Launch on Clean Energy Options

“Clean Energy is about offering people the opportunity to do what’s right for themselves and the people they Love. It’s about reducing the pollution that makes people sick. It’s about helping the low- income families struggling to pay their gas and electricity Bill” - Gloria Reuben. This is precisely what the #YouthBaton campaign seeks to achieve. It all starts with the launch that was held on 17^th December 2014, at the Umande Trust offices next to the chief’s camp in Kibera.

The launch is marked by shiny, white, cone shaped like tents seen from afar, pinned on the gravelly ground at Umande’s office. A clear indicator there was an event to take place. The day is clear and sunny, creating an aura of livelihood and motivation for the task at hand for the Youth Baton team. Clad in white T-shirts branded with one clear message, “CLEAN ENERGY”, you could clearly distinguish the team from the crowd. Driven by one motive -to link up community representatives from Kibera with the invited stakeholders, the team gets to work.

The stakeholders then take up their roles of introducing themselves and their clean energy products. To begin with, ISMART takes the floor. A tall dark lady walks to the front, a solar panel and burns top in hand. Lifting the panel over her head, “This is a solar panel. It costs Ksh 4500. The panel should be exposed directly to the sun, this is how it charges. You can place it on your roof so as to generate energy. It can then be used as a substitute to electricity,” she says. As for the burns top, it uses charcoal or firewood but in little quantities compared to jikos.

 They also had a solar powered bulb that could be used at night and to charge a maximum of two phones at a time. She mentions that as an organization they recruit agents through radio jambo, e-news and have also partnered with Langata Youth Network. The recruitment needs no qualifications. The crowd is happy to hear this evidenced by the immense clapping.

Safi International was next. This organization deals with ethanol stoves -“Safi e-cooker,” says Mr. Barry Omotto, a representative from the organization as he demonstrates on how it is used. Their objective being to try move people from using charcoal and firewood to ethanol, a clean energy product. “Why is it clean energy?”Asks one of the participants. With a smile, Barry stands up and says, “The stove does not emit smoke, is environmental friendly since it uses remains from sugarcane farmers, reduces global warming, has no smell when burning and does not leak heavily as compared to gas that causes most of the fires in urban areas.” 

Just as every product has a disadvantage, ethanol produces an alcoholic smell. Moreover, he says that the Safi stove has two burners and is easy to use. He assures the audience that in a normal nuclear family of four, one liter of ethanol at a cost of Ksh 87 would last for three days if used to cook the three meals in a day. Since the product is new in the market, Safi international seeks to establish agents in Nyanza and Western. They are also looking to partner with M-kopa since it has more coverage in rural areas and can be used in payment.

Electa Rosana, a bubbly, simple young lady walks to the stage next. She is a Bio-digester engineer at Umande Trust. Taking the microphone, she explains that the bio digester uses waste from humans and animals to produce biogas that can be used as an alternative source of energy.

“Currently, Umande Trust in collaboration with other organizations such as Oxfam has partnered to invest in the human fed bio digesters in Kibera. For the farmers, both urban and rural, pigs are the best when it comes to animals to produce biogas apart from cows. Once the waste is collected, they are put in the mixing pit and a little water is added. The slurry is then directed the bio digester to produce biogas,” she says. Further, she adds, that the bio gas can be used instead of electricity for lighting and cooking.

To wrap up M-kopa comes in. A slender lady representing them. She says that it is an organization that has partnered with Safaricom to bring solar energy products to the community members. In addition it is a way in which low income earners can still pay for the products in installments at a minimum of Ksh 40.

The organization came up with this after a research that revealed that, people used kerosene and charcoal mainly for cooking and lighting which was harmful to the health of their children. “The smoke causes eye infection. The charging of phones was expensive to pay and sometimes the original batteries were exchanged for fake ones,” she says. They then invested in solar products such as solar panels that must be exposed to the sun which could be used to charge up to five phone batteries at a go, solar bulbs and radios putting into consideration the digital life.

“Renewable energy products can be a source of income for some of the people, especially the ones that live in rural areas,” she says. I couldn’t agree more, I mean services such as phone charging, watching of movies among the youths and aged, football during the premium leagues and cartoons among the children would generate sustainable income. Don’t you think so?

 By +Jill Apiyo