Biomass Energy In Africa Essay

William Kamkwamba (the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) is a young African boy who took on the challenge and created a working windmill in a harsh environment, and little to no resources. Despite the hunger and poverty he took to the challenge and made his town enthusiastic to have new opportunities and goals due to their new achievement. This non-fiction survival story gives people a new perspective towards third world countries. William was a very independent thinker. He did something nobody else wanted to do, and for that, he gave the town a steady flow of electricity.

Furthermore, it would reduce the need for landfills as all organic waste can be turned into biomass energy. Biomass has also been developed as an alternate fuel source and has helped to reduce dependencies on fossil fuels. It is an incredibly versatile form of energy as it can be used for many different purposes.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, is an inspirational novel which moves the reader to make a change in the world. William grew up in Malawi, Africa where magic ruled and modern science was a total mystery, along with his mother, father, and sisters. They family grew maize on their farm and always had enough to sell and to eat throughout the winter, until one dreadful season. The country fell into a drought which lead to a famine, resulting in a myriad of deaths, some personal to William. William was then forced to drop out of school, which he adored, because his family could not afford it. Throughout all of this darkness, there was light. There was still a dream. William aspired to be educated, and when he

According to the World Bank, more than fifty percent of citizens in Malawi were living beneath the poverty line in 2010. Because this issue is so widespread, the country is often forced to utilize cheap materials that more fortunate people would see as worthless. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, tells the story of how William Kamkwamba, an ordinary Malawian boy, creates his own success by simply recycling old materials to create an invention that revolutionized his whole town and life. William constantly faces negativity and challenges in his journey to make his dream a reality due to his lack of readily available resources. However, the adversity he faces pushes him to keep going and forces

Schulze, E.D., Körher, C., Law, B.E., Haberl, H., S. (2012). Large-scale bioenergy from additional harvest of forest biomass is neither sustainable nor greenhouse gas neutral. GCB Bioenergy, 4(6), 611-616.

In addition to fuel crops, Hawaii also has abundant resources for biomass heating. During their research Turn et al. (2002, 4) found that the biomass resources for Hawaii include: swine, dairy, and poultry manure, sugarcane bagasse and trash, pineapple processing waste, macadamia nut shells, municipal solid wastes, food waste from commercial food preparation facilities, sewage sludge, and fat, oil and grease wastes from food preparation activities. One of the main advantages is that biomass energy can use municipal solid waste. Hawaii also produces about 10 pounds of trash per person coming to about 1.8 million tons of trash per year (Yap 2008). Hawaii has a power plant that can use over 2,000 tons of garbage a day to generate electricity (Covanta Energy 2011). Hawaii has decided to start exporting its garbage to give it enough time to expand the power plant’s capacity (Yap 2008). Smaller scale biomass fueled power generation can help get rid of agricultural and municipal refuse, while alleviating the strain on the electricity grid and providing a cheap locally based source of electricity (Turn, Keffer, and Staackmann 2002, 17). If Hawaii develops biomass as a renewable resource, it can reduce the need to import petroleum and export garbage.

In the article, the Burning Question, the issue of biomass energy via wood pellets was brought to question. This subject has deeply divided scientists, primarily from the chemistry and environmental science disciplines, economists, and politicians. Currently the use of wood pellets for energy, under the European Union, is classified as a carbon-neutral fuel. The argument for this designation lies in the regeneration of trees to take up the carbon released from burning past trees. However, many scientists call foul, basing their argument on the substantial lag period between burning trees and the regeneration of them. This period has led many to worry that such actions will worsen the current global warming crisis. Biomass energy plants produce,

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind was inspiring. William Kamkwamba never gave up, even when situations became difficult and no one believed in him. Kamkwamba pushed through the hunger from the drought. He lived off of one small portion of food each day. In addition to the drought causing a famine, the government made the prices of the crops increase. The increase in prices caused Kamkwamba’s family a great loss in money. Kamkwamba’s parents could not afford to pay for his schooling, and he had to drop out. He was not able to continue to go to school, but he did not let that stop him from getting an education. Kamkwamba went to the library to further his studies. Not only keep himself busy with his studies, but challenged himself by building a

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is a story about a young Malawian, named William Kamkwamba, who lived in the small village, near the city of Kasungu. Kamkwamba lived with his family in Masitala village and was a farmer who became a scientist. William tells the story of his life and the hardships and accomplishments he had during his young life. William wanted to make a windmill to bring electricity to his family’s home. Since he had to drop out of school he had time to attempt to make a windmill and he was also driven because of the famine and he never wanted that to happen to his family again. Eventually when he constructed his windmill people came from all over to see it and his invention

Success can come in different aspects. These goals, most of them time, are self-centered, but there are always those exceptions. In Malawi, Africa, according to CNN, there was a massive drought which lasted for about “seven years” killing, and affecting thousands of people. A 14 year old by the name of William Kamkwamba, noticed that his village was being affected by such. Taking into consideration that there was a shortage on many resources, William realized that there was still something abundant out there, wind. William stated, ‘"I wanted to do something to help and change things," he said. "Then I said to myself, 'If they can make electricity out of wind, I can try, too.'" (CNN, Faith Camiri). He spent most of his days in the library and

In the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, William Kamkwamba against all odds takes upon himself the task to fix not only his own family's problems, but his entire villages. He does so by creating a Windmill that ends up doing much more than anyone could of ever imagined, like bringing water up from the ground, and eventually putting Malawi on the map.

Unlike gasoline or diesel, biofuels release little pollution. It can also be used to produce electricity by heating water using biofuels and using the steam produced to rotate a turbine. Another method is to allow the biofuel to decay and produce methane. Methane is commonly used as fuel for car, heating, cooking, and producing electricity.

4 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is eight goals to be accomplished by 2015 that relates to the world’s main development challengers (United Nations, 2000). Implementation of improved biomass stoves like Save80 Stove in Nepal is a crucial factor to obtain the MDGs. The use of energy sufficient and cleaner stoves helps on achieving MDG such as environmental sustainability; improve maternal health and eradication of extreme poverty and hunger from improving health conditions and reducing the cost associated with the energy for

This papеr will comparе thе еnvironmеntal sustainability of concrеtе and wood housеs with rеgard to thеir еnvironmеntal impacts. It intеgratеs thе dirеct and indirеct еffеcts of substituting wood in placе of concrеtе by еvaluating thе carbon stock changеs and fossil fuеls usеd in matеrial production and usе, as wеll as incorporating thе byproducts of wood matеrials, such as logging, procеssing, and construction and dеmolition rеsiduеs, into еnеrgy supply systеms to rеplacе fossil fuеls. Incrеasing thе usе of wood matеrial in construction is a potеntial option for rеducing nеt CO еmission bеcausе of thе rеlativеly low еnеrgy nееdеd to manufacturе wood products comparеd with altеrnativе matеrials, thе storagе of carbon in wood building matеrials, and thе incrеasеd availability of biofuеls from wood byproducts. Using biomass for dirеct substitution of fossil fuеls or fossil fuеl-intеnsivе matеrials is an important mеans of rеducing grееnhousе gas еmissions as it providеs pеrmanеnt and cumulativе rеduction in CO еmission, whеrеas sеquеstration or consеrvation of carbon is typically limitеd or tеmporary (Schlamadingеr and Marland 1996). Thе rеlation bеtwееn bioеnеrgy and an incrеasеd usе of construction wood is complеx, and its analysis is important for our undеrstanding of thе nеt CO еmission rеduction from substituting wood in placе of othеr matеrials.

The paper describes the sustainable biochar concept with the aid of the following diagram. The paper discusses the dependence of the climate-change mitigation potential of biochar and bioenergy on the fertility of the soil being amended, the carbon intensity of the fuel being offset, and the feedstock used for deriving them (type of biomass). Locations with high soil fertility and where coal is the fuel being offset is more suitable for bioenergy production. For all other situations, biochar has a higher climate-change mitigation potential than bioenergy (Woolf, Amonette, Alayne Street-Perrott, et al.).