Alternative Energy | Fueling Change

Leaves, grass, and sawdust… the new charcoal?

Category: Alternative energy | Date: Mar 27 2008 | By: admin

From Malawi to Peru, people are quickly discovering that cutting down forests to make charcoal is just about the most inefficient way to produce cooking fuel. And, it turns their once beautiful forests into moonscape rife with soil erosion. Until now, it appears that this realization has skipped right over the Congo. For the last several decades, the forests of the Virunga National Park have been getting cut down at an alarming rate to make charcoal, and in the process, half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas have found their forest homes turning into grasslands.

Charcoal - Inefficient you say?
To put it mildly. Fuel wood used for charcoal production loses an incredible 75% of its heating capability in the process of being turned from fuel wood to charcoal. Once you factor in inefficient combustion resulting from primitive stove technologies – or in many cases no stoves at all – charcoal loses another 15-18% of it’s heating capability, resulting in a fuel that is about 6% efficient. So, the dirty secret is that one of the world’s most amazing animals, the mountain gorilla, is being driven to extinction for the sake of a fuel that loses 94% of it’s heating value by the time it cooks a meal — not that any efficiency could justify the mountain gorillas’ demise.

Photo courtesy of the Legacy Foundation

How organic mixed waste briquettes out compete traditional charcoal
According to the Legacy Foundation, a veritable alternative fuel think tank, “although non-woody biomass has only 75-80% of the heat value of woody biomass per unit weight, the briquette far outperforms wood in open fire conditions”. This is due to the plug shape of the pressed briquette and its’ hollow center. These briquettes burn largely from the inside out. The center hole acts as a flu, allowing plenty of air to flow up into the briquette, ensuring complete combustion. The unburned exterior of the briquette serves as insulation, thereby allowing the center to burn very hot. All this adds up to a far more efficient burn. Charcoal? Bring on the briquette revolution!

Next post: Making briquettes from forest and agricultural waste

8 responses so far

Finding a Solution Amidst the Chaos

Category: Alternative energy | Date: Mar 13 2008 | By: admin

It’s time for all of us to do a little brainstorming.

There is a fuel crisis that is about to hit critical mass. With all the checkpoints erected around the park, the flow of charcoal has been dramatically reduced and prices have climbed substantially. Understandably, a lot of people are unhappy. Politicians as well as a lobby of charcoal traders are putting pressure on the Provincial Governor to remove the checkpoint at Kibati. They argue that Kibati is only serving to harass people and put pressure on the “little guy”. Although the checkpoints now have the buy-in of the top brass in the Army, as well as the backing of the civilian and military court officials, the Provincial Governor may bow to the pressure to release the checkpoints in order to avoid popular revolt. And this is coming at a time when the Minister of the Environment is considering erecting another checkpoint at Mugunga. Everyone seems to be moving in a different direction.

As much as we want to stop deforestation, there needs to be alternatives in place before shutting down the charcoal trade completely. Clearly, we are not going to win people over to conservation by taking away their only fuel source.

So where to from here?

Just brainstorming here, but I think it is high time that all the parties come together in one place to find a holistic solution. I’m thinking of a WildlifeDirect sponsored Alternative Energy Summit to be held in Goma. Every stakeholder would have a place at the table… experts from the international community would be invited to share their expertise… big philanthopies would be asked to help… Former President Clinton would be asked to open and close the summit… Pie in the sky? Not to my thinking, but I want to hear from you.

Please join this brainstorming session. I’ve got to believe there is a way forward.