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Taken from the NYT Opinion Pages:

“Last year, Eric Reynolds, the co-founder of the outdoor sports gear company Marmot, contacted me with an aggressive business plan for rolling out fuel-efficient, low-pollution cookstoves across Rwanda. Having seen dozens of entrepreneurial projects in Rwanda start with a big bang and then founder for lack of momentum and commitment, I initially brushed off his enthusiasm. I gently explained that he would have to move to Rwanda if he was to get anything done, and he explained that this was exactly his plan.”

Policy discussions around forests and climate change frequently refer to charcoal production as one of the main culprits of deforestation and forest carbon emissions. This is explicitly articulated in the Tanzanian Draft National Strategy for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) published in January 2011. Future “business as usual” scenarios predict a worsening of the situation.

Revelations from Africa:

• Africa must formally recognize its huge charcoal sector.
• Solid biomass fuels could very well be the continents key to producing. homegrown sustainable renewable fuels for domestic and productive energy.
• The negative impact of sky-rocketing food prices on education.
• Energy efficiency and renewables can mitigate the pain of rising food costs.

OPINION:

We think the Wall Street Journal is right in criticizing the IPCC’s report on Renewable Energy.

The US Department of Energy announces a Manhattan Project for improved cookstoves. The goal? To produce cookstoves that reduce emissions by 90% and produce fuel savings of 50%.

A ransom note from the kidnappers of our website and our director….

A fundamental reason why improved cookstoves aren’t more widely in use in Africa is that small and medium-sized energy businesses lack access to finance. Without investment or backing, small and medium-sized energy enterprises are staying just that: small.

The Tanzania office of Switzerland’s international development agency (SDC) gave Tuesday a shot in the arm to a proposed International Conference on Charcoal to be held in Africa in 2012. The SDC made a significant financial commitment to support the organization of the conference.

The SDC representatives in Tanzania have identified the country’s current level of  production and consumption of charcoal as a priority area.

About 90 percent of the country’s energy needs are met by woodfuels. These figures are in keeping with average biomass consumption in sub-Saharan Africa.  The annual consumption of more than 1 million tons of charcoal results in a loss of 130,000 to 150,000 hectares of forests and the emission of about 9 million tons of CO2. In Tanzania, on average, only one hectare of forest is replanted for every three hectares destroyed.

The recent spike in oil is sure to increase woodfuel and charcoal consumption above the current 10 percent growth rate, experts say, a situation that could potentially tip the country into a charcoal crisis.