Category: Energy

I’m starting this blog by writing about 5 passions. An introduction, if you will, to some of the things I think about. This one is about energy: In 2008 I completed an MSc in Sustainable Energy and the Environment at Cardiff University. For my MSc thesis I worked with a recycling company to investigate the… Continue reading Passion #3: Sustainable Energy

Having strapped two wind turbines to the roof and a solar panel inside our yellow Pajero named Beryl, we took to the road bound for Mfungano Island. We drove from Kisumu to Luanda K’Otieno where we took the car ferry to Mbita. From there, we loaded all the equipment onto a small wooden passenger boat.… Continue reading Wind powered radio on Mfungano Island

Dotted around the shores of Lake Victoria are hundreds of villages that depend on fishing. As night falls, thousands of fisherman row out on boats to catch omena, nile perch and tilapia. The lake lights up like a city, as a thousand paraffin lamps flicker through the night, attracting omena fish (silver cyprinid) to the… Continue reading Bringing electricity to fishing communities on Lake Victoria

I’ve spent the last few days on Rusinga Island, situated on Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. We (access:energy) had been invited by the Village Vocations Programme (VVP) to conduct a site assessment for some potential renewable energy installations with a view to helping communities have more affordable electricity and less reliance on firewood. The… Continue reading Rusinga Island: renewable energy assessment