Implications of charcoal briquette produced by local communities on livelihoods and environment in Nairobi-Kenya

Is charcoal briquette production a technology that helps poor urban dwellers by providing employment and income opportunities?

The residents of Nairobi, Kenya, use 700 tons of charcoal per day, producing about 88 tons of charcoal dust that is found in most of the charcoal retailing stalls that is disposed of in water drainage systems or in black garbage heaps. The high costs of cooking fuel results in poor households using unhealthy materials such as plastic waste. Further, poor households are opting to cook foods that take a short time to prepare irrespective of their nutritional value.

This article presents experiences with community self-help groups producing charcoal fuel briquettes from charcoal dust in poorer neighborhoods of Nairobi for home use and sale. The charcoal fuel briquettes have been found to be environmentally beneficial since they produce less smoke and increase total cooking energy by more than 15%, thereby saving an equivalent volume of trees that would be cut down for charcoal.

The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment (ECSEE2013)

July 4-7 | Call for Papers

The International Academic Forum, in collaboration with its global partners, is calling for papers for the European Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment, to be held from July 4-7 2013, in Brighton, England. ECSEE 2013 will address the various dimensions of human sustainability associated with environmental concerns such as energy and global warming. It also aims to create a forum encouraging  academics, members of the global business community and practitioners in the field to exchange their respective outlooks on the issue and establish a common vision.

The conference theme is "Sustainability, Society and the Environment: Searching for Synergies" and the organizers encourage submissions that approach this theme from a variety of perspectives, such as:

• Renewable Energy and Environmental Solutions
• Energy Economics and Ecological Economics
• Environmental Sustainability & Environmental Management
• Environmental Sustainability & Human Consumption
• Social Sustainability & Sustainable Living

Interested applicants are required to fill in the Online Registration Form in order to submit their papers. Accepted papers will be published in the official conference proceedings, and a selection of papers will be considered for inclusion in the internationally reviewed IAFOR journals associated with the conference.

Submission Deadline: May 20, 2013
Regular Registration Fee: GBP 450
Contact E-mail: ecsee@iafor.org