Earlier this year we gave you an update on our Team Rwanda “Jatropha” plantation. We have 6 hectares of land (about 15 acres) on which the plants are growing exceptionally well. The roots are large and some of the plants have up to 7 branches growing out from the base, something that is very important when the plants start to bloom and produce flowers and seeds. The more branches, the higher the production of seeds.

Our plantation will be used for seed production and when it is in full bloom it will produce approximately 6 tons of seeds/year in two harvests. This represents app. 6000 hectares/year we can plant!

Our plants have not yet blossomed but they are very close to producing their first fruits. We will keep you posted when we get out first flowers!

On another exciting front, we have been working with Silicon Valley-based Renewable Fuel Products, a venture-funded start-up developing rural energy solutions. “RFP” has developed a very simple, easy-to-operate reactor that produces diesel fuel from oil seed crops. This is different from “biodiesel” which is difficult to make and source materials for. RFP’s reactor just uses heat and a novel design to produce a direct diesel fuel replacement. The reactor is part of a platform that is modeled after the highly successful “multifunctional rural platforms” in wide use in West Africa (so successful that the President of Mali says “one village, one platform”). It is basically a “utility in a box” whose subsystems produce clean water, electricity, and power for tools and machinery. We are excited about this because it’s the first hope of breaking the dependence cycle of aid: each platform generates revenue so it pays for itself (and the farmers!).

The budget for the whole platform is $150,000. We would like to explore a loan model—not unlike microfinance—to pay for the first platform here in Rwanda.

In addition the dream of having communities “grow” their own fuel is slowly becoming a reality. With 6 hectares of jatropha, a community of 60 houses can grow enough fuel to run an 11 kilowatt generator for 16 hrs/day at 60% output. This means that this community of 60 houses would have electricity for the first time, something that only 4% of the population has at this moment. Some areas in Rwanda are so remote that they will never have electricity unless they can “grow” it. Ideally all of our riders will be able to “grow” their own fuel. Our ideal is to be a totally “green” team, the first zero carbon imprint team in the world!!