It’s been a while since I posted and I apologize to each and every one of our two subscribers for the protracted silence. We were, um, taking an extended tea break. But we are now back, fully caffeinated, and ready to pounce on the latest charcoal and other solid biomass-related news like a cheetah on a newborn kob wandering in the savannah without its mommy.
(cue sound of teletype sputtering away in the background) “…and now this from our Kenya Desk….”
Our good friends at The Standard are reporting that the infamous mathenge weed (Prosopis juliflora) may actually be the cure for the headache that the plant has caused the inhabitants of Baringo County in western Kenya, First introduced as solution to reduce desertification, the obnoxious plant has literally choked the life out the goats, rivers, and the way of life of the pastoralist community.
But, guess what? It looks like methenge actually makes decent charcoal and, according to the paper, it is now poised to become the prime feedstock for electricity generation in the area. According to the paper, a recently completed weed-fired power plant is set to generate 12MW of electricity while also creating some 2,500 new jobs.
This project makes us wonder: how many other weeds like methenge exist in sub-Saharan Africa where electricity is unavailable? Either way, we want to tip our hats to the Power Africa initiative for supporting this project.
One last thought before we go on to our next tea break, how much is 12MW of electricity anyway?
Hmmm, let’s see…
So 1MW is 1,000,000 watts, right? According to this website, the average Kenyan household consumes 33.7kWh/year (as of 2005). If I’m not mistaken, 12MW is enough to power 356,083 households for one brief instant. I say one brief instant because the real measure should be MW per hour (MWh), where you measure total consumption over a period of time, in this case, the sustained consumption of 12MW of electricity in a period of one hour.
For reference, according to the aforementioned website, a typical US household consumes 4.5MWh, that’s the equivalent of 13 Kenyan households.
This is a good reason why the responsibility for mitigating climate change should be more proportionately distributed.
Factoid: the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbine generates 12MW, also.
It’s good to be back. Don’t forget to send us tips for good stories you think our (single?) other readers would like to see.
Kim
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