Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 62
IIMPROVED LIVELIHOODS
SOLAR BOILERS FOR SCHOOLS
IN KENYA
Kenya
Photo credit: Ecobora
In Kenya alone, 125,000 hectares of
forests are cleared each year and in 2020
there was a biomass deficit of 67%.
Futhermore in Africa, 1 billion people use
charcoal and firewood to cook meals. 4
million people die every year as a result
of conditions caused by smoke from
inefficient firewood boilers.
That’s why Ecobora was created by Justine
Nyaruri Abuga, an award-winning social
entrepreneur. This innovative start up is a
green energy company promoting solar
cooking boilers that enable institutions to
save the money they spend on firewood
and reallocate it to their core missions.
Ecobora also offers energy audits to
Kenyan schools and analyses their
cooking processes.
The company manufactures Ecobora
pellets from organic recyclable materials
such as saw dust, rice husk, coffee husk,
maize stalks and wood tree fallings.
Ecobora has set out to solve this
challenge while helping families save
money and time and make cooking an
enjoyable experience. The startup has
set up a factory in Nairobi to manage the
production process.
Ecobora works in partnership with
Renectech, a start-up whose mission is
to be a developer of sustainable and
environmentally
adapted
renewable
energy, including electricity, vehicle
fuel, heat and biogas produced
through solutions involving renewable
sources, including waste and biomass
management,
hydropower,
solar
and geothermal energy conversion.
Ecobara pellets are
unique compared to
firewood or
charcoal, as they are:
• Highly compressed with high
density and low water content
of about 10%
• Guaranteed up to 25% more
heat efficiency than charcoal
or firewood
• Easy to light, slower to burn
with higher heat content and
produce no soot
Photo credit: Justine Abuga
Justine Nyaruri Abuga
Ecobara CEO & founder
62
Photo credit: Ecobora
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
