Wood Burning Takes a Toll

The problems that wood burning created for Moses's family and in his hometown can be seen across sub-Saharan Africa. Eight in ten people in the region depend on wood to cook and to heat their homes. As more forests are destroyed to feed that demand—in Uganda, 70 percent of protected forests are gone—families must walk more miles every day to buy increasingly scarce and costly wood.

Families in the developing world spend up to 40 percent of their income on cooking fuel. Besides leaving children with less time for education, it means that poor farmers are less able to afford fertilizer, causing harvests to suffer and malnutrition to rise.

And wood burning takes a huge toll on human health, creating smoky indoor air that leads to respiratory diseases that kill more women and children each year than HIV/AIDS.

Moses's cleaner-burning green charcoal reduces indoor air pollution and has already saved more than three million dollars in energy-related expenses for Ugandans. "Families use that money to pay school fees for their children, afford three meals a day, and finance new income-generating activities," he says.

Indeed, farmers who work with Eco-Fuel Africa have tripled their incomes by selling char from kilns. The coarser, leftover char is used as fertilizer, which can increase harvests by more than 50 percent and create surplus crops to sell at market.

Eco-Fuel Africa has recently developed a briquette-making machine that can run without electricity

Moses's group also battles deforestation, investing profits into planting 12,000 new trees and partnering with local schools to make reforestation part of environmental education.

"Today young people who graduate from college come to us and say, 'I don't care how much you pay me; I want to join you because I believe so strongly in what you do,' " Moses says.

Eco-Fuel Africa also looks for employees among Uganda's widows and single mothers, who often struggle after husbands die of HIV/AIDS.

"They value the opportunity to become machine operators and retailers," Moses says, "bringing unbelievable commitment, dedication, and hard work to our project."

"Many times when I visit villages," he continues, "a woman will grab my hand and say, 'Six months ago I could barely feed my family. Now I've been able to enroll my daughter in school and buy a solar panel and mobile phone.' "

Eco-Fuel Africa has received interest from Rwanda, Kenya, and Zambia, but Moses wants to "get our business model right and then expand to new countries."

Funding from National Geographic recently helped the organization develop a briquette-making machine that can run without electricity, so it's workable in remote rural areas.

"Now we can micro-franchise in villages far off the power grid," Moses says. "We identify entrepreneurs, supply training and support, and provide technology on a credit basis so they can start sustainable businesses, create jobs, and meet local energy needs."

All while improving Ugandans' health—and saving their forests.