Global green awards’ 2009 finalists selected

On 11 June 2009 sustainable energy champions from Ethiopia, India, Nicaragua, Uganda and the US will be recognised with cash prizes by the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy for their life changing solutions to poverty and climate change. One will be crowned global Energy Champion, with an associated prize of £40,000. An Outstanding Achievement Award will also be made to a previous Ashden Award winner who has forged ahead in the field at the Awards ceremony, held in Central London. The finalists will present their work to their peers and other experts at the Ashden Awards Imperial College Conference, to be held on 10 June.

This year’s final six demonstrate massive potential for growth and replication:

Ladakh, India: A highly insulated, heat-retaining greenhouse powered only by the sun enables villagers to grow vegetables through the winter, even when outside air temperatures fall below -25C. Since 2005 nearly 600 greenhouses have been built cheaply by masons using mainly local materials.

Bihar, India: A new biomass gasification system generates electric power for eight hours per day, providing a popular alternative to an unreliable grid supply. Electricity is currently sold to ten businesses which previously used diesel generators. Most of the biomass is ‘dhaincha’, a local woody plant which grows in water-logged areas where crops cannot be grown.

USA/China: A cheap and efficient stove saves 40% fuelwood and reduces polluting emissions by 50-75% compared to traditional cooking. It is manufactured in a factory in China and used in programmes as widespread as South Africa, India, and Argentina. 60,000 stoves have been sold.

Nicaragua: 2,000 solar home systems and 560 larger solar energy systems have been sold and installed in rural areas by a 25-year-old family-run business, for uses including light and communications for schools and police stations; vaccine and blood refrigeration for clinics; pumps for village water supplies; and power for mobile phone masts.

Ethiopia: A village scheme pioneering rented small photovoltaic (PV) solar-home-systems in each of 1,100 homes was successfully trialed to replace kerosene lighting and dry cell batteries. It has now supplied a further 1,000 systems to outlying areas, and has established a centre providing training for solar technicians.

Uganda: A business started making briquettes from agricultural waste for its own use, but now sells over 100 tonnes per month to schools and other businesses, and has installed over 1,300 large, efficient stoves for cooking using briquettes. Briquettes replace fuelwood and charcoal, thus reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.

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Charcoal prices soar in Uganda

AllAfrica.com reports:

Kampala — MOST Kampala residents have shifted from using electricity to charcoal, previously regarded as a cheap source of energy for the poor. But the charcoal prices have doubled within less than a year . Further increases are predicted if nothing is done to put things right. Gerald Tenywa tells how the masses are coping.

AISHA Kamara, a resident of Kinawataka, a Kampala suburb, leads a life full of challenges. "We have food, but no charcoal to cook with," says the 33-year-old Kamara. "So we look for wood chips and gather sawdust, which we use to cook."

She sends out her three young daughters to scavenge for whatever their little hands can get in order to have food ready. Charcoal, which used to be a cheap and easy source of energy for the poor like Kamara has become expensive.

"We can no longer afford to use charcoal everyday," she says. In a survey conducted by The New Vision, a sack of charcoal goes for an average of sh30,000 up from sh25,000 in October-November. The average price of charcoal was sh 15,000 last year, but has remained unstable. In Byeyogerere, Kireka and Banda, the prices range from sh28,000 to sh30,000 per sack.

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