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.
Briquettes
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!
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 Continue reading
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
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