had nothing to do with filming the animals up close in their natural habitat. Instead, what almost sunk the project was the relentless pounding of a tropical rain that soaked everything and everyone.

Back in our hotel in San Jose we discovered the cause of the rain was a major hurricane that had slowly swept across the Central American isthmus, causing massive death and destruction in Guatemala, Honduras, and in my home country, Nicaragua. Nearly 11,000 people were killed. The flooding caused extreme damage, estimated at over $5 billion (1998 USD, $6.5 billion 2008 USD).

CHAD: Panic, outcry at government charcoal ban

A government ban on charcoal in the Chadian capital N’djamena has created what one observer called “explosive” conditions as families desperately seek the means to cook.

“As we speak women and children are on the outskirts of N’djamena scavenging for dead branches, cow dung or the occasional scrap of charcoal,” Merlin Totinon Nguébétan of the UN Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) in Chad, told IRIN from the capital. “People cannot cook.”

“Women giving birth cannot even find a bit of charcoal to heat water for washing,” Céline Narmadji, with the Association of Women for Development in Chad, told IRIN. (More)

The East African Briquettes Company points the way to sustainable biomass alternative

Nicholas Harrison is the driving force behind one new idea in Tanzania: the East Africa Briquettes Company. Harrison purchased the factory in Tanga in March 2009 where he now produces the “mkaa bora,” a briquette that burns “longer, hotter, and cheaper” than conventional vegetable charcoal.

The country consumes about one million tons of wood charcoal each year, so the market is huge. And with a deforestation-to-replacement rate of 3-to-1, there is little chance Tanzania will be able to keep pace with the country’s demand for charcoal, especially in the growing capital.

Alternative Fuel Promises to Aid Mountain Gorilla Conservations

A new alternative fuel project recently launched in Rwanda promises to combat the deforestation of national parks where mountain gorillas live. The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) and Art of Conservation, have partnered together to introduce the new alternative fuel technology–fuel briquettes composed of recycled materials that can be made easily with simple wooden presses–to the communities living near mountain gorilla habitat.

Images of African charcoal and deforestation

Photographer and development expert Len Abrams has put together a visually arresting slideshow and some insightful commentary on the state of African charcoal and deforestation.

Can Haiti be the new Katrina?

What will it take?

What will it take to tip the scale in favor of a global crash program to swap out three-stones-and-a-pot for energy-efficient stoves, kilns, and sustainable alternative biofuels?

Will Haiti be to bioenergy what Katrina was to climate change?

How long before Al Gore, Angelina, or Bono take on bionergy as the next big inconvenient truth? The Charcoal Project’s intelligence services tell us there is already a film in the works.  Will Bono embrace the rocket stove onstage to his fan’s delight?

Perhaps it will be the lure of a multi-billion dollar global market in carbon offsets from stoves, kilns, and briquettes programs that will do the trick. Or maybe it will be the on-the-ground realities of  implementing REDD that will undo the Gordian knot.

And the point is…?

Actually, there are four points and they boil down to this:

Haiti Earthquake: Greening of Hillsides Can Bolster Recovery

“To me this is one of the top three most important things for Haiti,” said Marc Levy, a Columbia University professor of international and public affairs working on a joint effort of Columbia and its Earth Institute with the United Nations Environment Program.

Rebuilding Haiti: On trees, charcoal, compost and low-tech…

On links between environmental and public health; Rebuilding Haiti from the soil microbes up; A humanitarian aid petri dish; Jared Diamond’s checklist for collapse & Haiti as vision what could be in store for the rest of us; Charcoal cartels, Amy Smith’s better answer & Nicholas Kristof’s compost toilet tour

…and we’re back!

Tanned, rested, and ready to switch to turbo mode.
The Charcoal Factoid of the Day, gathered during our recent travels in our native Nicaragua is that a “quintal” bag of charcoal for sale in colonial Granada, on the banks of Lake Nicaragua, retails for about fifty cents US.  It’s going to be hard to find a competitive substitute at that price!
We’ll be reporting more on our fact-finding mission shortly and lots more shortly.
Kim

The Charcoal Project on a stealth mission…

Folks,
The Charcoal Project is on a field research trip (mixed in with a little R&R with the fam) in Nicaragua, my home. I will report back to you next Monday on the results of our findings. Thanks for checking in!
Best,
Kim

Trading briquettes for mountain gorillas

Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Program farm partner Immaculée Uwimana from Rwanda and Justice Mvuyekure from Uganda were both looking for business opportunities that could be operated on small land holdings. We had recently become aware of a program operating in the DRC where byproducts were processed into an alternative fuel source aimed to compete with charcoal for family use. After some discussions, we decided to travel to the training location in Rumangabo, DRC. Read more

Nation’s fortune rise and fall with the forest resources

A seemingly out-of-place artifact discovered along the banks of the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland, USA) offers a cautionary tale of how the rise and fall of nations is often linked to their natural resources.

When good stove projects go bad!

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.

Haiti’s Environmental Aftermath

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?

MALAWI: Nearly 60 percent of charcoal produced from protected areas

Malawi’s protected areas generate more than 60 percent of the charcoal consumed in the country’s four largest cities.

In the Philippines: Four briquettes, a cup of rice, and thou…

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.

A stove for Darfur

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.

Cambodia: Commercial venture to produce “cleaner” charcoal

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.

Green dollars pour into Africa on the back of pioneering carbon offset deal

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.

Haiti bioenergy relief initiative: connecting projects and funders

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.

After the earthquake: Haiti’s deforestation needs attention

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.

Haiti’s environment needs long-term help-experts

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: A Chance to Get it Right

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 and broken country suffering the consequences of decades of profound social, economic, and environmental neglect.
There is much talk of planning for the long term stability and growth of the nation.  But any development aid and growth plans will take time to bear fruit. Even the replanting of trees and the rebuilding of infrastructure will take years.  So, for the majority of the poor people in Haiti, moving up the social, economic, and energy ladder will take a long time.
Bringing greater efficiency to the use of biomass, the main fuel used by Haitians for their daily domestic energy needs, is one area where meaningful improvements can be rapidly made at a very low cost.
The technology exists and significant programs (*) are already under way in the fields of  alternative biofuels, improved cookstove technology, more energy-efficient kilns, and sustainable biomass briquettes. The coordinated leveraging of this experience will [...]

Is a charcoal crisis looming for Tanzania?

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 sq miles each year or the equivalent of about two New York Cities, including its five boroughs. Unfortunately, the rate of deforestation outstrips the replacement rate by about 3 to 1. That means that, for every acre planted, three are lost.

What’s more, the number of people who are dying, particularly women and children, from inhaling the smoke is also increasing, says the World Health Organization, who claims that more than 75 people die daily in Tanzania from inhaling smoke from inefficient wood burning technologies.
As I continued to research Tanzania’s energy poverty, woodfuel, and charcoal consumption, I was led to an important research paper provocatively titled, Has the woodfuel crisis returned? Urban charcoal consumption in Tanzania and its implications to present and future forest availability.
Published in 2007, the paper asked thought-provoking questions, like, “how much does charcoal production contribute to forest loss? And, “can urban populations be [...]

Endangered gorillas threatened by charcoal trade

In the past decade 150 rangers from the Congolese national wildlife service have been killed in eastern Congo’s five reserves.

Three rangers were wounded in gun battles last summer, but the search and destroy operation dismantled 1,000 kilns — piles of earth and wood as tall as a man in which branches are burnt for days at high heat and pressure to make charcoal. The charcoal produced by each kiln is worth about £600.

Haiti’s environment

The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (D.R.) is more than just a political boundary.

It also reflects the large amount of deforestation that has occurred on the Haitian side of the border.

One can easily see from satellite imagery the lush forests still thriving on the D.R. side of the border, which is in sharp contrast to the Haitian side of the border.

Is it time to certify charcoal exports?

Some 1.35 million tonnes of charcoal worth about $400 million USD were sold and shipped around the world in 2007.

This means that somewhere, 5.4 million tons of wood where chopped down to make charcoal for export. With the exception of one seller in our research who described his product as coming from a “wild native” forest, none of the other traders indicated the source of their raw material.

The timber industry, retailers, and consumers have embraced certification schemes (FSC, SFI) for timber and finished wood products.

Isn’t it time we considered something similar for the international trade in wood charcoal?

Kim's Top 10 predictions for 2010. Or why 2010 will be better than 2009.

The first of my top ten predictions for the year is…

1. The US Senate will consider levying taxes against India and China in an effort to “level” the playing field with these top CO2 polluters.

Copenhagen: A post mortem

I did not attend Copenhagen but I did follow news stories from many sources.  Below are some of the more widely held conclusions as well as a quick analysis of what this means for energy efficiency, REDD, and energy poverty alleviation.
1. A deal appeared to be within striking distance but it was scuttled by one of the BASIC countries for political reasons.
2. Any future, meaningful agreement will likely arise through a non-UN framework
3. All the heavy CO2 hitters, with the exception of China, came very, very close to reaching a meaningful agreement.
4. The big looser in all this is Europe, who had to tow the US line as it watched its global influence wane in favor of the emerging, so-called BASIC countries.
5. All the major CO2 polluters will continue to carryout their established climate change and CO2 abatement policies.
6. A final deal regarding commitments to caps and financing are not likely to happen in 2010.
7. The US, Europe, Japan have commited $10 billion over the next three years to fund green tech transfer and adaptation for developing countries.
8. The next goal is to get all major CO2 polluters to sign up to firm caps on their emissions at a January [...]

Hello 2010. Where to now?

And we’re baaack!
It’s 2010, where do we start? Pick up with the qualified fiasco that was Copenhagen? Where does that leave REDD and forests? What will happen with the dangling carrot of financing for forest protection in the tropical belt? What are the prospects of a deal in 2010? Will 2010 see expanded energy efficiency programs that target the energy poor through improved stoves, kilns, and fuels?
I’ll be blogging about all this and other issues in this quarter. But, first, a quick update of where we are three months into the launch of The Charcoal Project (TCP) and what we can expect to see over the next 18 months.

The Charcoal Project 3.0
The good news is that we will be rolling out our improved website design very shortly (same bookmark, same url). You can expect better functionality, improved navigation, and more social networking tools that will making it easier for visitors to get the information they need. Think of it as TCP 3.0.
We also have a slate of new stories that we’ll be rolling out throughout the month. We’ll talk about charcoal and woodfuel problems and solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa with on-the-ground experts. We’ll also discuss the potential of carbon credits [...]

Maybe if Obama, Jiabao, and the others had seen this in Copenhagen…

A presentation unveiled at the recent COP15 meeting by the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA, of which we are proud members) might have turned the tides had it received greater attention.
Titled Cleaner Cook Stoves for Developing Countries:  Improving Health, Reducing Climate Change, the PowerPoint focused on the carbon offset potential and role of improved cookstoves and biofuels. According to the slides, the presenters included
• Health Effects: Dr. William Martin, Associate
Director, National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, National Institutes of Health, USA
• Black Carbon: Professor V Ramanathan, Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, University of
California at San Diego, USA
• Commercialization of cleaner stoves: Sam
Bryan, Technical Director of Carbon Finance
Projects, GERES
We’ve blogged here before about the interesting work that Professor V. Ramanathan is carrying out in India under the crypto Sub-Continental title, Project Surya.
Perhaps the PowerPoint would have had had a greater impact among the mandarins if the presentation had not been such a visual snoozer.
Still, an excellent reference document with tons of great facts, talking points and messages all around. This could easily be used by anyone needing to make the case for why energy efficiency for the bottom of the pyramid should be a top priority.

Culture, stoves, and fuels come together in Bangladesh

Fifteen years ago I was driving out of Dhaka, Bangladesh, to film a segment on family planning practices in rural villages. While looking out the window of our van as we drove past an open landfill I noticed there was not a single scrap of inorganic material to be seen. No bright red or yellow plastic containers, discarded appliances, or busted mattresses and bed frames were visible. (Not the picture above.) In fact, it appeared there was little intact organic material either. An old lady scavanging through the refuse picked up a some dried coconut husks and stuffed in her bag. I asked the driver if he had any idea what she might do with it. He said she would probably use it for stuffing mattresses, which was apparently a common practice.
The people of Bangladesh were an absolute delight and their resourcefulness in the face of limitless suffering and poverty taught me valuable lessons.
I am reminded of my time in Bangladesh after reading a post submitted by Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy to the BioEnergy listserv. His blogspot post has some good pictures and good contextual captions.
I”ve taken the liberty to copy and paste his note to Tom Miles, the [...]

Relief agency "gets it" by putting the right stove in the right hands

A few weeks ago a story in the Financial Times led with the stove project of Mercy Corps, a relief agency working in camp for Internally Displaced People in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
We wanted to know more so we sent a list of questions to Elisha Moore-Delate. She is the Environment Program Manager for Mercy Corps in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the person responsible for the stoves program.
We’re sharing her inspiring and insightful responses below.

1. When, and how, did you realize that introducing energy efficient stoves would help improve conditions for the IDPs?
Energy Efficient Stoves and their need is something that has been and is easily recognized by people who witness the marginal lands where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the DRC are often placed. In this case, IDPs lived on the volcanic lava stone of two past eruptions. They have very limited earth to cultivate and very few trees (with the exception of those found in or along nearby Virunga National Park) available for families to collect as fuel wood. Charcoal, the main fuel wood substitute, is expensive and was not what was previously used by the majority of IDPs in their [...]

Charcoal: The poor man's blood diamonds

I wonder if the 2006 film Blood Diamond (Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly) would  have garnered as much attention if the object of discord had been charcoal instead of diamonds.
It’s hard to imagine that charcoal – charcoal! – could be the cause of gruesome murders, a thriving black market, sinister cartels, and the source of funding of irregular armies. But that’s exactly what’s happening in various places around the world and there is every reason to believe things are about to get worse quickly, especially if Copenhagen approves a deal to protect forests in developing countries.
A series of gruesome events over the past few months illustrate the magnitude of the problem.
Murder on the border
Earlier this  month, the bodies of four Haitians were retrieved from the Dominican side of the border after they were killed and roasted in a makeshift charcoal kiln. The Haitians were apparently murdered for chopping wood across the border to convert to charcoal for sale back in energy-poor Haiti. With about 98 percent of Haiti’s tree cover gone, Dominican Republic authorities are reporting deeper and deeper incursions by Haitian charcoal-makers into their country’s protected areas. Tensions have risen between both countries over the incident. The killers have yet [...]

New Yorker magazine article on the quest for the perfect stove

The December 21st issue of The Newyorker magazine has a fascinating article about one inventor’s quest for the perfect stove for the developing world.
In typical Newyorker fashion, the story focuses on some of the quirkier aspects of the inventors of stoves and the trials and tribulations of getting these done and adopted. Still, it’s an excellent read.
The article’s author discussed the story this morning with radio talkshow host Brian Lehrer on New York’s Public Radio, WNYC. The program took one call during the interview, which came from yours truly at The Charcoal Project.  In the nanosecond we had, we advocated for massive support for the global conversion to energy efficient stoves and kilns and alternative biomass fuels.
Listen to the radio program
There is little doubt that stoves are dans le vent these days! Roll stoves!
Kim

Is Copenhagen funding a global stove, kiln, and briquettes conversion program?

I can’t decide what to make of today’s announcement in Copenhagen heralding a new five-year program by industrialized nations to invest $350m in the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in developing countries. On the surface this should be a cause of celebration.
The big question is how will these funds will be spent? Here’s a hint, according to Climate Wire.
Speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference here, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the new program — with an $85 million U.S. contribution — would help get energy-efficient appliances and lighting to the poorest nations, including those in Africa and Asia. It also would help lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and curb indoor air pollution.
The White House touted the new Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative — dubbed “Climate REDI“ — in a press release that outlined several different programs, including efforts to ramp up use of solar home systems and light-emitting diode, or LED, lanterns for people who don’t have access to electricity and labeling to help developing-nation consumers make sure they get the best products. Other countries kicking in money to the program include Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
Let’s [...]

Can – or should – the charcoal trade be regulated?

A dispatch from Kenya this morning made me wonder if efforts to ban the charcoal trade in various African countries is at all effective. Can it be enforced? Who suffers? Has this strategy yielded results somewhere? I don’t know.
What is clear is that the pace of decimation of African forests for charcoal and woodfuel is rapidly reaching crisis point in various countries — Uganda, Malawi, parts of Kenya and Tanzania.
Excerpts from news dispatches help paint a picture.
From the article mentioned earlier, reported by Wildlife Direct:
“According to  Elias Kimaru of the Kwale landscape project of the WWF in the area more than 3,000 bags of charcoal are getting out of the area on daily basis to supply Mombasa and Nairobi. “It is also believed that some charcoal is being exported to Middle East.” Kimaru told WildlifeDirect. Is African charcoal really being exported to the Middle East? Does anyone know?
“Most charcoal bags weigh 50 kgs (heavy charcoal from indigenous trees). Probably hardwood. “Taking the rate of conversion from wood to charcoal to be 10%, we are talking of more than 1500 tonnes of woods is being converted from trees to charcoal daily”, adds Kimaru Is there a formula to convert this to [...]

Video: Africa’s forest have a lot to offer in Copenhagen

There is an excellent film by South Africa-based photojournalist Jeffrey Barbee that will hopefully get quite a bit of play in Copenhagen.
It explores how African forests and woodfuel efficiency can play a big role in reducing CO2 emissions while improving people’s livelihood. We were especially interested to learn through this film about a stoves project in Malawi which is not only improving the lives the local inhabitants but also providing valuable carbon credits to an eco securities firm for sale on the voluntary carbon market. (The segment about Malawi and the stoves begins at 5:40 on part 2 but the whole film is very worthwhile.)
It is one of those cruel ironies that the people who contribute the least to climate change (Africans) are the ones who can expect to be most severely punished by the consequences of a rise in temperatures. And nowhere is the link between human well-being and the environment more apparent than in Africa.  We do hope that the delegates negotiating a final resolution will look at this film and make a big push to ensure CDM forestry projects and simple energy efficiency projects are expanded to benefit the poorest of the poor.
Watch the video here.

A Prius in Every Pot?

We have good reasons to believe the age of enlightened energy awaits us around the corner, right?
Not so fast.
It will be a long while before every thatched or corrugated tin roof on the globe has a photovoltaic array or a wind turbine. In the meantime, the plight of the energy poor – the 2.5 billion souls who depend on wood, charcoal, and animal dung for heating and cooking – will continue to deteriorate as they watch their environment, health, and prospects for emerging from poverty grow worse by the day.
They are predictably scattered across the globe, but the worse off live in Sub-Saharan Africa where about 90 percent of the population depends on traditional wood, charcoal, and animal dung (biomass in energy-speak) for their household fuel. The situation is serious. In Uganda, the government announced it will likely need to import wood fuel by the end of the decade. In barren Haiti, an average tropical thundershower can kill scores from mudslides and floods. In the Congo, the greatest threat to the endangered mountain gorillas are not marauding militias or poachers, it’s the women and children who are sent by the charcoal cartels into protected areas to cut trees for charcoal [...]

The latest from Copenhagen

I thought it useful to share some links to ongoing coverage of negotiations in Copenhagen. We are especially interested in green tech and clean fuels for the energy poor, of course, but REDD is also on our mind, so if you have any information you’d like to share, don’t hesitate to submit it!
I’d also like to apologize in advance for the US-centric nature of these suggestions. I’ll be adding more international coverage later!
Links:
The NYT has several good blogs to turn to. Climate Change Conversations , Dot Earth (Enviro reporter Andy Revkin’s blog), and The Times Topic on Energy Efficiency are worth a visit. 

Economist Jeffery Sachs’ Earth Institute has a good although not well trafficked blog called State of the Planet.
The FT has solid, regular coverage of the Copenhagen including various in-depth analysis sections on the science, CDM, energy and more.

The BBC’s page Copenhagen Summit 2009 is the place to visit.
Enviro blogs:
Grist
Huffington Post’s Green blog

A sobering, graphic view of the world's energy poor in 2030 as seen by the IEA

In the spirit of the energy reconversion that half the world is about to undergo in the next decade or so, I thought it appropriate to post some of the sobering slides produced by the International Energy Agency which suggest a completely different perspective for the world’s energy poor.
The takeaways are that (1) the number of people who will be denied electricity access and who will rely mostly on biomass to meet their energy needs will grow in the future and, (2) this great disparity will continue to be most evident between rural and urban zones.

Per Capita Energy Consumption:

The Transition to Modern Energy Services

Implications of Energy Poverty on Health and the Environment

Stove project in Congo selling carbon credits on voluntary market

A December 3rd article in the Financial Times reports how a Mercy Corps-operated stove project in Goma (eastern Congo) is selling carbon offsets to western companies on the voluntary market. It is partially reproduced below but you can only read the complete article on the FT site.
Among the more interesting facts reported are:
* Projects like these are attractive to private investors in the the voluntary carbon market (as opposed to CDM) because the provide a social benefit as well as an environmental one. More bang for your buck, so to speak.
* A project on this scale does not generate sufficient income from the sale of carbon offsets to cover its costs. In this case, this project receives funding from the EU.
* Climate change scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan (UC San Diego) says projects like this one could also have a “huge benefit” for global warming through the reduction of “black carbon” (CO2 mixed with soot). Prof. Ramanathan has begun a project in India that will be the
“first to measure systematically the climatic effects of whole villages changing the type of cooking stove they use. He believes the results will show that reducing black carbon emissions is spectacularly more effective than cutting carbon [...]

Teutonic-Zambian union yields CDM stove project

And now for a heart warming project from Zambia. What is there not to like about this story? It’s got a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) component,  a complex partnership involving German engineers at a powerful utility and local Zambian church groups. And at the center of it is a nifty little stove with amazing tech specs.
If indeed this works out, let’s hope we see more projects like this sprouting elsewhere.
Is there anyone on the ground who can tell us how meaningful this all this? Hello? Lusaka? hello…?
The stove in question, the Save80 cooking system, is well documented on the BioEnergy listserv and offers some outstanding energy delivery characteristics.
Here’s the blurb from the press release:

Climate protection by way of highly efficient biomass stoves
Together with its partner organisations, RWE (a major German utility) has launched a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in Zambia. This is the first time a European energy company has been involved in a CDM project in southern Africa. The innovative cooking systems, which are financed by RWE, replace the environmentally damaging production and use of charcoal with sustainable biomass. In the first stage of the project, 1,500 local households in the capital city of Lusaka will [...]

REDD as a Human Rights Disaster: Fact or fiction?

From IPS news came this item in the context of Copenhagen.
The thesis is that REDD — Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation, the proposed mechanism by which developing nations will be compensated for protecting and restoring their forests under a global greenhouse gas reduction agreement — would encourage countries to cordon off their forests, and therefore restrict access to the indigenous and rural inhabitants that depend on the forests for their survival and their identity.
How real is this scenario? We thought it worthwhile to examine the piece in detail and see how much water this theory holds.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Fears Forest Proposals Are ‘Human Rights Disaster’
Leonie Joubert
COPENHAGEN, Nov 26 (IPS) – The clean, ultra-modern chrome and glass lines of the Bella Centre, in the Danish capital Copenhagen, is a world away from the thronging canopy suspended over the tropical forests of Uganda, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Cameroon.
But it’s here in Scandinavia, in the shadow of the spinning blades of the convention centre’s wind turbine, that the foundation for an international law governing greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution will be thrashed out this December. The agreement, if it is reached, could determine how the forests of Africa are managed [...]

On Environmental Brink, Haiti Scrambles for a Lifeline

“With any reforestation campaign, you have to find first a solution for energy.”
– Antonio Perera, Program Manager, UNEP, Haiti

The satellite image compares forest cover along the Haiti-Dominican Republic Border.
A recent New York Times article explains what happens when a country’s energy-poor population exhausts its last remaining fuelwood resources.
The country is Haiti and the picture painted is not pretty.
With much of its forest cover gone, the poorest (and oldest) developing country in the Western Hemisphere’s stands now on the brink of environmental catastrophe.
The story, reported by Nathaniel Gronewold of Greenwire, the web-based environmental policy and news service, describes a panorama that may resonate with a number of Sub-Saharan countries that are themselves today on the brink of environmental disasters. The problem in Haiti — and Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania, to name a few — is driven by energy poverty.
“The country’s 10 million residents meet 60 percent of their commercial and residential energy needs with charcoal. It is used in most household cooking but also runs bakeries, laundries, sugar refineries and rum distilleries.
Charcoal production is a major factor in the deforestation that experts say has felled 98 percent of Haiti’s tree cover, with the remaining 2 percent disappearing fast. While mature trees [...]

FT thinks a crash global program to swap out wood & charcoal burning stoves for energy efficient ones is worth a thought.

Financial Times FT.com

COMMENT

Letters
http://bit.ly/8crnzA

Go for the quick energy-efficient fixes
Published: November 20 2009 02:00 | Last updated: November 20 2009 02:00

From Mr Jean Kim Chaix.
Sir, The suggestion that climate change negotiators shift their focus from emissions reduction to enhancing global access to energy-related services for the world’s poor is well-intentioned but misguided.
Whereas the proposed deployment of energy-efficient technologies to the neediest would take decades to fulfil, mandatory caps on emissions would immediately result in accelerated technological transfers and direct payments to developing countries for forest protection and other offsets.
A faster, cheaper and more effective proposition would be a crash programme to convert the world’s 3bn energy-poor – almost all of whom depend on wood fuel for heating and cooking – to locally produced energy-efficient stoves and alternative biomass fuels, like briquettes made of discarded vegetable matter.
Such a programme would immediately and simultaneously address urgent public health, poverty and environmental degradation issues at a fraction of what it would cost to provide hybrid vehicles and electrify every rural corner of the globe.
Jean Kim Chaix,
Director,
The Charcoal Project,
Brooklyn, NY, US

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What does woodfuel really cost?

An undated study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization that sought to discover the real cost of woodfuel concluded that, ultimately,  it’s impossible to know. And rightly so. How do you factor in time spent collecting the wood? The loss of the resource? Decline in value of ecosystem services? Cost of future replacement of extinguished resource with alternative fuel?
The authors point out that it’s not a futile excercise altogether. Valuing woodfuel is actually vital to those responsible for managing energy resources because,
“…it may provide invaluable warning signals of developing scarcities in a manner that is understandable both to the community and to the authorities responsible for energy supply. Galloping inflation of fuelwood prices is in itself a warning about forest destruction and depletion of future fuelwood supplies. It is, of course, a painful way to learn, especially for the poorest members of the community. It is preferable that the economic value of trees and forests as sources of energy be adequately appraised and that action be taken to conserve and extend forestry and tree-growing wherever ecologically feasible and economically sensible.” (my emphasis)

Nothing terribly surprising in this conclusion.
However, I raise this issue because it seems that all the public [...]

Uganda will need to import firewood in 2020

A report by Uganda’s Ministry of Water and the Environment says the country will need to import firewood in 2020 if current rates of deforestation and fuelwood consumption are not abated.
Quoting the report, Uganda’s Monitor newspaper says that”with 91 per cent of the total energy used being derived from biomass, which includes firewood and charcoal. The Ministry warns that, the pressure on forests and woodlands could easily wipe out the country’s capacity to provide the resource.”
“At the present rate of deforestation, it is predicted that Uganda is likely to be importing fuel wood by 2020,” says the report, which also notes that over the 15 years from 1990, Uganda’s woodland cover declined from 16.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent of the total land area.

“Over the same period, total forest cover reduced by 27 per cent, according to the report. It adds that some districts have experienced extensive loss of forest cover; for example Mayuge District has lost all of its forests.
Meanwhile, the UNEP’s Africa Environment Outlook report tells us that “non-wood forest products are also used extensively in the sub-region. In Uganda, for example the combined value of medicines, bamboo shoots, wild foods, shea [...]

Charcoal Project joins Partnership for Clean Indoor Air!

The Charcoal Project is thrilled to join the global Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA)!
The  organization’s 330 partners contribute their resources and expertise to reduce smoke exposure from cooking and heating practices in households around the world. The partnership works on four priority areas:

Meeting the needs of local communities for clean, efficient, affordable and safe cooking and heating options;
Improving cooking technologies, fuels and practices for reducing indoor air pollution;
Developing commercial markets for clean and efficient technologies and fuels; and
Monitoring and evaluating the health, social, economic and environmental impact of household energy interventions

The among the website’s more valuable resources are the following homepage tabs: Proceedings, Resources, Media, Stove Testing

More from the PCIA website:
About PCIA
More than half of the world’s population—three billion people—cook their food and heat their homes by burning coal and biomass, including wood, dung, and crop residues, in open fires or rudimentary stoves. Indoor burning of solid fuels releases dangerous particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants, and releases greenhouse gases into the air. The resulting indoor air pollution levels are 20 to 100 times greater than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) air quality guidelines allow. Unfortunately, the health risks and threats to the environment are [...]

But what does it really mean to be energy poor?

In reading up on the IEA’s World Energy Outlook released today, I stumbled upon the most compelling and sobering picture of what it means to be energy poor in this world today. The excerpt comes from a the acceptance speech given by WOE director, Dr. Fatih Birol, in 2006.  Read the whole speech here.

Energy Economics:
A Place for Energy Poverty in the Agenda?
Fatih Birol*
Unfortunately, the energy-economics community has given far less attention to the challenge of energy poverty amongst the world’s poorest people.
Over the past five years, less than 20% of the articles that have appeared in the major international energy journals have focused on developing countries, and only a tiny fraction of these have addressed energy-poverty issues. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all energy economists around the world to give more attention to this pressing issue.

The stark facts should give us all pause for thought. Today, 1.6 billion people in developing countries do not have access to electricity in their homes. Most of the electricity-deprived are in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. For these people, the day finishes much earlier than in richer countries for lack of proper lighting. They struggle [...]

Stacking up to each other: fuelwood vs charcoal

This fascinating little map (see explanation at the bottom) came up in an update from the International Energy Agency through its World Energy Outlook bulletin, which bills itself as “the authoritative source of energy analysis and projection.”
What’s interesting about this (uninspiringly titled) document, Implication of energy poverty on health & environment, is the roles it assigns to fuelwood and charcoal.
Consider this:
Fuelwood is more often gathered from the roadside and trees outside forests, rather than from natural forests. Clearing of land for agricultural development and timber are the main causes of deforestation in developing countries. Studies at the regional level indicate that as much as two-thirds of fuelwood for cooking worldwide comes from non-forest sources such as agricultural land and roadsides.
Here’s what it has to say about charcoal:
Charcoal, on the other hand, is usually produced from forest resources. Unsustainable production of charcoal in response to urban demand, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, places a strain on biomass resources. Charcoal production is often inefficient and can lead to localised deforestation and land degradation around urban centres.
Scarcity of wood typically leads to greater use of agricultural residues and animal dung for cooking. When dung and residues are used for fuel rather than left [...]

To really succeed in Copenhagen, tropical forest protection needs smart stoves and briquettes

There’s little doubt that Copenhagen will allow for some form of compensation to countries that substantially protect their forests. This is the essence of REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).   Already a handful of developing countries have joined the World Bank in establishing the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, a framework for the day when the fat pipe from industrialized countries starts flowing dollars in exchange for the protection of forests.
I’m wondering if that’s what’s behind Rwanda’s motivation to plant 20 million trees by 2012, thus raising its forest cover by 3.5%. The plan is to raise this figure to 10% by 2020.  Read the interview with Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi. (Courtesy allAfrica.com)
Perhaps Rwanda and other countries will consider dedicating a portion of the receipts from the sale of the carbon offsets to funding a nationwide campaign to promote the widespread adoption of energy-efficient stoves and a briquettes program.
Hey, they could even sell the offsets from the stove and briquettes program!

Peru: A millenary tree's last stand

Today’s NYT article titled Ecosystem in Peru Is Losing a Key Ally tells the familiar story of how poverty and cultural tastes are rapidly sealing the fate of the arid-dwelling huarango, a unique species of trees that can live more than one thousand years. According to the article, haurango rivals teak in hardness and its embers are prized for outlasting any other form of wood charcoal. It is also viewed by Peruvians “as the prime wood for charcoal to cook a signature chicken dish called ‘pollo broaster.’ ”
(Judging from the online recipes, comments, and images, the dish might make a good substitute for a bucket of KFC.)
In addition to its longevity, this species is critical to the water cycle in this parched coastal strip of the Atacama-Sechura Desert and is an important source of nutrition for the local community. “The huarango captures moisture coming from the west as sea mist. Its roots are among the longest of any tree, extending more than 150 feet to tap subterranean water channels.” According to the article, only about 1 percent of the original forest cover remains. It appears the impoverished communities that live in this unforgiving land depend on converting trees into charcoal [...]

Fuel Efficient Stoves and Carbon credits

Sorry for the radio silence, folks. Family-related issues kept me away for a few days. But we’re back!
The Charcoal Project recently applied for partnership status with PCIA, the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air and stumbled in their archives on the proceedings of their most recent conference back in March in Uganda.
There is a lot of information there on a variety of topics (I’ll blog about some of the highlights later but you can find a summary here.)
What really caught my eye was a series of presentation and case studies on the economic potential of fuel and stove efficiency in the context of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Under the Kyoto Protocol, the CDM allows industrialized countries to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries (like carbon sequestration through forest protection, for example) rather than in more expensive emission reductions at home. This means that a well run stove efficiency program has the potential to generate a significant and steady stream of funding for the project. I’m vastly oversimplifying but that’s the idea.
Here are a few PPTs to get your feet wet:

Understanding the Carbon Market
Samira Elkhamlichi, Carbon Finance Assist
World Bank
Elkhamlichi_Market_Overview.pdf

CDM Programme of Activities
Massamba Thioye, Carbon [...]

Amy Smith demonstrates how to make briquettes

Folks,
We received from Amy Smith (MIT/D-Lab) in today’s post a link to a ten minute YouTube video that is essentially a how-to-make-your-own-briquettes video. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqI63IEg3MM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
What is astonishing is how simple the process can be. From converting the vegetable material into charcoal in a regular 55-gallon oil drum, to mixing it with a binding agent (cassava paste, in this case), and then using the most elegantly simple tools to churn out perfect little briquettes. It’s like witnessing the invention of the wheel!
The entire process is very straightforward, although a few steps could use some clarification. For example, we were curious to know why the ultra dark smoke following the ignition of the material in the barrel? Or, why did it flame with a single match following the initial internal combustion? Otherwise, the video is very comprehensive in documenting the process.
We’re eager to learn if you or anyone you know is using this method or interested in implementing something like this!
Our thanks to Amy Smith and D-Lab for sharing this!

MIT's Amy Smith: Visionary, inventor, genius.

Speaking at TED a few years ago, Amy Smith, the MIT professor and McArthur Genius Award recipient, made a compelling case for the widespread introduction of simple technologies that could solve major environmental, public health, and poverty problems in developing countries. Her bio on the TED page sums it up best: Invent cheap, low-tech devices that use local resources, so communities can reproduce her efforts and ultimately help themselves. Smith hatches her ideas at D-Lab, the MIT unit responsible for coming up with some of the coolest technological fixes for two thirds of the world’s population.
If her ideas are so beautiful in their simplicity and so relatively inexpensive to deploy, why haven’t they gained traction in the global development agenda? Perhaps it’s scaleability. Fragmented markets. Or penniless consumers.
With the notable exception of mosquito nets and a few clean water pumps, it seems that simple technological fixes that actually save lives do not figure prominently in development assistance budgets. This is odd considering the significant positive impact that, say, fuel efficient stoves and clean burning briquettes can have on poverty alleviation, public health, and environmental degradation.
Our challenge is to turn critical technological innovations into large-scale campaigns that will rival no-brainer solutions [...]

Can briquettes save Africa's mountain gorillas?

Virunga National Park in the DR Congo is home to the largest population of the critically endangered mountain gorillas. In a recent visit to New York, the park’s Chief Warden, Emmanuel De Merode, told us that the greatest threat to the survival of the gorillas was the persistent destruction of habitat at the hands of the charcoal producers that ring the park. Every year thousands of acres of forest are cut to produce the wood charcoal the local population depends on for cooking and heating.
In his most recent dispatch on the subject, Emmanuel writes:
Replacing Charcoal with Briquettes – The Moment of Truth
10 Oct 2009 Filed under (Alternative energy, Charcoal, Uncategorized) by Emmanuel @ 8:11 pm
“We’ve reached a cross roads with the briquette programme.  As you remember, we had pledged to set up 1,000 briquette businesses this year.  1000 village briquette businesses translates into the creation of 6000 employments and the substition of about 15% of charcoal consumption with a clean, sustainable and cheap source of domestic energy for poor households in Goma.  We currently have over 3000 people making briquettes and the idea is to have 34,000 by the end of 2011.” (Read the whole story)

Got charcoal briquettes? Got fuel efficient stoves?

We need content to populate the site!
We’re looking for all sorts of material to post: links, case studies, comments, photos, videos, powerpoints or other similar stuff. We can work with just about any format. English is preferred but we will accept submissions in any language.
The goal is to make this a resource that everyone can use. And we can’t do it without you!
And, thanks!
J. Kim Chaix

Biochar machine

A biochar convention? And now a machine that turns 1000lbs of vegetable scraps into 250lbs of biochar in 1 hour? Sounds like something worth keeping an eye on!
Meet the beast:
(Via Cnet)
August 25, 2009 8:28 AM PDT
Mobile ‘biochar’ machine to work the fields
An ancient technique to fertilize soil by creating charcoal from plant waste is being revived to tackle some of today’s environmental problems.
The latest company to pursue manmade charcoal, called biochar, is Biochar Systems, which has developed a biochar-making machine that can be pulled by a pickup truck. Two customers–a North Carolina farm and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management–will be begin testing the units this fall.
The unit, called the Biochar 1000, is designed to convert woody biomass, such as agricultural or forestry waste, into biochar, a black, porous, and fine-grained charcoal that can be used as a fertilizer. It uses pyrolysis–slowly burning biomass in a low-oxygen chamber–to treat 1,000 pounds of biomass per hour, yielding 250 pounds of biochar. (Read the rest)

Hello charcoal world!

Charcoal.
You may not think much about it. But if you care about public health, poverty alleviation, and the environment, then it’s a big deal.
Why? Because more than two billion people use wood, charcoal, dung or agricultural resides as primary fuel for their cooking and heating needs, leading to significant health, economic and environmental consequences.
Consider these stats presented by MIT’s Amy Smith:

Almost 2 million deaths each year are caused by breathing smoke from indoor cooking fires [1]

Respiratory infections are the leading cause of death of young children worldwide.[2]

An estimated 50 billion hours are spent collecting firewood each year. That’s as if the entire workforce of the State of California worked full time for a year doing nothing but fetching water! (Not sure exactly how they’d fetch water, but that’s another issue…) [3]

In some areas where wood and charcoal are scarce, more than a quarter of a family’s income is spent on fuel.

Charcoal production is an important contributing factor in the deforestation of the tropical belt. Deforestation accounts for about 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than the emissions produced by trains, planes, ships, cars, and trucks worldwide. (My note)

The Charcoal Project is a web-based resource that explores the challenges [...]