Organization
African Christians Organization Network
Mission
Our mission is to promote the use of biochar-based systems to help communities, companies, and individuals improve their carbon footprint while at the same time improving air, soil, water quality and living conditions of the rural poor.
Organizational Expertise
Adoption / Behavior Change, Capacity Building, Climate/Environment, Gender / Womens Empowerment, Health, Livelihoods, Monitoring and Evaluation, Policy Development, Research, Marketing, Technology and Fuel R&D, Lab or Field Testing
Other Organizational Expertise
Under the leadership of Salim Mayeki Shaban, African Christians Organization Network (ACON) have succeeded in manufacturing and selling over 5,000 highly efficient pyrolytic clean cooking stoves. ACON's stoves are based on the Champion TLUD design promoted by Dr. Paul Anderson . Dr. Paul Anderson traveled to Kenya twice to work with ACON to provide training and advise on stove manufacturing and use. ACON provides an entire value chain from fuel production to stove manufacturing, distribution, sales, and maintenance. Moreover, pyrolytic stoves generate a byproduct that is beneficial for soils. The charcoal residue (biochar) from the stoves can be amended into soils to enhance crop productivity and increase food security for rural households in Kenya. Furthermore, the fuel briquettes produced by ACON are derived from an invasive species growing on Lake Victoria, the head waters of the Nile. ACON harvests these water hyacinth plants, crushes the liquids out of them (also used as a soil nutrient), dries and compresses them into a fuel briquette for their stoves.
Technologies & Fuels
Biomass (Ag. Residue, Processed Biomass, etc.), Pellets / Briquettes
Other Technologies Fuels
ACON provides an entire value chain from fuel production to stove manufacturing, distribution, sales, and maintenance. Moreover, pyrolytic stoves generate a byproduct that is beneficial for soils. The charcoal residue (biochar) from the stoves can be amended into soils to enhance crop productivity and increase food security for rural households in Kenya. Furthermore, the fuel briquettes produced by ACON are derived from an invasive species growing on Lake Victoria, the head waters of the Nile. ACON harvests these water hyacinth plants, crushes the liquids out of them (also used as a soil nutrient), dries and compresses them into a fuel briquette for their stoves.
Clean Cooking Activities
The agricultural benefits of burying charcoal have been understood for millennia in the Far East, but in the rest of the world this ancient knowledge was forgotten. While most of the Western Kenya's soils are poor and thin, there are scattered patches of deep, fertile soil. In the late 90's these soils were shown to have been caused by natives intentionally burying charcoal thousands of years ago.
When Charcoal is created in a controlled environment for agricultural application it is called biochar. A natural soil enhancer, biochar significantly boosts plant growth and root development when used properly, improves soil water retention and permeability, reduces soil acidity, helps to retains nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil, and encourages beneficial micro-organisms. Our biochar soil-treatment trials have shown a doubling and sometimes even a tripling of crop yields. And of course, when you mix biochar in your soil, you're sequestering carbon and thus really doing something about climate change.The stove thus produces a valuable product that can be used by the owner for further cooking, for sale, or for soil improvement. Wood that a villager would have burnt anyway for cooking can thus provide further benefit without extra cost, other than the stove. Ideally, farmers will bury the biochar in the soil and reap the long term economic benefits of bigger and healthier crops, but whatever the user chooses to do, the economic and health benefits of producing biochar with cooking stoves are significant.Our goal is to get 250,000 of our new stoves into the hands of rural people in 5years. The people we have shown the stoves to on previous trips are interested in buying them, but they often can't afford the 2,000 Kshs it costs to manufacture the stove and ship it to a remote area. That is why we decided to appeal to the crowd and start ACON Moto Stove campaign.
Partnership
® African Christians Organization Network (ACON) would like to participate in the partnership by designing and making biochar cookstoves, training local communities on how to make and distribute stoves, fuel briquettes from water hyacinth and any biomass materials.Train local organization and communities on application and utilization of biochar.Sales and distribution of stoves, testing , monitoring and evaluation and capacity building of members.
Regions Operating In
Sub-Saharan Africa
Country Based In
Kenya
Address
P.O BOX 1284 BUNGOMA 50200 KENYA
BUNGOMA, WESTERN KENYA 50200
Website
Primary Point of Contact
Name: Mr. Salim Mayeki Shaban
Title: President and Founder
Email: africanchristiansorganizationn@gmail.com
Phone: 254 727 621841
Secondary Point of Contact
Name: Mrs. Everlyne Otunga
Title: Program Director
Email: everlyneotunga@gmail.com
Phone: 254 723313210
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