For those of you that have been following our Project Diary, you will remember that late last year we launched a pilot project to build energy efficient household stoves for the local community in Muhaka in partnership with a company called CO2balance. Some of our volunteers have been helping build the stoves individual homes around the area and we have just completed the first five hundred. We have had a a lot of inquiries and questions about the why’s and what’s of this project so I asked Bushra Razack, the Project Development Manager from CO2balance Kenya to write a short piece explaining the whole process (NB. Bushra has also produced a short video on some of the social aspects behind the project which you can watch by clicking HERE). There’s a lot involved to manage this project and these chaps at CO2balance certainly have their hands full so a big thanks to Bushra for taking the time out to write this for us:

This short article will provide an outline of the processes used by co2balance when implementing our Energy Efficient Stove Projects in the local communities. It will take you through the project breakdown – step by step.

Before we get started, it is important that you understand the relationship between the different bodies responsible for the success of the project – namely co2balance, Gold Standard and the On the Ground Community/partner.

Co2balance: co2balance is a carbon management company that helps to mimimise the carbon dioxide emissions of companies and individuals and offset the unavoidable residue. Offsetting works by investing funds in sequestration or energy efficient projects that absorb or prevent the release of a tonnage of carbon dioxide equivalent to the carbon footprint calculated. We suggest you have a look at our website at www.co2balance.co.ke or join our co2balance Kenya facebook group.

Gold Standard: is an independent quality standard for carbon emission reduction projects. They were supported and developed by WWF and 19 other NGOs. Their aim is to ensure that the emission reduction projects are real and that they are providing the social, economic and environmental impacts they are promising. Basically, we submit our projects to Gold Standard, and they do a quality check of our project against their criteria. If they approve, it gives our project international credibility and integrity. There are different types of Gold Standard projects – Gold Standard Micro, Small Scale and Large Scale – dependent on the amount of stoves constructed / emission reductions. Our joint venture with Camp Kenya in Muhaka falls part of a Gold Standard Small Scale project. For the rest of this article, we will be referring to Gold Standard as GS.

On the Ground Community: Without the participation and assistance of the local community and our partner organizations, like Camp Kenya, the project will never be successful. These communities are complex systems arranged in a social structure according to relationships that have developed long before we decided to work there. We need to respect this and take this into consideration before beginning our work within these communities. We have to make sure that the community leaders, village elders etc are aware of what we aim to do before we even begin.

Now that you understand who is involved in the project, we can begin to break down the project process.

STEP 1 is project eligibility. We identify an area we wish to work in and explore its eligibility under GS. We do a region specific area analysis and identify the social and environmental issues unique to the region. Once we have done this we have a better understanding of the area, and we can identify the local area chief and women’s groups we will be working with for the duration of the project.

STEP 2 is the local stakeholder meeting. The local Stakeholder meeting is a GS requirement. It is an opportunity for us to get all the local beneficiaries together, explain the project to them – as they are the ones affected by it. We get their feedback , analyze their comments and responses and adapt the project accordingly.

STEP 3 is stove construction. We employ a local stove contractor to begin construction of the stoves in the area we have identified. Our stoves are energy efficient and use special design to minimize the amount of fuel used while at the same time maximizing the heat created. To put it simply, the stove has a fuel input chamber where the firewood is placed. The inside of the stove has “stomach” made of fired brick that keeps the heat in and directs it to one centralized point – the pot placement cavity. The pot is placed in this hole, directly above the heat.

The stoves will be constructed, distributed and installed by Camp Kenya and the local people under the guidance of co2balance Kenya Ltd.

STEP 4: We train the local women’s groups to assist us with the data collection. They are required to weigh the amount of fuel used with the traditional 3 stone stove. They do this at every meal for a week. We then ask then to repeat the weighing procedure on the energy efficient stove. It is clear from the Data Collection Process that the new stoves serve their purpose and reduce fuel use by 50%.

STEP 5: We have now put a system in place to monitor the distribution of the stove effectively and efficiently. We will be working with Camp Kenya in Muhaka to get the GPS co-ordinates for each individual stove – as well as a photo, Household Details etc. These details will be uploaded to our online Stove Distribution Database, making it easily accessible to all.

These are the basic steps taken to start up one of our Energy Efficient Stove Projects.

Our main projects at the moment include:
3 GS micro scale projects in Naivasha, Shimoni and Likoni.
We have 1 GS small scale project in Kisumu.
We have 1 GS small scale project that includes Kasigau, Maungu, Muhaka and selected areas in the Shimba Hills.
We also have a few projects underway in various other regions in Kenya and the rest of Africa.

Communities are embracing the project because of the benefits – other than carbon emission reductions associated with the reduction of the production and combustion of firewood derived from unsustainable sources.

The project will provide the following co-benefits:

•    Reduced deforestation and degradation of surrounding forests, as less wood will be needed to cook. This leads to biodiversity preservation.
•    Reduced poverty, as the efficient wood stove reduces annual expenditure on cooking fuels. This money can be put to use in other ways.
•    Reduced adverse health effects associated with indoor air particulate matter inhalation from the smoke due to the purpose-built stove design – we have heard many positive reports on the smoke free nature of the stove. Many households suffer from upper respiratory tract infection as a result of the smoke emitted from the old stove. Also, exposure of the developing embryo to indoor smoke pollution causes an increased risk of early childhood illness. The new smoke free stove addresses all of these issues.
•    Reduced cooking and wood collection time, which will revert to more time to attend other household tasks and/or less time kids will be unattended.
•    Reduced hazards due to the exposure of the firewood collectors (mainly women) to the forest on their own. There is a big concern about this last point related to frequent rape cases and animal attacks during wood collection.

We had a meeting with local stakeholders recently and asked them about the project. These were some of their comments:

“It is good for the environment and will reduce the amount of firewood”
“It is going to help the community save the use of firewood and also reduce effects of carbon dioxide”
“It helps reduce firewood usage”
“it keeps our environment clean”
“it is environmentally friendly, and good for the community”
“The project was great and it gives many local people jobs”
“the challenges tackled on the side of the environment is good”

The fact that our beneficiaries are all happy with the project process, the stove and the impacts of the project motivates us to continue doing what we do.

. Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets to demand that Developed countries start taking more responsibility for the planet. There have been amazing campaigns running across the globe from the streets of London to little villages in India. TCK, TCK, TCK – TIME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Negotiations are extremely heated at the moment. Today’s Guardian is running an article stating that, “Developed nations are trying to water down their emission commitments – no wonder the rest of the world is angry.”

Yes indeed, the developed world in particular has to reduce its carbon emissions. We are all feeling the adverse effects of becoming a society that is entirely dependent upon manufactured goods. Now more than ever, each one of us has to pay attention to our carbon footprints – especially those of us who have the luxury to sit in front of TV screens, love our coca cola or can’t do without our cars. We are all responsible.

Celebrities and global leaders have put their signature behind various campaigns for climate justice. African leaders are taking strong stands and we stand firmly by their side on this one:

So from the big wigs to the little guys on the ground, everyone does have something to say and hopefully we are all putting our words into action. Not so long ago, we blogged about how we at Camps International are doing our bit do reduce our carbon footprints and since then there has been so much more development. Our new partnership with Co2balance has swung into action on the ground in Kenya where we are building hundreds of energy efficient stoves for less fortunate homesteads who are dependent upon wood or charcoal to cook their meals.

As mentioned before, these, “stoves reduce firewood consumption by half and save in the region of 3.05 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, 15.25 tonnes over the 5 year life span, in comparison to traditional cooking methods. In addition to the saving in greenhouse gas emissions, the reduced need for firewood and the burning of rubbish leads to a corresponding reduction in the amount of time spent collecting cooking fuel.  The recipients of the energy efficient technology also gain considerable co-benefits such as reduced costs and a considerably improved environment from a health and safety perspective.”

For now it’s as simple as that and if all goes to plan we could be building thousands of stoves along the South Coast of Kenya and around the Tsavo ecosystem. Over the last week, I have been up and down in Muhaka almost everyday and there is such a buzz amongst the villagers for the stoves! Everyone wants one!! And our project officers can’t keep up with the demand. Eustace, Sampuli and Yayha are leading a team of stove builders and we are targeting 200 stoves by the end of this year and another 300 in the first 2 months of 2010!! So for those of you that will be coming in January, prepare yourselves for a lot of stove building…

The world knows that something is desperately wrong with the climate these days and it’s top of the agenda for global leaders and policy makers. This year thousands of bloggers came together yesterday to bring together a global voice for action to be taken against Climate Change. In Kenya, we don’t have to be told – we can see it and feel it. Two years of drought followed by El Nino floods in parts of the country. Phrases like carbon footprint and offsetting carbon have become for many a part of our daily lingo. Thankfully it is not all doom and gloom (at least not in our generation), as the rains have finally arrived…but it is certainly a wake-up call to all.

Where we are at

The bottom-line is we can all do our bit and we at Camps would like to think that we are taking a road less traveled. We have been planting trees for years thanks to all our volunteers who share our mission for being responsible travelers. Recently, we have been trying to take it one step further. At Camp Borneo, the team has been busy building a prototype bio gas collector (yes, there is a whole lot of energy that comes out of rear  ends!)

And in Kenya, we have had a long standing relationship with WWF to protect local forests and support alternative ways for communities to create an income without having to cut trees down. It’s not enough to tell people not to cut trees when they can barely feed themselves and we understand this. The local Farmer’s Center at Muhaka has become a buzz of activities for finding alternative eco-friendly fuels like jatropha as a biofuel to replace paraffin at homes (afraid there aint no electricity around here!) and now we are well underway with piloting our organic charcoal briquette project:

Where we are going

But we still know that there is so much more we can do and we want to do. So when some friendly chaps from a company called CO2balance came knocking at the door, we were quite excited to learn about the various projects they support across the world to find sustainable and financially viable ways for individuals to massive corporates to offset their carbon footprint. And right in our own backyard!

Best to let them explain what this is all about…

co2balance is working with local social groups in the Ukunda region of Kenya, East Africa to replace the use of open fires for cooking with energy efficient cooking stoves.   Our energy efficient stoves are made entirely in East Africa and utilise the ‘Rocket stove’ technology which offers a good balance between cost, life expectancy and efficiency.  These stoves reduce firewood consumption by half and save in the region of 3.05 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, 15.25 tonnes over the 5 year life span, in comparison to traditional cooking methods.

In addition to the saving in greenhouse gas emissions, the reduced need for firewood and the burning of rubbish leads to a corresponding reduction in the amount of time spent collecting cooking fuel.  The recipients of the energy efficient technology also gain considerable co-benefits such as reduced costs and a considerably improved environment from a health and safety perspective.

This is another example of co2balance seeking projects with a wide range of additional benefits to the receiving community, including health, financial, social and environmental. In this way, we can maximise the project’s achievements beyond simple carbon saving.

(If you would like to read more about this particular project, click HERE)

The ball began to roll a few months ago when CO2balance was keen to get a fuel-efficient stove program going in and around the Tsavo ecosystem so we helped to arrange various meetings with key community leaders like our good friends at Imani Women’s Group. In a couple of months over 400 stoves were built at individual homes and there are plans for another 1200!

As Ruphence (above) states: “This is a great stove. It works very good and very fast. Now I only use 2 k of charcoal when I was using 5. I can cook my beans and my ugali very quickly, so there is always food ready and none of my customers have to wait. They are all saying that Ruphence has the best café here and they are right. I have a good stove and I love it very much. I hope that I can get another one because then I can make this place bigger. It is a very very good project. I want to say Asante sana (thank you very much) to co2balance”.

What we can all do

For those of you that travel with us, you all know that our projects come first and foremost (ok, ok and a bit of fun too!) and thus, we have every intention of working with CO2balance to build as many stoves for communities that we work with in Kenya to start with so there is a lot to look forward to next year. But we want to take this one step further and do realise that taking responsibility starts at the very beginning of the journey if not before and whilst we will be busy planting many more trees, building stoves and bio-gas collectors, we would like to offer anyone who wants to, the option to offset their carbon from air travel. The journey starts at home and we hope that this will be a road more travelled…