Jatropha Bio-diesel Production Department
The project focuses on cultivation and processing of Jatropha oil, an environmentally safe, cost-effective renewable source of non-conventional energy and a promising substitute for diesel, kerosene, fuel wood, solar energy, wind energy, charcoal, electricity, LPG and other fuels.
1. Prince of Monaco II bio-diesel project Yatta- 2007
Green Africa Foundation has established bio-energy pilot projects. In partnership with Prince of Monaco II, in Yatta Division. The aim of the project is to empower rural communities by offering them an alternative or additional income-generating activity and providing them with a cheap source of energy.
2. Norwegian Church Aid-Mpeketoni Bio-diesel project - 2008
Green Africa Foundation as a consulting partner trained about 10,000 small-scale farmers in Mpeketoni, Lamu District on Jatropha Curcas shrub cultivation. The project is an out-growers system, where each farmer dedicated two-acres for oil crop cultivation. The Norwegian Church Aid provides a crushing machine to squeeze the seeds to produce Jatropha Oil and a generator, fueled with Jatropha Oil, to provide energy to the Mpeketoni residents
3. The establishment of successful tree nurseries in Kitui district in Kenya
A significant proportion of the community is subsistence farmers and they are usually involved in activities like charcoal burning with very negative impacts on the environment. However, Green Africa Foundation has the only tree nursery in the district with a capacity of over 1 million tree seedlings per rainy season. As a result of community empowerment and training programs, The Foundation has transformed the district towards reforestation and more sustainable livelihoods among the communities.
4. Training of farmers
Green Africa Foundation has trained more than 4000 small scale farmers in Kenya, on Jatropha Curcas cultivation and production.
JATROPHA CURCAS OUTSHINING OTHER ENERGY SOURCES
Green Africa Foundation is currently working with 4,000 farmers in various parts of the country.
The project provides alternative income for farmers in arid and semi-arid regions
of the country where food crop farming is a challenge.
We would wish to expand this project by establishing seed centers and extraction centers to create a market for the farmers
There have been numerous changes in Kenyan society over the last two decades. The population has risen a great deal and this has resulted in greater energy demand. A strain has been put on the existent energy sources putting blemishes on their efficiencies. Experts say that the use of the Jatropha plant as an energy source may be a stitch in time to substitute the shortfalls of the others.
Biomass
Biomass energy includes:
- Charcoal.
Charcoal is one of the energy sources widely used by Kenyans. By the year 2000, use of charcoal at the national level representing 82% and 34% of urban and rural households, respectively per capita consumption was 56kg in urban areas and 152kg in rural areas. The major developmental issue with charcoal is that it is based on wood regarded as "free good" and is obtained mainly from communal lands. Though wood is a renewable resource this practice of charcoal burning has largely contributed to the mass depletion and disappearance of forest resources.
- Fuel wood.
Fuel wood is basically used for cooking (99%), water heating (66%), house lighting (33%), lighting (4.4%) and home business (2.8%). The average per capita consumption in the rural areas is 741 kg or 3,527kg per household with the highest consumption occurring in the medium potential zone. For urban households, per capita consumption is lower at 691kg or 2,701kg per household mainly as a result of fuel substitution, it's actually the lowest income household's majority of who come from slums and depend on firewood at most.
As populations continue to use fuel wood as source of energy mass decrease in forest cover and the effects that come along with it are visible. Reduced vegetation cover mothers disappearance of water catchment areas and thus frequent occurrence of droughts. Also with no vegetation cover on ground rainfall infiltration is increased creating need for irrigation thus more work
- Constraints
Traditional biomass energy use has serious environmental drawbacks. Though wood is a renewable resource this practices has largely contributed to deforestation.
As populations continue to use fuel wood as source of energy, mass decrease in forest cover and the effects that come along with it are visible. Reduced vegetation cover mothers disappearance of water catchment areas and thus frequent occurrence of droughts. Also with no vegetation cover on ground rainfall infiltration is increased creating need for irrigation thus more work.
- Health impacts of biomass energy
Indoor air pollution from invented bio-fuel cooking stoves is a major contributor to illness in rural areas of East Africa where cooking is mainly done indoors .The low efficiencies of traditional biomass stoves are derived from the incomplete combustion of charcoal (suspended particulates and carbon monoxide), resulting in a number of health- damaging pollutants flu, cold and pneumonia to ailments such as cancer, asthma, allergy, respiratory, circulatory and other systemic effects. Thus one would expect to find a correlation between the percentage of biomass use in total energy use and a number of demographic indicators especially those related to women and young children who are thought to be the most vulnerable. A study of air pollution in developing countries found indoor air pollution levels from biomass combustion at several multiples of World Trade Organization (WHO). The daily average for Kenya is 5 to 34 times. (Smith. K, 1988). Also according to the world energy assessment by UNDP (2000), as the percentage of biomass use increases, life expectancy decreases while infant mortality increases.
In addition the whole processes of production, transportation and marketing, has currently led to biomass prices getting out of hand for the low income citizen.
For communities in semi-arid and arid areas of Kenya who use wood for fuel, for charcoal production and construction poles, accessibility is made even more difficult by the remoteness, topography, climates, and distances to bush lands, woodlands, and wooded grasslands.
The dependence of biomass energy in rural households comes at an exorbitant price since large amounts of human energy and time are spent on fuel wood gathering. Approximately 93% of firewood in Kenya is transported using human means, with transport by vehicles, carts, bicycle, and donkey accounting for very few cases. Most people actually use human labour to transport the firewood with 81% of them obtaining it within a 5km radius from their homes.
Jatropha biofuel Vs Biomass Energy
Jatropha oil offers a solution to curb the quickly advancing problem of deforestation. This is through the fact that it is the seeds of the tree that produce the fuel and not the stump; thus we do not have to destroy trees and vegetation in order to make it available to us after all. After harvesting the seeds the environment is able to maintain its original aesthetic beauty and shape.
Jatropha oil can stored for a long time thereby it can always be available for use in extremes of whether that is during droughts, or floods. This is so unlike firewood whose use will only be possible when the wood itself is dry so when it's raining a substitute source of fuel must be found. Jatropha seeds, from which oil is derived from, are light and easy to carry reducing the burden of heavy stacks of firewood that women have to carry from the forests to their homes. Productive time that should be devoted to other domestic chores that is usually spent on fuel wood collection is saved.
While Jatropha does not emit carbon or other gaseous emissions that are responsible for global warming it is also price friendly for the ordinary income earners. The main product (oil and lubricants) actually upon combustion is emission free making it environmentally safer for ozone protection and use in industrial development.
Petroleum products e.g. Paraffin/kerosene
Kenya is a non-oil producing country and depends on imported petroleum. The main petroleum products used in rural households are:
- Kerosene/Paraffin
- Is often regarded as a poor man's fuel and is used by approximately 92% of all households (rural-94% and urban-89%), mainly for lighting. The annual per capita consumption at the household level is 90%litresin urban areas and 41% litres in rural areas indicating that urban house holds consumption is double that of rural households due to its use for cooking in the former.
- LPG
Average per capita consumption is only 3.6 kg and 9.7 kg for rural and urban areas respectively.
- Constraints
When burned paraffin releases carcinogenic toxins such as benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and soot into the air. The emissions from paraffin contain many of the same toxins produced by burning diesel fuel.
The main issue surrounding kerosene use though is inaffordability especially by the low- income households.In addition policies on Kerosene retailing formulated do not protect the majority of consumers, especially the lowest income users from exploitation.
LPG on the other hand is not widely used with only 7.8% (23% urban and 1.8% rural) households using it. The LPG - based appliances themselves are expensive and regulators are incompatible between different major dealers, making it difficult to interchangeably buy LPG from a variety of companies. Moreover in the case of LPG, marketing by the oil companies involves high unit capital and operating expenditure due to the small volumes and high safety requirements. This contributes a great deal in making LPG relatively expensive compared with other fuels.
Jatropha Vs Petroleum sources of Energy
Affordability and accessibility are the properties that Jatropha oil exudes. A potential user can buys it anywhere it is produced instead of specific outlets as in the case of petroleum products. The availability of Jatropha trees in your farm guarantees that.
Jatropha oil comes in handy as its high viscosity gives it the capacity to burn longer than other fuels implying that less is spent in a long period of time making it cost-effective, friendly to the lowest of incomes and therefore a promising substitute for kerosene.
Also, the oil burns without smoke and thus the question of carbon emissions does not arise as in the case of kerosene. This ensures that the environment and the users of such fuel are totally protected from the injurious effects that arise from gaseous emissions.
Electricity
Electricity is the most modern and convenient fuel and ranks highest on the energy ladder. It is also the second most important source of commercial energy. Electricity in Kenya is based on hydro, geothermal, and oil.
- Constraints
While most investment in rural energy development has been in modern energy systems, not enough electricity has reached rural areas. Although globally the number of rural households with access to electricity more than doubled in the 1970-90 period, this increase just kept up with population growth. As a result, the absolute number of people without access has not declined significantly.
As with other products, electricity pricing depends on production costs, marketing costs and related investment costs. Kenya's electricity producers (KenGen, IPPs & UEB) have there own costs and profits to satisfy and so has KPLC. Therefore it is expensive making only 15% households with access to electricity. Per capita household consumption averages 844 KWh in urban & 544 KWh in rural.
Other than the cost of electricity, the requirement for potential consumer to have permanent or semi-permanent house before electricity connection is made is discriminatory to the income groups even though there are issues of safety to be considered. In addition to the financial constraints faced in generating sufficient supply of electricity, institutional constraints also stand on the way. The evolution of several institutions in the power industry with overlapping responsibility increases overhead costs, which are passed on to the consumers and create conflict of interest.
Jatropha biodiesel Vs Electricity
Electricity is an expensive energy type for households and small businesses. The government policy to provide affordable electricity to all parts of the country and to as many people as possible has also been difficult to achieve and will take many years.
Hence, with the costs involved particularly electricity production for the scattered population of rural Kenya Jatropha oil comes handy as a reliable, cheap, cost-effective source of energy for all parts of Kenya. Costs involved in the whole process of Jatropha oil production are average and at least the very ordinary of all citizens can be able to afford it. Jatropha is also safe to use, as dangers pertaining to electric shocks do not arise, therefore all age groups can be entrusted to run all chores using this fuel without fear that harm may arise if not closely guarded.
Solar
Solar energy has been highlighted as one of the alternative forms of energy that should be developed for rural areas. Kenya has great potential for the use of solar energy throughout year because of its strategic location near the equator. Despite this potential, the current contribution of solar to energy supply in Kenya is minimal with only 1.2% of the households using it for domestic purposes
- Constraints
The bulk of solar water heaters in use in Kenya are owned by high income households, institutions and large commercial establishments such as hotels and game lodges. The urban and rural poor have not enjoyed significant benefits from solar water heating technologies. A solar water heater to serve an average household costs about Kshs 95,000 and can use 135 litres tank Therefore though attractive, solar energy uptake has been impeded by financial constraints.
Jatropha fuel Vs Solar
Jatropha oil can very effectively substitute solar as a source of energy because despite it being cheap it is also a reliable all-weather type of fuel.
Biogas
Biogas is clean -burning methane rich gas produced through anaerobic digestion of organic feedstock (crop residues, animal dung). Biogas technology is a viable supplementary source of rural energy for cooking and lighting. In Kenya adoption of the technology peeked in the mid 1980s but the rate of further diffusion has been declining since.
- Constraints
It is estimated that about 1,100 units have been installed of which approximately 30% have fallen into disuse. The main problems are poor management, high initial capital costs, high maintenance costs, limited water supply and weak technical support. Uptake of biogas in Kenya is however very low due to high capital costs for not only the plant but also for the modified burners and lighting units. The major constraint against faster diffusion of biogas technology is the high upfront capital costs besides the lack of adequate public awareness.In the process of biogas production adding water in a ratio of between one and three parts one part feedstock is vital.
Jatropha Vs Biogas
In these recent days of inadequate water supplies we require an energy source such as Jatropha, which lack of water shall not impede its production at some point and is affordable to all kinds of people because high starting costs, maintenance and management services required for biogas plants do not arise at all.
