June 27, 2019

Burning the future into charcoal

Overdependence on charcoal means the country is heading for an energy crisis unless the Government regulates its use, Cornelius Kazoora, an expert in environmental economics has predicted in a new study. What do charcoal burners, environmentalists, politicians think about this?

Not only has it turned into a sanctuary for charcoal burners with devastating effects, but it is also a poverty haven.

The wastefulness in the charcoal burning industry is unbelievable. The trees are chopped in pieces and then fired in the traditional kiln.

This technology, is inefficient and is part of what is behind the galloping rate of deforestation. “It converts only 10% of the trees into charcoal, adding that this means that for every bag of charcoal produced, 9 bags are lost in the process of production.

The consumers have also not helped matters as only 8.5% of the people who use charcoal have improved saving stoves. This, he points out means that most people run out of charcoal faster than should have been the case.

Even when charcoal prices are rising, most of the urban residents are adamant about using more efficient stoves, according to Richard Kisakye, a biomass energy expert.

He says wasteful technologies at production and consumption makes people to run to the forest to burn charcoal more often than when they become armed with efficient technologies.

https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1312496/burning-future-charcoal