Biomass-to-Energy: Renewable Energy in Tanzania

Ever hear of a “Croton?” You know, the oil-bearing tree, indigenous to Tanzania? How familiar are you with babassu?

Don’t be ashamed if you’ve never heard of either. Besides the two people who brought me business plans that promote biomass-to-energy projects using the fruits of these two exotic trees, I’ve yet to run into a single person who’s ever heard of either one.

The former bears nuts about the size of walnuts; the latter, found primarily in another but equally wild part of the world (northeastern Brazil), provides something akin to a small coconut. Harvesting neither affects the world food supply, and both have characteristics that make them very attractive for biomass feedstock. Suffice it to say that 2GreenEnergy is a great place to work if you want to learn about life forms that you would have been extremely unlikely to come across in any other way.

More to the point, the people forwarding these two business plans are both fantastic human beings — engaged on incredible missions. Want a great experience? Talk to Joe Scali of African Biofuels and ask him about his plans for the Croton — actually Croton megalocarpus (locally called muhihi). This tree grows robustly in semi-arid climates on marginal lands, produces 25-50 kg seeds annually with 32% oil content. In a few minutes, you’ll get a background on a magnificent project — one that actually will, I’m completely convinced, provide a positive (if perhaps a bit longer-term than some) return on investors’ money. And you’ll be more than a little bit tuned into the what’s happening in Tanzania with respect to renewable energy.

The people of Third World countries contribute far less per capita to the production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants than those in developed nations. But they contribute far more per Watt-hour of energy consumed, since their access to energy tends to be rather low-tech, e.g., cooking over open wood fires.

So, for anyone wishing to make a difference, let me ask you, does it make more sense to improve the MPG rating of the cars we Americans drive a few percent, or eliminate 90+% of noxious emissions that come from the way of life of an equal number of Africans? If you’re interested, go to the African Biofuels website, and talk to Joe. Tell him Craig sent you.