The Charcoal Project

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Brazil introduces plan for charcoal consumption to protect native

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

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.

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

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

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.

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

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

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 Continue reading→

Battle of the manufactured stoves

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

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!

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