November 20, 2007 - 1 day Eco-Industry Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya

Hosted a 1 day eco-industry workshop in Nairobi, Kenya in collaboration with the Centre for Science and Technology Innovations (CSTI). Participants came from a cross-section of industries (academia, government, real estate development, energy, and, print media). The focus of the workshop was to outline a framework for eco-industry within the Kenyan context.

Additional details are available here

http://ceciliawandiga.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/workshop-facilitation/

http://www.box.net/shared/j4zafb6mr3

Prior to the workshop, a local developer with a strong interest in the eco-village concept was identified. An affordable community was already under construction http://www.superiorhomes.co.ke/ Renewable energy and water conservation techniques were the two development priorities. Extensive discussion revealed a need for sensitivity to local cultural preferences.

As an example, using grey water for non-potable uses such as flushing toilets would be an easy water conservation solution. However, when the developer had proposed this, potential buyers made it clear they found the approach unacceptable. Concerns ranged from having dirty water in a toilet to questions about what would happen if a child accidentally drank the gray water.

Solar energy was culturally preferred at the time but was also the most expensive form of renewable energy available and therefore difficult to implement on a large scale without government subsidy. Generators running on used vegetable oil instead of diesel were also discussed. However, Kenyan diets do not have a high prevalence of fried foods (traditional cuisine focuses on roasting and boiling). Thankfully, fast-food chains which fry foods in large quantities are not prevalent. This means large quantities of used vegetable oil are not readily available; regular vegetable oil is more expensive than diesel.

Household consumption patterns also eliminated the possibility of using household waste for biogas and other sources such as manure present the obvious odor control problem. Overall, eco-friendly technologies would necessitate an increase in sale prices because the technologies are still new. Very few buyers would be willing to pay the additional price premium given other available options. Everyone agreed that extensive public education is needed before solutions such as an eco-village can be readily implemented at a significant scale.

Lastly, land acquisition is a difficult task in Kenya due to significant problems in the land transfer system. Often times the same plot of land is sold to multiple owners even though, legally, a plot can only have one owner (individual, corporation or group). This makes site acquisition/securing site control a very prolonged and costly endeavor.

Participants noted that the best role for Global Ectropy would be as follows:

• • Government support – identify frameworks which can be readily modified in order to expedite the process of creating regulatory measures
  • Community support – technical assistance to community groups (e.g. identification of potential resource links, business plan development)
  • Fostering collaboration – all participants expressed great interest in having a series of regional workshops which would culminate in a national green industry expo

None of these suggestions came with dedicated funding sources. We attempted to secure funding sources on our own but quickly found out that funders are not willing to invest in a start-up (i.e. unproven) entity.  Partnership with CSTI, which does have an existing track record, made no impact.  In addition, the post-election violence broke out; this impeded communications and disrupted existing relationships with government officials.