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12 Responses to “The need for speed when drying briquettes: Makeshift Greenhouses in Virunga”

1. sheryl, washington, dc Says: 7 Apr 2009

   Hey Virginia! I’m always glad to learn about the innovations and progress you’re making with this project. It’s really awesome.

   s.

2. Samantha Says: 7 Apr 2009

   Yes. Congratulations Virginia and team on a job well done so far. Working in the field is no easy task, let alone with a new product, heavy equipment to transport, and a major challenge ahead.

3. philippaterblanche Says: 7 Apr 2009

   Great work! All that experimenting as you’ve mentioned on your blog is well worth it!
   As always truly inspiring project and growing from stronger and bigger all the time!
   Best wishes to all.

4. Linda & G4G Says: 8 Apr 2009

   Great job Virginia and all the briquette team! Obviously much hard work and determination is going into this immensely important project. Let’s hope we can all help to get the 1,000 presses working by end of 2009….

5. Mark Jungbluth Says: 8 Apr 2009

   Impressive…the greenhouse and all these sacks of briquettes. My impression is that you are making very good on this project.

   I have two questions: You mention the revenue from the briquette sales. Where do you sell the briquettes? How is the response of the customers esspecially regarding the efficiency of the briquettes vs. charcoal? Are the briquettes accepted by the local communities?

   Briquettes have a great future if they can be more convenient (les smoke), equally effective and maybe a little cheaper than charcoal.

   Mark

6. Mark Jungbluth Says: 8 Apr 2009

   Impressive…the greenhouse and all these sacks of briquettes. My impression is that you are making very good on this project.

   I have two questions: You mention the revenue from the briquette sales. Where do you sell the briquettes? How is the response of the customers esspecially regarding the efficiency of the briquettes vs. charcoal? Are the briquettes accepted by the local communities?

   Briquettes have a great future if they can be more convenient (less smoke?), equally effective and maybe a little cheaper than charcoal.

   Mark

7. Jonathan Says: 8 Apr 2009

   Well done Virginia!
   Most impressed with your teams architectural skills and know how.
   Keep up the good work - you’ll soon have Virunga hooked on your briquettes! Have you thought about franchising out the business, to local communities, to help create new income and wean them off charcoal?

8. theresa Says: 9 Apr 2009

   Promising news Virginia. Congratulations on the continued success and expansion of the project. Hopefully it won’t be long before briquettes replace charcoal completely. What a great project for the community and for Virunga!

9. Virginia Says: 9 Apr 2009

   Dear All, as always, thank you so much for leaving such positive comments and ideas!
   Mark, fuel briquettes will be inserted in the refugee camps end of this week. They have been purchased through a WWF emergency fund and I will be posting about this very shortly. We are also looking at working together with 20 local associations, which are currently distributing improved stoves in the village of Goma. The idea is they start selling the fuel briquettes together with the stoves.
   The revenues of such sales will allow us to re-invest on this project, assuring a constant purchase of all villager’s production. They are getting very good at it and production is getting ready fast! So we need to move fast too!

10. Let's Stop the Deforestation of Virunga and Protect Mountain Gorillas | gorillacd.org Says: 16 Apr 2009

    [...] like to read more about this project you can read about greenhouses used for drying briquettes here, and how we access remote areas to provide briquette training and employment here. In the blog [...]

11. Brian M. Says: 29 Apr 2009

    I would like to know what are the briquettes made of, and the process by which they are made.

12. Plastic greenhouses dry fuel briquettes faster in Virunga National Park | gorillacd.org Says: 9 May 2009

    [...] first attempt to get the fuel briquettes dried faster was to create a makeshift greenhouse, using transparent plastic and local bamboo. For our fuel briquette program, this proved to be very [...]