Abstract
The need for targeted energy interventions during relief efforts, especially for cooking but also for other household needs such as lighting and refrigeration, is becoming more critical and apparent. Supplying energy to people in crisis has frequently been neglected in relief efforts and distressed populations have been left to fend for themselves. Cooking energy is almost always their largest energy need. Where cooking energy has been provided, it has not necessarily been sustainable after emergency aid ends. Helping subject populations to develop the capacity to produce liquid biofuels on a small scale in efficient agricultural operations may offer one important solution to energy poverty and contribute to long term development of energy self-sufficiency as well as employment and livelihoods. Project Gaia and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have joined with local partners in Haiti to develop ethanol stoves and fuel, both as an emergency intervention and as a longer term development project.
- Introduction: Relief or Development—or Both?
- Using Relief to Spur Development
- Why Cooking Energy is Critical
- Displaced Communities and the Environment
- Why Bioethanol Instead of Woody Biomass
- Can Relief Spur Development in Haiti?
- a. When would be the right time to begin—and what would be the immediate objective?
- b. Where would the ethanol come from?
- c. Would the supply of ethanol be sustainable? Where would the supply come from after donations were at an end?
- d. Who could Project Gaia join with to make a stronger team with more capabilities?
- e. Apart from the clients and the project team, who would care? Was there going to be help for what we hoped to do?
- f. How would the emergency intervention transition to recovery?
- g. Would our intervention be appropriate given all of the other problems faced by the Republic of Haiti?
- h. What would be the barriers—what could go wrong?
- The Way Forward in Haiti
- Challenges in Developing the Ethanol Market
- Conclusion
- List of References
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