Green Empowerment

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Green Empowerment aims to provide a cleaner environment through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural wastes and degradation of water bodies from hyacinth infestation.

Standings & Awards

28 out of 591 in Africa
4 out of 272 in Environment
15 out of 929 in Define
19 out of 555 in For-Profit
80 out of 4003 Overall

5

VOTES

Team Gone Green

Utilizing wastes to create profit for farmers and the unemployed and provide a cleaner environment.

Kenyan waterbodies are rapidly clogging with water weeds that degrade the water quality and reduce their economic viability. Lake Victoria affects over 30 million people has high volumes of hyacinth flowing in covering about 3 Ha everyday; almost 680 KM2 in total.It covers over 60% of the Ugandan shoreline and about 2000 Ha around a Kenyan port at Kisumu and the plant can double its mass in 6-15 days. This has led to 50-75% reduction in fish landings, blocking irrigation channels and impeding boat transport. The H.E.P plant at Owen Falls uses about US $600000 per year to keep the weeds from turbines.Kenya depends heavily on agriculture and most industries don't utilize their degradable wastes economically which ends up rotting emitting harmful greenhouse gases which are 20 times more potent than CO2 yet the wastes have a potential to produce 29-131 MW of electricity; about 3.2-16.4% of the total country's requirement.

Green Empowerment enables the agricultural waste, even of small scale farmers and dried hyacinth, to be utilized to produce biogas used to run generators to produce electricity and rich organic manure. All types of biodegradable wastes (agricultural, municipal and water weeds) are utilized. This is achieved through a centralized model of agricultural waste collection from farms and industries to bulk quantities for economical utilization.

Social Impact

Farmers get the value of their otherwise useless waste thus bettering the profitability of their farming ventures and life quality
Employment will be provided to youth groups in waste collection
Utilizing biodegradable waste ensures their decomposition doesn't increase carbon emissions
Use of organic manure reduces environmental degradation from use of industrial fertilizers and enables production of healthier produce

Benefits

Utilizing hyacinth eases its negative effects on water bodies like Lake Victoria
Greenhouse gas emission to the environment is reduced and utilized profitably
Production of green energyPoverty reduction amongst small-scale farmers
Bio-fertilizer promotes organic farming leading to healthier living and a less polluted environment due to the reduction of use of chemical fertilizers
Gas produced is used as an alternative to charcoal and firewood effectively reducing deforestation and emissions from the burning of these energy sources.

Support Your Idea Optional (5 - 7 minutes for three uploads)

Supporting Document:

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Green Empowerment Project implementation summary (1).docx

Roadmap to Success Optional (1 - 3 minutes to upload)

Roadmap to Success:

roadmap_to_success.pdf

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation?

The innovation is a social enterprise and business model that aims to create a cleaner and sustainable environment by utilizing bio-degradable wastes to provide green electricity, biogas and bio-fertilizer. It aims to economically utilize hyacinth and other water weeds in most water bodies in the country especially Lake Victoria and in the process empower and provide an additional income to farmers and a more reliable self-employment practice to the youth and the unemployed.

2. Who gains the most?

1.The environment as carbon emissions are reduced and hyacinth is profitably utilized 2.The youth and unemployed living around the water bodies as the model aims to use youth groups in the harvesting and drying of hyacinth which is then to be bought from them thus providing them self-employment 3.Farmers as they are able to utilize the value of their agricultural waste thus bettering their farming ventures 4.Gas substitutes charcoal and firewood as a clean energy source in rural areas

3. Who pays?

The business model is to be sustained by sales of enriched bio-fertilizer and distributed electricity to off grid schools, health centers and other public institutions. Purified gas is also sold to these institutions and also to farmers and rural area dwellers.The venture aims to raise its capital from the Government, Green Energy Funds and to get additional revenues from carbon credits for reduction of carbon emissions.

4. What is your success?

1 Year:Utilize 5 tones per day of wastes to positively impact 3000 farmers and employing over 100 people. 3 Years:Reach out to over 20000 farmers and use up to 10 tones of waste per day 5 Years:Increase the uptake of wastes to 20 tones per day and have in place an insurance system for farmers’ livestock and crops that would be sustained by the sale of bio-fertilizer.Utilize farm wastes from about 50000 small scale farmers and employ over 1000 people

5. How will you do it?

Giving farmers incentives in form of credits redeemable for livestock and crop insurance and various farm inputs will motivate them participate in the project. Involving the youth in waste collection. By seeking for green energy grants for capital of the project and also partnering with leading industry players in biogas technology whom we have already contacted. Electricity and gas will be supplied to off-grid schools and hospitals as a source of energy for these institutions.