A small cafe on the edge of the maasai mara reserve in S.W Kenya that have switched to Cookswell Ovens, they bake about 80 loaves of bread a day along with cupcakes and then roast chicken and meat. per day they use appx 6kgs of charcoal for ALL the cooking. they also use a No 14 KCJ for boiling and frying needs.

6 people are now employed in a almost smokeless kitchen, before they bought a jiko, all thier cooking was done on a 3 stone fire and they used about 25kgs of firewood.

Cook, save money, eat well.

Cookswell Ovens
http://www.kenyacharcoal.blogspot.com

The Kitengela Arboretum Promoting sustainable agro-energy technologies and conservation education. Kenya Seeds of Change An initiative contributing towards national afforestation through direct seeding of woodlots. Concept Compiled by: Teddy M. Kinyanjui Sustainability Consultant Kitengela Arboretum Po. Box 23058 Lower Kabete Nairobi, Kenya. April 2009

**Kenya Seeds of Change**
*Overview*
The degraded state of Kenya’s national and private forests (and therefore, the overall environmental health of the country) borders on the point of no return. Unless large scale forestry efforts are undertaken by both the public and private sector in the next few years, the damage that has been done to the countries forests will become irreversible. Due to the slow pace of natural regeneration of forests (as compared to their exploitation), a boost is sorely needed to meet current and future demands by Kenya’s ever growing population for sustainably grown wood by-products, especially the charcoal and firewood that is used daily by 80% of the country’s population.
The Kenya Seeds Of Change initiative aims to contribute towards national afforestaion by land owners through the countrywide sales of inexpensive tree seeds and the promotion of direct seeding woodlot establishment. Seeds are by far the best method of promoting wide scale tree planting in Kenya. These are some of the benefits from the direct planting of tree seeds compared to planting seedlings:

• Seeds are Cheaper! (At roughly 0.25cents per tree compared to 20+ shillings per seedling)
• The tree’s hardiness and survivability increases.
• Thousands of seeds can be transported and stored much more easily then thousands of seedlings can until the planting time comes.
• Seeds can be massively disseminated through existing retail outlets with minimal price increments from producer to consumer. Tree seedlings face problems of availability at the right time, dissemination logistics etc.
• Partially domesticated indigenous tree species are best grown from seed. They are already adapted to Kenya’s climate, soils and pests and the trees are currently widely used and understood by the population.
• Seeds simplify the enhancement of the genetic diversity of planted woodlots.
• The above/below ground biomass ratio is more conducive to healthy growth when a tree is planted from seed.
• Overall financial losses and risks from drought, animals etc. are significantly less under direct seeding.

Limited Access to Good Seed

• From large commercial plantations to small scale rural and urban farmers, the access to purchase certified tree seeds according to their growing zones and uses is extremely limited to anyone who would like to plant trees.
• Currently the only place to buy graded, certified tree seeds is at KEFRI (The Kenya Forestry Research Institute), located in Muguga, on the outskirts of Nairobi.
• In contrast all the Nakumatt and Uchumi supermarket chains and all of the Agro-Vets in small or large towns and cities stock a variety of seeds ie. sukuma wiki (Kale) and maize etc.
• Which of course raises the question; why don’t they all stock small packages of tree seeds that are suited to their market base?

This is what the Kenya Seeds of Change initiative has been started to get done.

On Appropedia.org

"No smoking" while cooking through use of efficient good stoves. There is a need to facilitate 1 billion good stoves. This calendar with pictures reminds us this challenge.

Art Donnelly, December, 2010

Mas que Cafe (on YouTube)

(Produced, shot and edited by Majo Calderon & Carlos Herrera
http://www.biodieseldiaries.com )

....The stove is a modification of the Avan http://e-avanstove.blogspot.com/ + Inverted Downdraft to reduce the height of it so that small food/noodle shop in rural area may be interested in trying it......- Monk Viravat Charoenbenchavong

http://www.bioenergylists.org/geoavanstove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzqE8_D-tTU&feature=share

D. Ariho, P. Tumutegyereize and K. Bechtel, Uganda December 2010

The Project was concerned with the evaluation of the energy efficiencies of commonly available biomass
fuels in Uganda in a “Champion-2008” Top Lit Updraft (TLUD) gasifier stove. Selected biomass fuels included; Eucalyptus wood from plantations, maize cobs (agro-waste), papyrus, spear grass, noncarbonized briquettes (agro-waste and sawdust) and off-grade jatropha seeds. Moisture content
measurement of biomass fuels was determined using oven-dry method. The energy efficiencies of the
biomass fuels in the “Champion-2008” TLUD gasifier stove lied between 12 and 19%. Maize cobs had the highest energy efficiency of 18.40% and spear grass had the lowest of 12.64%. Maize cobs and papyrus were not significantly different from Eucalyptus wood. Non-carbonized briquettes and off-grade jatropha seeds had a higher operation time compared to the rest of the selected biomass fuels though faced with a problem of higher starting time but able to perform when started. The results obtained indicate that a variety of biomass fuels in Uganda can perform well in the “Champion-2008” TLUD gasifier stove, thus the need for adoption to combat deforestation problem.

See the attached report
http://www.bioenergylists.org/files/BIOMASS FUELS IN A TLUD GASIFIER STOVE.pdf (in pdf) for more detail.

Leslie Cordes, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves December, 2010

Dear Colleague:

We would like to invite you to participate as a Core Member of the Technology and Fuels Working Group of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. These working groups will provide an excellent opportunity for Alliance partners to help shape the future direction of the Alliance as we define our strategic vision for the next few years, and we welcome your active input and engagement.

The Alliance was launched in New York City this September with a commitment to saving lives, improving livelihoods, empowering women, and combating climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean cookstoves. Since the launch, we have begun a range of activities to help achieve our ambitious interim goal of having 100 million homes adopt clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020.

As a critical step toward this ambitious undertaking, the Alliance is establishing nine working groups charged with identifying and prioritizing a suite of critical steps necessary for the sector to reach a ‘tipping point’. These outputs will form the basis of both a public ‘Clean Cookstoves Sector-wide Priorities Report’ (or less glamorously, a ‘to-do’ list) as well as the long-term strategic plan of the Alliance. We envision these documents will serve in a sense as the first-ever sector-wide roadmap on how to take clean cookstoves to scale in the developing world.

Nat Mulcahy, World Stove December, 2010

Why We Do What We Do

also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mgUg6GWLJg