New Bamboo Charcoal Technologies Promise to Jump-start Africa’s Bioenergy Sector

 

 

 

via Africa Science News

Written by Carol Jepkemoi

Bamboo, a plant not often associated with Africa, may be the key to combating soil degradation and massive deforestation on the continent as an alternative source of energy.

A partnership among African nations and communities, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and China are working to substitute bamboo charcoal and firewood for forest wood on which 80 percent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa depends for its fuel needs.

Initial successes with bamboo charcoal in Ethiopia and Ghana, which have put bamboo biomass at the center of renewable energy policies, are spurring interest in countries across the continent and prompting calls for greater investment in bamboo-based charcoal production as a ‘green biofuel’ that can fight deforestation and mitigate climate change.

“Bamboo, the perfect biomass grass, grows naturally across Africa and presents a viable, cleaner and sustainable alternative to wood fuel,” said Dr. J. Coosje Hoogendoorn, Director General of INBAR at a side event at UNFCCC COP17 in Durban today.  “Without such an alternative, wood charcoal will remain the primary household  energy source for decades to come—with disastrous consequences.”

Burning wood also has a significant impact on the climate. Scientists predict that the burning of wood fuel by African households will release the equivalent of 6.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere by 2050, resulting in further climate change through clearing of tropical forests (…)

NBAR’s Bamboo as Sustainable Biomass Energy initiative is the first to transfer bamboo charcoal technologies from China to sub-Saharan Africa to produce sustainable ‘green biofuels’ using locally available bamboo resources. Driven by growing concerns about energy, health and food security, and climate change, the initiative is funded by the European Union (EU) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

Read more