Joomla! site syndication http://www.fuelnetwork.org 2009-01-05T22:22:33+01:00 http://www.fuelnetwork.org http://www.fuelnetwork.org/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2008-05-28T10:19:09+01:00 http://www.fuelnetwork.org http://www.fuelnetwork.org/index.php/ Global green awards’ 2008 finalists announced Ethiopia: refugees embrace sweet solution to deforestation and smoky cooking fires Today, the world’s leading green energy prize announced that the Gaia Association, an organisation working with the UNHCR in the Kebribeyah refugee camp near Ethiopia’s border with Somalia, is one of the pioneering renewable energy projects from Africa, Asia and Latin America that will receive a prize of up to £20,000. Gaia Association will compete to be the Ashden Awards’ Energy Champion, with prize money of up to £40,000; the Champion will be revealed at a ceremony in London in June. 17,000 people live in the Kebribeyah refugee camp, having fled conflict in bordering Somalia. Fuelwood for cooking is a serious issue: gathering wood for cooking outside the camps is a lengthy business that puts women in physical danger; deforestation around the camp is so extensive that the government has banned cutting down trees; and cooking over open fires is unpleasant and causes numerous health hazards. To address these problems, by the end of May 2008, the Gaia Association had supplied Swedish-designed, ethanol-fuelled stoves to all 1,780 refugee families in Kebribeyah refugee camp. The stoves enable clean, comfortable cooking and can reduce the fuel wood needed by each family by nearly four tonnes a year. The ethanol is produced from locally-available molasses, a by-product of the sugar industry, whose disposal previously caused water pollution, and local manufacture of the stoves is now underway. Before the CleanCook stoves were available, most cooking was done on open fires or using simple wood-burning stoves made from clay. Women would often cook outdoors to avoid the smoke. Those who use the ethanol stoves find them simple and quick to use, and suitable for all the food they want to cook. There are fewer eye and respiratory problems, reduced risk of burns to women and children, and the women cooking do not get so hot – a considerable benefit when drinking water is in short supply. Food does not taste of smoke, and the pans and clothes stay cleaner. The value of the stoves goes far beyond the environmental and convenience factors, particularly for women. Their daughters can go to school, instead of spending up to eight hours a day gathering firewood. And, as a member of the Refugee Women’s Committee in the camp remarked: “I gave my stove to my daughter when she got married, so that she would not have to face the dangers of going out to gather firewood.” text/html 2008-05-19T14:39:13+01:00 http://www.fuelnetwork.org http://www.fuelnetwork.org/index.php/ UNHCR’s interview (http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/482db18f4.html) with Task Force Co-Chair Women’s Commission about the Network and IASC Task Force SAFE text/html 2007-09-18T22:06:29+01:00 http://www.fuelnetwork.org http://www.fuelnetwork.org/index.php/ Women’s Commission Technical and Programmatic Workshop The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, with the support of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), hosted a Technical and Programmatic Workshop on Household Energy Interventions in Humanitarian Settings on December 5 in Geneva, Switzerland. The workshop brought together approximately 30 actors from a variety of backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise, including UN and government agencies, international NGOs, donors, researchers, technical experts, representatives of international organizations and others from Europe, Africa and the US. Presentations focused on both technical and programming options for responding to household energy needs in humanitarian settings, including recent experiences from the field. Participants were also encouraged to bring and demonstrate their various household-energy related devices, including clean cook ethanol stoves, solar cookers, solar powered radios and communications devices, and other products. The workshop also provided a platform for discussing the objectives and methodology of the International Network on Household Energy in Humanitarian Settings and links with the IASC Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (IASC Task Force SAFE). For more information on the workshop and to read the workshop report, please click here (images/docs/HH%20energy%20wksp%20report%20FINAL.pdf).