Impoverished Haiti has sugar to burn (CNN) {sugar cane waste, actually}

[eppur_se_muova]

Engineers: Cane charcoal could help solve cooking fuel problems
Thursday, August 3, 2006; Posted: 9:56 a.m. EDT (13:56 GMT)
***
Even wood is in short supply, leaving many reliant on possibly toxic, often ineffective briquettes made from waste paper to cook.

The latter issue got the attention of Amy Smith and her cohorts at the D-Lab, a hands-on and instructional program dedicated to using engineering and technology to improve lives in the developing world.
***
The requirements were basic but not necessarily easy to meet: The fuel had to be simple, effective, cheap and plentiful in Haiti.

Given that challenge, the D-Lab's engineers began sifting through -- and burning -- garbage. They ultimately settled on sugar cane, a common crop in Haiti.

"Sugar cane works well because it's not used for anything else there's no real nutritional value for it," said Smith. "And the charcoal that it produces is pretty good."
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/07/17/haiti.sugarenergy/index.html

[MissWaverly]

1. can't they make ethanol from it

I thought that is what they are using in Brazil to fuel their cars, sugar cane

[eppur_se_muova]

3. This is the leftover waste -- stalks, dried leaves -- after sugar is gone.

The sugar, of course, is sold for export -- one of the few ways Haiti has of bringing in money from the outside world.

[MissWaverly]

4. oh, sorry, I thought there was something there to use

[eppur_se_muova]

5. No biggie.

:hi:

[NNadir]

2. This is good. Impoverished Haiti already burned all their trees.

Here's a NASA photo of the DR/Haiti border.



http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002600/a002640/

Some people think wood burning is a new and modern idea.