“The charcoal trade, referred to as “black gold” by Kampala traders, has become more profitable than the forests where trees are being indiscriminately cut down for charcoal-burning.”
Country
NEWS: Grain farmers shifting to planting trees, especially for fuel
Via Kenya’s Daily Nation — (16/04/2013) Investment in private forestry is becoming profitable, in Western Kenya due to increased demand for wood fuel by textile and food processing industries.
Grain farmers who have invested in commercial forestry are recording huge profits as a result of the high demand for wood products that has outstripped forest plantation establishments.
TCP+MIT+ARTI = HFI in TZ
Think of it as the Higgs Boson of energy poverty alleviation.
Seriously, though, this blog post comes to us from Harvest Fuel Initiative-partner, ARTI-Tanzania (a type of Large Hadron Collider on its own) and tells the whole story of how ARTI, The Charcoal Project and the Scale-Ups program at MIT’s D-Lab are coming together to help address one of the root causes of various social and environmental problems in the developing world: the dependence on wood and charcoal for cooking and heating in the developing world.
Call for Comments – Potential Grant Competition for Fuel-Efficient Cookstove Distribution in Kenya
This is a Public Service Announcement brought to you by the good people at Winrock and USAID:
The United States Agency for International Development and Winrock International are soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOIs”) in support of a possible 18-month, $1 million USD (maximum) grant award (or awards).
NEWS: What’s good for the panda is good for the cookstove
There is evidence that bamboo charcoal burns cleaner than wood charcoal and with comparable heating and energy values. Charcoal production is another way for families to diversify their livelihoods and earn some additional income, and the relatively limited investments required for the simple charcoal-making process make it an income source that is accessible to many.