The MIDGE was tested with wood chips and charcoal to boil water. Based on results wood chips is better fuel for the MIDGE as getting temperatures high enough to boil water required external draft and it is poorly suited to use charcoal as fuel. The MIDGE is well suited to use small diameter and particle size biomass as fuel and combust it in clean and efficient manner.
Tag: Charcoal production
BIODEV –Building biocarbon and rural development in West Africa – developing charcoal production: field measurements in Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso
The development goal of the program is to achieve sustainable rural development with long term livelihood and environmental benefits to rural populations and the global community under climate change through high value bio carbon approaches in West Africa. University of Eastern Finland is coordinating WP 1.4 to improve fuel wood use efficiency and develop sustainable wood energy systems in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. The field measurements gave valid information About the tree species distributions and the forest structure. This information was then used to derive attributes such as tree density, volume, amount of logwood, amount of fuel wood etc. This information was highly valuable when assessing the potentials for sustainable forest management and fuel wood use.
Regulatory compliance,motivations and capacities in charcoal production in Baringo and Kitui counties, Kenya.
Illegality in the forest sector is a major threat to forest and tree resources. Governments have responded by imposing more regulations and restrictions, with little consideration given to motivations for noncompliance. In Kenya, the Forest (Charcoal) Rules 2009 – while considered significant progress toward regulating the industry – have failed to elicit sufficient compliance to formalize the value chain and stem illegality.
This study aimed to investigate the mandates, capacities, motivations and drivers for compliance by members of charcoal producer associations (CPAs), while examining the incentive mechanisms required to increase compliance in the charcoal value chains in Baringo and Kitui counties in Kenya. The study found that CPA members were engaged in the charcoal business mainly due to a lack of alternative livelihoods.
Most producers indicated they had little or no knowledge of the charcoal rules, but they complied due to fear of arrest or fines, and due to their own personal values. Poverty, livelihood systems, the capacity of regulatory authorities, and corruption were the key external factors influencing the decision not to comply. Capacity building and the strengthening of CPAs were seen as incentives for compliance. • The Forest Charcoal Rules are an innovative legislative framework for regulating and formalizing charcoal production and trade in Kenya. However, there is an urgent need for new mechanisms that will empower CPAs. Further analysis of motivations of charcoal value-chain actors would generate invaluable evidence to inform policy and practice in the subsector.