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 Continue reading
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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. Continue reading
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, Continue reading
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 Continue reading