Fuel for the Home Fires of Haiti

Fueling the Home Fires in Haiti

            Haiti has about 2 million households. Domestic energy for cooking comes from propane for about 100,000 and 50,000 use some other upscale fuel. The other 1.85 million households (averaging 5 persons per household) use wood or charcoal for cooking. Haiti can sustainably harvest about 500,000 tons of wood (for direct use or to make charcoal) per year. Actual use is 4 million tons per year. Stretching a bit, 250,000 households can use wood or wood charcoal. That leaves a target of 1.6 million households to find alternative fuel

            More efficient charcoal or wood stoves which use half as much fuel could sustainably serve a half million households. These stoves pay for themselves through fuel savings in a few months. Up front costs are a barrier as over half  of Haitians live on less than a dollar a day and maybe 75% live on less than $2 a day. Yet D&E Green and the International Lifeline Fund between them have over 50,000 improved stoves in use in the Port Au Prince area.

            Biofuels are an alternative that would boost the local economy. An expert on domestic energy suggests targets of 100,000 households using ethanol and 400,000 using biomass.  Ethanol virtually eliminates emissions and leaves the user with clean hands, unlike charcoal where a shower may be needed after use. Biomass can be in pellets which compress ingredients or briquettes which also char the ingredients before pressing. Pellets and briquettes from waste are especially attractive.

            For ethanol and biofuels, what are the investments needed per family, what are the running costs, and what is the value chain of raw material, jobs, land, and investment for their production?  My recent trip to Haiti explored both ethanol and also briquettes made from coconut husks by my friends at Konpay. For 1.6 million households currently deforesting Haiti, all of the above is the best approach.

 

 

 

Fuel for the Home Fires of Haiti