About 10 months I learned about fuel briquettes and realized that they were an excellent product to realize several goals:

They were relatively easy to make from material that was available and not being used (agricultural waste - leaves, banana peels, coffee husks, sawdust, waste paper, charcoal dust, etc.)

They could be made and used locally (gather raw material within 1 kilometer and use or sell excess briquettes with in 1 kilometer.)  This eliminates the need and expense of transporting either raw material or the finished product.

In many countries like Uganda fuel briquettes can replace charcoal and firewood for cooking fuel.  This saves families money and reduces the number of trees being cut down which helps the environment.

Fuel briquettes can be used in a three stone stove as a direct replacement for charcoal with about the same heat output and same pollution.

In a side fed rocket stove of the type am having made fuel briquettes are more efficient than charcoal and give off significantly less pollution, particularly carbon monoxide.  This means fewer women and children around cooking fires will get sick from the fumes and get repertory diseases (This is the number 1 cause of death of children under 5 years old.)

About two years ago Beaverton Rotary Club received a grant from the Rotary International Foundation.  They came to Uganda to help start the project.  Through interviews with many poor women in the Kampala area they learned that the women had two primary reasons why they wanted to be involved in producing fuel briquettes.  They wanted to use the money they were spending on charcoal to be able to: Send girls to school.

Increase their family meals from one per day to two.

After they returned from Uganda they quickly learned that there were two things holding back the adoption of fuel briquettes.

The large wooden press used to make the briquettes was expensive to make and unwieldy to use.

The instruction was being given in a 4-5 day class that was too expensive for the people to be trained.

 During 2008 and 2009 the Beaverton Rotary Fuel Briquette Team has sent Peterson Presses or plans for building them to groups with projects in Cameroon, England, Nigeria, Uganda and South America.

In the Spring of 2009 Richard Stanley suggested to Paul Rippey that he contact Joyce Lockard since they lived close to each other.  Paul Rippey had contracted for Richard to teach a fuel briquette class in Kampala for UWESO.  The Beaverton Rotary Fuel Briquette Team met with Paul Rippey.   Both quickly realized they had common goals encouraging entrepreneurial activity, particularly by poor women.  The fact that fuel briquettes not only did this but also helped the environment was a double bonus.  They supplied Paul with Peterson Press which he took with him and then had two more made during the March, 2009 class were I learned about fuel briquetting.  Ufca received one of these presses and the other was given to Victoria.  The original press was given to Rosette Kirangi who works for Aid Africa in Jinja.

At this point I and the UFCAs took over getting presses made and also getting side feed rocket stoves built!  And making fuel briquettes to help our children cook their food so they can save money of charcoal to help them with their Education. This is exactly the type of activity Rotary had hoped for.  For this type of project to be successful and make a permanent improvement in people’s life and the environment it has to come from a local organization like ufca with a local champion like Isaac

I have successfully taken care of the second problem reducing the briquette making class to one day. We have trained two classes from beads for life org a UN funded program in Uganda, Established a workshop for the Peterson presses, Side fed stoves that burn the briquettes efficiently, training place for those interested in Fuel briquettes, and also have a fuel briquette production unit that produces 1,000 fuel briquettes a day, We wrote drama for

Explaining the importance of fuel briquettes and how to make them.