johnthefireman wrote:Can't remember whether I've mentioned this before, but the new house that my wife and I are building outside Nairobi will be powered only by solar, plus perhaps a bit of wind power. We're not connected to the national grid, and our plan is not to use a diesel generator.
Mind you, I am on the lookout for a steam engine to restore - a road traction engine, a portable engine or a stationary engine - but I haven't found a suitable one yet. But this being Kenya where there is no coal, it would have to run on wood, so it would be pretty much carbon-neutral. Bamboo stalks burn really nicely in the firebox of a small engine, but they also burn up very quickly.
Try biogas. It's entirely carbon neutral. I did my cooking on a small plant for several years in Western Province near Kakamega. Occasionally I used a gas lamp, when the electricity went off. There was/is a farm in the Moi area where most of the farm machinery worked on biogas for decades. I doubt if it could power railway engines but there the correct choice is electricity from hydro - as in Ethiopia.
The value of biogas is that you can use it in conventional gas apparatus - with a bit of adjustment. So it's very convenient for cooking and lighting. The farm used it to generate electricity. The man who did it was called Hutchinson. I would not be surprised if he is no longer alive but I think the enterprise has continued.
It is quite possible to live without emitting carbon dioxide. And we really have to spread the practice rapidly.
At home in Wimborne I use solar to heat the water during the summer. I keep thinking about installing photovoltaics but I am short of the money needed.
(I could send you information on biogas)