On my last trip to Kenya in February 2023, I had the pleasure of meeting Carol Wangu Wachira, who had just started making briquettes and decided to turn it into a business. She joined the United Briquette Producers Association and has made tremendous strides in getting her business up and running. We decided to interview […]
Kikopey Cleaning Up Cooking in Kenya Read More »
TCP Seeking to Fill Board Vacancy The Charcoal Project is a 10-year old US-based non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) that facilitates the adoption of clean burning technologies, sustainable fuel alternatives, and policies for communities that depend on wood and charcoal as their primary source of fuel in the global south. Our work is presently focused on sub-Saharan
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Charcoal awaiting transport, near Voi, Kenya. Photo credit: The Charcoal Project The African continent is facing an energy crisis with ninety percent of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) population relying on woodfuels, including charcoal, which is often unsustainably harvested. Sustainable charcoal offers a potential solution to Africa’s energy crisis, but varying levels of regulation and government
Is the Path to Sustainable Charcoal Straightforward? Read More »
The Opportunity Clean burning charcoal briquettes have started to gain traction recently as viable clean alternatives to traditional charcoal or other biofuels. The feedstocks used to create briquettes vary, but include agricultural residues and other raw materials, most commonly bagasse and sawdust. However, coconut waste (shells and husks) also provide a viable alternative feedstock, which
Leveraging Coconut Waste to Maximize Impact Read More »
How Tanzania’s ‘War on Charcoal’ harms people and the environment A World Bank study from a few years ago concluded that Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, consumed the equivalent of 16 olympic-sized swimming pools of wood charcoal every day. Added end to end, our back of the envelope calculation concluded this was enough charcoal
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Rogério Carneiro de Miranda, a forest engineer, has dedicated nearly 30 years of his professional life to woodenergy, from mastering the development, production and commercialization of ecostoves (improved wood stoves) in Latin America, to promoting forest replacement associations among small fuelwood consuming enterprises in Central America, alternative cooking with ethanol in Africa, and supporting the
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Clean Energy Companies Turn to Bamboo as a Renewable Resource Use of Wood Fuel is Still Prevalent Over 80% of sub-Saharan Africans are still relying on wood or wood charcoal for household energy needs. A large swath of the population still lack access to affordable modern cooking fuels, like electricity, LPG or ethanol. Dependence on
Clean Energy Companies Turn to Bamboo Read More »
The Charcoal Project has been working with Accenture Development Partnerships and the Clean Cooking Alliance on a new project to develop a price index for cooking fuel. In sub-Saharan Africa, charcoal prices vary greatly, by location, quality and time of year, which puts a strain on low-income households already lacking energy solutions. The lack of
Pricing Transparency for Clean Cooking Fuel Read More »
Students from D-Lab are doing a study on what makes a quality briquette – please fill out this survey so we can learn how to improve sustainable charcoal alternatives! #sustainablecharcoal #renewableenergy “We are a team from MIT D-Lab Energy class and for our class project, we are exploring what makes a high quality briquette and
Study on Briquette Quality – Please Give Your Input Read More »
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