A Ghanaian Non Governmental Organisation has been short-listed as one of the world’s eight finalists for the green energy prize for sustainable energy pioneers from the African continent, India and Pakistan.
Toyola Energy Ltd is one of five African projects in the finals for the prestigious Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2011, according to an announcement by organisers.
The finalists will compete for over £120,000 prize money and the winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted in London on 16 June 2011.
Suraj Wahab Ologburo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Toyola Energy Ltd, told GNA in Accra: “We feel good naturally. It is flattering to see that an ordinary coal pot seller has been recognised.”
He added: “We’re happy we are doing something that people recognise.”
Mr Ologburo said they were located through the country where they were mobilising and training coal pot makers to produce coal pots that used 50 per cent less charcoal.
“This is a huge savings for the ordinary person,” he said.
Other finalists come from Rwanda and Uganda.
The orgasnisers say Toyola Energy Ltd, Ghana, has been recognised for an innovative business model which has succeeded in selling 154,000 efficient and affordable charcoal stoves to low-income families, 75 per cent of whom buy the stoves on credit and use savings on charcoal to pay cash back.
“The stoves save about 26,000 tonnes of charcoal a year, and around 150,000 tonnes a year of CO2. Toyola plans to open more centres in Benin, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the next two years, stepping up sales to a further 140,000 stoves by 2013,” the Green Energy Awards said.
The organisers said access to affordable clean energy was fundamental to daily life and should be a basic right yet almost a quarter of the world’s population - over 1.4 billion people - lived without access to electricity, and worldwide around 2.5 billion people still relied on wood and charcoal for cooking.
Harnessing clean, local and affordable ways to meet the energy needs of the poor and to drive local industry is vital to any efforts to reduce poverty and to tackle the urgent issues of climate change and deforestation.
“The 2011 Ashden Award finalists provide policy-makers, businesses and communities across the globe with pioneering real-life examples of how this can be done through the use of local clean energy technologies combined with clever marketing strategies.
“From the production of biomass pellets from crop waste to replace coal in India to the provision of a range of solar-powered products to off-grid communities in Africa, these finalists prove that it is possible to meet the energy needs of the poor in a way that radically improves lives, drives economic growth, cuts CO2 emissions and saves trees.”
It said since 2001 Ashden Award winners had improved the lives of 23 million people worldwide and together were saving over three million tonnes of CO2 a year - this years’ international finalists alone have saved over half a million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the CO2 emissions of 90,000 UK homes.
“And it doesn’t stop there: all award finalists have ambitious plans to step up their efforts and to continue in their drive to cut carbon emissions and improve lives.”
Ms Sarah Butler-Sloss, Founder/Director of the Ashden Awards said: "Our dream is a world where access to clean, affordable electricity and fuel can be enjoyed by the poor, transforming living standards, reducing CO2 emissions and easing the pressure on our dwindling forests.
The 2011 Ashden Award finalists are making this vision a reality, and their potential for expansion and replication is high. It is our sincere hope that others are inspired to enable their growth and follow their lead”.