Nigeria’s Green Energy Biofuels demonstrates green cooking can be economically viable, writes Anna Hirtenstein A BREW made from sawdust and water hyacinth flowers may help reduce the millions of lives lost across the developing world from the fumes of ramshackle cooking equipment.Those are the ingredients being used by Green Energy Biofuels, a Nigerian renewable energy developer, to produce a bioethanol that substitutes for more polluting fuels such as paraffin, charcoal and wood.While the project is small — work will start next year on a $65m plant after a trial produced 4-million litres of fuel — it is one of a handful of programmes across Africa to demonstrate that cleaner cooking can be economically viable. Similar developments have won the backing of the World Bank, World Health Organisation and International Energy Agency. They estimate that about 3-billion people still make meals with inferior fuels, leading to 4-million deaths a year from explosions and smoke inhalation.Cook...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.