Trees, Charcoal and Rain

Once again I read that Africa is suffering because people are cutting trees for fuel and to produce charcoal. Generally, the charcoal production is illegal, but this can be sorted out with a back-hander - no change there then.
From what I have seen and heard on my trips to Kenya, the solar cooker, which can be made for pennies, are very efficient, but do not fit in with the East African psyche, they take too long to cook a meal. From my observations, it seems that Kenyans like to prepare and eat with little or no gap in between. So they need an instant heat source to cook on, wood, charcoal, kerosene or, if they are modern (and can afford it) butane gas.
So, trees will continue to be decimated until an alternative instant fuel is found, that is acceptable to those who have to use it.
You can read an article on the BBC website here

I have been working on methane collector design for a while now and have come up with a version that is easy and cheap to construct, and easy to use.
My contention is that if butane is acceptable, then so is methane. The difference is that methane occurs naturally, and to collect it is a simple matter. It is FREE!
Looking at its use ecologically, burning methane forms water and CO2, which is a good thing. Why? Because methane is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2, so it is far more acceptable to have CO2 floating around rather than methane, isn't it?
But most people living in rural East Africa are not interested in that, they are too busy surviving.
So, what about the charcoal makers? They will not be happy seeing their livlihood disappearing as people convert to methane for cooking.
So, show them how to make methane collectors, install them and maintain them. Yes, they need maintaining. A 45 gallon methane collector will produce gas for about six months before it needs refurbishing. But, the by-product is fertiliser, just what is needed on a shamba.
So, to recap:

• Methane is free
• Using methane saves trees
• A methane collector produces fertiliser
• Using methane helps to eliminate a potent greenhouse gas that would normally escape to atmosphere.
• Methane is a clean fuel, so there are no particulates to irritate and inflame eyes and lungs.
• Charcoal producers can be easily trained to make, install and maintain methane collectors, so they will not lose their income. In fact, with a little persuasion, maybe they will even promote the use of methane.

Methane can also be used as an alternative to petrol, so it will run a generator or water pump.

What is the next step?
KCIS has produced a working model. We can produce free methane. We are willing to spread the word.
We have contacted various charities and NGOs who are supposed to be interested in saving trees and protecting the water catchment areas. What is their response?
NOTHING!
If you are interested in saving trees in Kenya, contact us. We will work with anyone who is serious about making people's lives better in Kenya, or even East Africa.
Also published at Baba Mzungu’s blog

Scrapheap Challenge

Our project, Scrapheap Challenge has been put together to cover all the ideas and prototypes that have been designed to make low-technology equipment largely from scrap or discarded materials.

So far, we have:

• Water filter and purifier
• Methane collector (with fertiliser by-product as a bonus)
  
• Rainwater collection
• Cheap bio-diesel
• Hydrogen cell

All these systems will be built and tested at out River Cottage Kenya plot in Kisii - as soon as we have funds to carry out this work.

When we have proved that they work, with tweeking as needed, their concepts will be passed on to other NGOs and communities throughout Kenya and further on, depending upon how successful we are in promoting them (and us!).

You can help by spreading the word and/or making a donation using the PayPal button on the right.

Please, please help us.

Ready to Roll ...

We are ready to put some of our design concepts into practice - at last!

We have a small plot in Kisii with a hut on it and a river on the border, perfect for an experimental shamba.

Apart from actually growing food for the kids at the Twiga Home, we will be harvesting methane to be used for cooking and running a small generator. We will also be purifying water straight from the river, producing pure clean drinking water using a system designed to be built from scrap and cheap materials.

If we can get the raw materials, we will also be producing bio-diesel and a hydrogen production system for petrol cars (it doesn't replace petrol, but cuts consumption by up to 50%).

We are in the fund-searching phase of the operation. Anyone with ideas as to who we could approach, please let us know.

An Alternative to Wood and Charcoal?

(... or even kerosene)

Methane. It is a gas found everywhere, especially in the vicinity of cattle and other herbivores. Noting special there, then.

But it can be "manufactured" and harnessed at no cost (other than setting up), and can be used for cooking. It does not produce smoke like wood, charcoal or kerosene, so will not irritate the eyes and lungs of people using it.

Trees do not need to be cut down to produce it, so the local environment is not decimated. Trees help to keep topsoil intact. Get rid of the trees and you eventually lose topsoil.

Methane can also be used to run a petrol motor, such as a power generator. Other than the cost of the generator (6,500 shillings), this could give free electricity - not a lot, admittedly, but enough for electric lights - no more candles, hurricane lamps or batteries.

Or, maybe it could run a petrol-powered water pump at a borehole, or to pump water from a river to a community.

But what is needed to make methane?

Waste. Animal waste (droppings) and vegetable waste (husks, outer leaves of vegetables), in fact most anything that rots down. If placed in an oxygen-free container, methane will be produced.

It is easy enough to produce. It is clean to use, and it does not rely on the sun, although the collector needs reasonable warmth to work. Most places in Kenya are warm enough.

Cooking on methane is similar to cooking over wood or charcoal. It is a lot easier to make the change to methane than it is to start using other alternatives such as a solar cooker.

KCIS has now designed a methane collector that is made, for the most part, out of scrap or other used materials (naturally), so it is cheap.

We are just waiting to prove it and then pass on the technology to all.