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SUSTAINABLE+ BAMBOO CHARCOAL FOR STRONGER RURAL INCOMES
PROGRAM
Supporting a transformational impact for the traditional charcoal industry in Ghana
Green Cross Ghana is a national non-profit organization affiliated to Green Cross International, an NGO founded by H.E. Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, the former President of the Republic of Russia. The mission of Green Cross Ghana (GCG) is to help ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all by fostering a value shift and cultivating a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility in humanity's relationship with nature.
Green Cross Ghana is a rapidly expanding NGO in operation since 3 years that has successfully ventured into the Clean Water sector. Our flagship progam, ‘’ Smart Water for Green Schools’’supports the installation of boreholes, rainwater harvesting systems and ecological latrines in schools throughout Ghana.
Green Cross Ghana has established a recent practice to deliver a lasting impact in respect of clean energy & waste management initiatives in Ghana.
ABOUT GREEN CROSS GHANA
Bamboo, a non-timber forest product has been designated by the Government of Ghana as a viable alternative woody source for firewood and charcoal production, to maximize environmental conservation and sustainable resource exploitation.
The National Bamboo and Rattan Development Program (BARADEP) under the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is tasked with developing a bamboo-based industry for Ghana. Green Cross counts among the few and most prominent NGOs supporting this government-led effort.
Large stocks of Bamboo plantations exist within rural communities in Ghana and we propose to introduce a sustainable model of bamboo exploitation and conversion to charcoal, using mobile improved retort kilns and cargo bicycles. Our model we call “the village-owned sustainable charcoal facility” offers a new and innovative approach which holds the potential to be adopted nationwide.
CONTEXT
WHY CHARCOAL?
● Charcoal is to remain the main source of cooking in Ghana till 2025 (firewood and charcoal represent over 60% of the country’s total energy consumption)
●Recent renewed interest of traditional Biomass-as-a cooking source with the creation of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Approach needs to be complemented through working with the traditional Charcoal industry which can make a big difference.
● The program is part of our multi-energy portfolio approach to offer improvements to key existing energy/lighting sources but also support the advent of a clean energy era in Ghana.
WHAT ?
● Is charcoal that is produced in a more sustainable and efficient manner with minimum environmental impact
● It enhances the livelihoods of rural poor
● Should aim to achieve at least 25% efficiency converting wood or biomass to charcoal
SUSTAINABLE+ CHARCOAL
COMMUNITY-BASED OBJECTIVES
●To assist the community of Tandan, a rural township located in the Western region of Ghana to exploit their bamboo wild plantations as new, sustainably-managed sources for charcoal production.
SYSTEM-WIDE OBJECTIVES
● To introduce a new market-based charcoal production Infrastructure as a Service benefiting traditional charcoal producers and agro-residue resource owners, often overlooked actors in the contribution to climate mitigation and rural income generation
● To support the development of women-led bamboo charcoal distribution points in Accra, the main consumption city.
● To promote the use of bamboo charcoal as a viable alternative among consumers in Ghana.
OBJECTIVES
Aim is to introduce a number of clean technologies (highly efficient retort kilns, cargo bicycles) bundled under an innovative market-based infrastructure which benefit traditional charcoal producers.
Nicknamed the “community-operated sustainable+ charcoal facility”, this is a village plot that hosts within its premises, a minimum of 4 mobile retort kilns and 4 cargo bicycles that serve for the conversion of bamboo to charcoal.
Existing charcoal producers but also bamboo growers within the area (just like cassava growers would go to a grinding machine facility) can avail collection, transport and carbonization services. ● The cargo bicycle, a clean mode of rural transportation serves for the transport of the bamboo stock to the facility. ●The grower brings his bamboo stock to the central facility where the retort boasts an efficiency of 30% against the earth-mound efficiency of 10-15%. The facility is maintained by individuals designated among the community who offer such services for a fee. The charcoal is then packaged within the facility premises, with the bulk of the production sent to main consumption centres such as Accra and Takoradi, where a network of low-income women earners undertake the retail distribution.
EXECUTION MODEL
LAYOUT OF EXECUTION MODEL
Appropriation of efficient charcoal producing technologies
in Ghana
Installation of community-owned “Sustainable charcoal-making facilities” comprised of Improved retort kilns + Cargo Bicycles to collect & produce
charcoal
Guaranteed purchase assurance by Green Cross Ghana and
opportunities research
Setting up an urban distribution network of bamboo charcoal saleswomen in Accra/other
cities
INNOVATIONS IN OUR MODEL
Key Action explained Expected changes
1. Introducing mobile improved retort kilns with a conversion efficiency of 30-35%
-Quantity and quality charcoal (no sparks) as a result- Mobility solutions can meet bamboo growers’ on-site or adapt to raw source availability variations
2.Charcoal-making community-operated facility
-A shift from proprietary earth mounds/kilns to a community-owned facility. No need for every individual to master charcoal-making skills.-Enlarge the base of beneficiaries not only to Charcoal producers but also and most importantly to Bamboo/fuel source growers.-End-to-end solution provided from bamboo harvesting, collection, carbonization to guaranteed buy-back services.
3. Bamboo charcoal marketing and distribution
The packaging of bamboo charcoal in customer-size plastic bags will happen on-site. This represents a transportation advantage, marketing distinction and allows small quantities of bamboo charcoal to be widely disseminated and adopted by existing wood charcoal urban sellers.
TECHNOLOGIES
Cargo Bikes re-engineering options of:
(1) Bamboo-made bicycles by
Bamboo Bikes Ltd. Ghana with support from the
Bamboo Project and WorldBike
Introduce in Ghana and re-engineering options of:
The “CPTI Retort”, a retort kiln designed by the Center
for the Improvement of Industrial Techniques of Côte
d’Ivoire. Commandited as part of the WAMU Regional
Biomass Program and widely in use by the National Forest
Development Authority of Côte d’Ivoire.
Location:
● The township of Tandan in the Western Region of Ghana
Beneficiaries of the project :
● Generate rural employment of 30 persons as bamboo outgrowers and facility workers ● 20 disadvantaged women as bamboo charcoal saleswomen in Accra earn a living income ● 350 households (approx. 1500 persons) benefit from a cleaner and more efficient-burning charcoal
TANDAN PROJECT
Use the charcoal facility to host a physical national training centre where candidate villages for expansion can send designated out-growers or charcoal producers for immersion or training.
Beneficiaries of the project :
● 100 representatives of candidate villages are trained to support the expansion of the program in their respective communities
BEYOND TANDAN PROJECT
Feasibility Study• March/May ‘11
Tandan Project• September ‘11
– ‘12
National Replication2013
CURRENT AND NEXT STEPS
• Design and prototyping exercise for the kiln and cargo bicycle
• Infrastructure acquisition and construction of the Facility
• Post-charcoal quality production tests
• Market research studies comprised of a qualitative/quantitative product testing of bamboo charcoal and a quantitative Habits and Attitudes survey of the population on charcoal usage
• Out growers and rural workers’ training including among others developing local dialects, audio-based materials on optimal carbonization courses
• Sponsoring of 100 village-designated representatives to be trained at demonstration center
• Staff salaries
•Business plan preparation for the creation of an energy service company as provider of biomass-to-sustainable+ charcoal facilities and charcoal distributor
FUNDING SUPPORT REQUESTED
CONTACTS
Richard Seshie, Clean Energy Practice Leader
[email protected] [email protected]
00233(0)260759275
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