Photographer and development expert Len Abrams has put together a visually arresting slideshow and some insightful commentary on the state of African charcoal and deforestation.
Images of African charcoal and deforestation Read More »
What will it take to tip the scale in favor of a global crash program to swap out three-stones-and-a-pot for energy-efficient stoves, kilns, and sustainable alternative biofuels?
Will Haiti be to bioenergy what Katrina was to climate change?
How long before Al Gore, Angelina, or Bono take on bionergy as the next big inconvenient truth? The Charcoal Project’s intelligence services tell us there is already a film in the works. Will Bono embrace the rocket stove onstage to his fan’s delight?
Perhaps it will be the lure of a multi-billion dollar global market in carbon offsets from stoves, kilns, and briquettes programs that will do the trick. Or maybe it will be the on-the-ground realities of implementing REDD that will undo the Gordian knot.
And the point is…?
Actually, there are four points and they boil down to this:
Can Haiti be the new Katrina? Read More »
Tanned, rested, and ready to switch to turbo mode. The Charcoal Factoid of the Day, gathered during our recent travels in our native Nicaragua is that a “quintal” bag of charcoal for sale in colonial Granada, on the banks of Lake Nicaragua, retails for about fifty cents US. It’s going to be hard to find
Folks, The Charcoal Project is on a field research trip (mixed in with a little R&R with the fam) in Nicaragua, my home. I will report back to you next Monday on the results of our findings. Thanks for checking in! Best, Kim
The Charcoal Project on a stealth mission… Read More »
How many abandoned stove projects litter the world? How much money have donors sunk into ill-conceived stove designs? Poorly executed marketing campaigns? And lack of investment in capacity building?
I raise this question because a recent conversation forced me to rethink one of my cherished assumptions: that local stove production was the only way to go.
When good stove projects go bad! Read More »
At the height of the Darfur emergency in 2004, women had to sometimes walk as long as seven hours to find firewood outside the refugee camps. The women were frequently the victims of rape during these treks.
Faced with these threats, the US government turned to Berkeley Lab scientist Ashok Gadgil to help find a solution to the problem. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove is the response devised by Ashok, his colleagues, and the women of Darfur.
A stove for Darfur Read More »
Following last week’s disaster, there’s a good chance that the number of people in Haiti depending on wood and charcoal for their every day needs has sky-rocketed from about 70% to close to 100%. The Charcoal Project is helping by connecting energy-efficient stove/kiln producers and sustainable biomass briquettes makers with potential government, multilateral, and NGO funders. The Charcoal Project will help by collecting information and matching funders with projects that are capable of delivering immediate solutions to Haiti’s urgent bioenergy needs.
Haiti bioenergy relief initiative: connecting projects and funders Read More »
The horrendous destruction visited on Haiti last week has sparked a torrent of compassion from around the world. Even the bioenergy community has turned out to support the relief effort. But when the relief agencies move on to the next crisis and the last US marine has returned home, Haiti will still be an impoverished
Haiti: A Chance to Get it Right Read More »
Tanzania figures prominently when you google the terms “Africa, charcoal, poverty, and environment.” The facts and figures I came across gave me pause. Tanzania burns one million tons of charcoal each year, which amounts to clearing more than 300 hectares (about 750 acres) of forest every day to produce charcoal. For context, that’s about 1,000
Is a charcoal crisis looming for Tanzania? Read More »
Some 1.35 million tonnes of charcoal worth about $400 million USD were sold and shipped around the world in 2007.
This means that somewhere, 5.4 million tons of wood where chopped down to make charcoal for export. With the exception of one seller in our research who described his product as coming from a “wild native” forest, none of the other traders indicated the source of their raw material.
The timber industry, retailers, and consumers have embraced certification schemes (FSC, SFI) for timber and finished wood products.
Isn’t it time we considered something similar for the international trade in wood charcoal?
Is it time to certify charcoal exports? Read More »
The first of my top ten predictions for the year is…
1. The US Senate will consider levying taxes against India and China in an effort to “level” the playing field with these top CO2 polluters.
Kim’s Top 10 predictions for 2010. Or why 2010 will be better than 2009. Read More »
I did not attend Copenhagen but I did follow news stories from many sources. Below are some of the more widely held conclusions as well as a quick analysis of what this means for energy efficiency, REDD, and energy poverty alleviation. 1. A deal appeared to be within striking distance but it was scuttled by
Copenhagen: A post mortem Read More »
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