A Kenyan cooking stove manufacturing company, USAFI Green Energy, is making waves with its innovative approach to addressing cooking fuel and environmental challenges within refugee communities in Kenya. The company’s groundbreaking efforts have earned them a nomination for the prestigious Ashden Award, recognizing their contributions to sustainable and clean energy solutions. USAFI Green Energy began its mission to provide low-carbon and affordable stoves to the Kakuma refugee camp in 2020. Thanks to a strategic partnership with BURN, one of Kenya’s largest cookstoves and briquette producers, USAFI has been nominated for the Ashden Award in the category of “Powering Refugees and Displaced People.” USAFI Green Energy began its mission to provide low-carbon and affordable stoves to the Kakuma refugee camp in 2020. Dr. Stephen Hall, Head of the Ashden Award, expressed enthusiasm about the range of low-carbon solutions being honored, saying, “This year we have an incredible array of low-carbon solutions in the awards again, including another clean cook stove company, USAFI Green Energy, who have found a way to turn invasive plants into clean cooking fuels for refugee communities in Kenya.” USAFI’s collaboration with BURN has propelled them to become the second-largest domestically produced cookstoves and briquette provider in Kenya, following in the footsteps of BURN, which won the Ashden award back in 2006 when King Charles served as its patron. Brian Onyango, CEO of USAFI Green Energy, attributed his company’s success to the mentorship and guidance of BURN’s CEO, Peter Scott. Onyango stated, “Peter is my key role model and mentor on clean cooking, and I benchmark from him. I do a lot of site visits at the BURN factory to learn more and work together on our briquette tests and partnerships alongside the stove’s supply.” USAFI’s cooking stoves are designed to use clean briquettes made at the Kakuma camp. These unique briquettes are produced from compressed invasive plant species, primarily Prosopis, which have long been a nuisance to local communities. Prosopis, an invasive tree species, causes multiple problems by dominating local vegetation, depleting water resources, injuring cattle with its sharp thorns, and producing poisonous seed pods.https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2023/11/kenyan-innovators-transform-invasive-plants-into-clean-cooking-fuels-for-refugees/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=kenyan-innovators-transform-invasive-plants-into-clean-cooking-fuels-for-refugees