"A view of Africa and Africans with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, practical remedies and other self sustaining activities.".....Emeka Okafor
Friday, July 31, 2009
Using Charcoal
Allwell Okpi in 234Next reports on the increasing use of charcoal as a domestic fuel:
...she started using charcoal stove, popularly known as coal pot, because kerosene became costly and scarce. Mrs. Odia said she would remain ever grateful tor her grandmother for introducing her to coal stove. She is one of the many Lagos residents who have found in the use of charcoal stove, a cheaper and probably more efficient way of cooking their food. Many caterers, foodvendors, especially the small restaurants and bukas, use charcoal stove.
Questions of sustainablewood supplies are raised by this trend as well as the absence of a related charcoal briquetting industry. photo courtesy of 234Next
All across Africa there is a potential source for charcoal causing trouble for you. I'm talking Typha, the aquatic weed that has conquered Lake Chad and is systematically conquering your whole continent. Not only is it the driving force in desertification, it is a main cause of flooding, and the resultant cholera. It is a breeding ground for pests of several types (as well as many beneficial species). Its control and large scale eradication would help you all enormously.
It is readily made into powdery charcoal, which can then be briquetted using the starch from the same plant. It can also be brewed into ethanol, briquetted into biomass briquettes, or made into fuel gas in several ways. Turn this nuisance into an everlasting fuel resource. Other aquatic weeds need to be controlled, too. The uses of Typha are better explored than the others.
I'm working with a group teaching farmers how to make charcoal from agricultural waste products - such as maize cobs, or dried sugar cane (bagasse). This gives the health and economic benefits, whilst avoiding the environmental problems associated with deforestation. http://web.mit.edu/d-lab/portfolio/sugarcanecharcoal.htm
...she started using charcoal stove, popularly known as coal pot, because kerosene became costly and scarce. Mrs. Odia said she would remain ever grateful tor her grandmother for introducing her to coal stove. She is one of the many Lagos residents who have found in the use of charcoal stove, a cheaper and probably more efficient way of cooking their food. Many caterers, food vendors, especially the small restaurants and bukas, use charcoal stove.
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2 comments:
All across Africa there is a potential source for charcoal causing trouble for you. I'm talking Typha, the aquatic weed that has conquered Lake Chad and is systematically conquering your whole continent. Not only is it the driving force in desertification, it is a main cause of flooding, and the resultant cholera. It is a breeding ground for pests of several types (as well as many beneficial species). Its control and large scale eradication would help you all enormously.
It is readily made into powdery charcoal, which can then be briquetted using the starch from the same plant. It can also be brewed into ethanol, briquetted into biomass briquettes, or made into fuel gas in several ways. Turn this nuisance into an everlasting fuel resource. Other aquatic weeds need to be controlled, too. The uses of Typha are better explored than the others.
I'm working with a group teaching farmers how to make charcoal from agricultural waste products - such as maize cobs, or dried sugar cane (bagasse). This gives the health and economic benefits, whilst avoiding the environmental problems associated with deforestation.
http://web.mit.edu/d-lab/portfolio/sugarcanecharcoal.htm
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