The Charcoal Project

Cancun and what it means for clean cookstoves, briquettes, and other appropriate sustainable energy technologies

Today marks the opening of the Cancun talks on Climate Change. They are a follow-up to last year’s Copenhagen discussion which, as everyone knows, did not yield the expected global agreement to effectively reduce greenhouse gases. A review of media coverage leading up to the Cancun event downplays expectations for any significant breakthroughs during this round. And if nothing substantive comes out of this week-long meeting, it will mark another nail in the coffin of the UN’s attempt to establish a globally binding agreement à la Kyoto Protocol. The outlook is not improved by the outcome of the US mid-term Continue reading

The Twitteruniverse roundup: MDG failure, money talks, mapping the biosphere, and delivering energy to the energy-poor

Folks, We’re back from Labor Day, the long weekend that marks the unofficial end of summer and the start of the rest of the business year here in America. Before we launch into a new, fresh round of stories about energy poverty alleviation and energy efficient biomass combustion solutions, we want to share with you a roundup of stories that caught our attention on the Twitterverse over the week-end. UN researchers say its 15-year anti-poverty plan fails to address jobs, income equality. – “The United Nations is ignoring the critical role of jobs and income equality in its 15-year strategy Continue reading

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?

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