Category: Green
The story of the jiko
Jikos, Swahili for cook stoves, are used in just about every household in Kenya. Traditionally, they use large quantities of firewood and heavily pollute indoor environments. Luckily, the jiko also happens to be one of the biggest success stories in Kenyan appropriate technology. Dr. Maxwell Kinyanjui, Founder of Musaki Enterprises, invented an energy-saving stove called the Kenyan Ceramic Jiko (KCJ) in 1982. The idea was to change the shape slightly and add a clay insert to the scrap steel housing to insulate the jiko and use less firewood. Great design, true, but so many great appropriate technologies have been developed and rusted. Here’s what was so brilliant about the Kenyan Ceramic Jiko:
- It was a very simple switch from the traditional metal jiko (see photo, back) to the clay insert (front)
- Kinyanjui educated artisans on production of the housing and community groups on the ceramic insert
- Kinyanjui also educated consumers on the cost savings that would accrue over time from reduced energy
Reviving old materials
The informal sector runs on scrap. This introduces several interesting dynamics into the sector. First, it links microenterprises to the big guns, some of which supply a steady stream of factory waste, while others scoop up the materials for recycling. Second, it minimizes the ecological footprint of an otherwise sprawling phenomenon by encouraging reuse and repair. Note that this is not intentional: many jua kali would prefer to use higher quality materials. Others, though, find that using cheap materials actually works well with export markets, particularly in art. Of course, relying on scrap forever isn’t necessarily sustainable, judging by the clouds of black smoke trailing behind most vehicles.
Steal this green idea: Rebottling
In Steal This Green Idea, I feature some of Africa’s many ubiquitous concepts that would be considered innovative and green in the developed world.
Not only are most bottlers here local, but they have a reverse supply chain in place for rebottling, a simple and extremely efficient form of recycling. Simply return your bottles to the store and get your money back for the bottles so you essentially only pay for the liquid. The bottles get sent back to the local bottler for washing and reuse. Of course, this process is only as effective as the customers’ participation, and judging by how weathered many of the bottles look, it’s working.
Steal this green idea: Outlet switches
I’m starting a new segment on this blog called Steal This Green Idea. So many things you see everywhere in Africa would be touted as innovative and green in the US, but are done here out of necessity. It’s kind of funny.
Electricity is so expensive here that every single outlet I have seen throughout the country has switches. Imagine how much power we’d save in the US if it were this convenient. I have yet to see a power strip with individual outlet switches either.
Analogue Digital explores how human systems interact with digital ones: how interfaces affect our relationship with the world, how craft culture and modern technology are colliding in unprecedented ways, and how to reach those who have yet to cross the digital divide.
I'm Steve Daniels. I study the transformative impact of technology on individuals and societies. I am the founder of the Better World by Design conference at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design and a founding partner of Revolution x Design, a Providence-based research center that uses design to address meaningful, real-world problems. Currently, I work at IBM Research, where I study mobile social computing in emerging markets.
I am particularly interested in how people create, adapt, and use technology in resource-constrained environments, which I have written about in my book Making Do: Innovation in Kenya's Informal Economy, which you can read here.
I also design and develop websites. Here's my portfolio.
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