Eco-Fuel Africa has set up a system for the production and distribution of "biochar briquettes"small blocks of carbonized agricultural waste that provide a cleaner, easier-to-access fuel for homes across Uganda.

Eco-Fuel Africa

Sanga Moses ticket out of rural Uganda was education. As an accountant at a large Kampala bank, Moses was able send money home. On a return visit to his village, he was distressed to see his kid sister coming round the bend, loaded down with firewood. It was pointless for him to pay for her schooling, she tearfully told him, because she missed too many days collecting firewood to keep up with her lessons.

Moses recalled he collected firewood in his youth, too, but a decade earlier trees had been more plentiful and closer to the village. Widespread deforestation had turned fuel-gathering into a full-day task. Moses devoted himself then and there to finding a sustainable solution.

Researching fuel alternatives, Moses zeroed in on biochar-based briquettes. Standard charcoal is made by carbonizing wood in kilns. Biochar uses the same process, carbonization, but its raw products are agriculture waste, sparing trees. Formerly farmers burned crop residue just to get rid of it. For making biochar briquettes, this waste is carbonized in repurposed oil drums.

Biochar briquettes offer end-users many advantages:

Eco-Fuel Africa, the business Moses has built, features an integrated supply chain from field to kiosk.

Eco-Fuel Africa has expanded by setting up franchises. Theirs is a replicable, scalable business model providing employment along with environmental benefit. Fuel is a daily necessity, there is an abundance of agricultural waste in Uganda, and forests across the country are under stress.

View original post here:

The Little Kiosks That Could