See it here for yourself.

For the next six months, James will be based in Kumasi, Ghana and work out of the Dompuasi Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant.  A dream work environment, really, giving him access to nearly 100 trucks of fecal sludge each day.  James’ first task is to produce batches of solid fuel, which he’ll do by engineering a small fecal sludge screening, dewatering and drying process.   He’ll use this fuel to conduct burning trials at a local kiln.

Ultimately, James’ goal is to quantify and compare the technical and sensory (e.g. odor) characteristics of the fecal sludge-based fuel to other fuels that are in common use by local industries.  By summer, hopefully we’ll have our proof that Fecal Fuel competes with conventional fuels on all counts.

We’ll spare you the details and go straight to the take-home message:  Fecal sludge has a whole lot of energy to harness.  And by a whole lot, we mean more than most agricultural by-products that are used as fuel (e.g. coconut husks, palmnut shells, rice husks) and just about the same level of energy as Grade-B coal. And best of all?  Industries say they are ready to give it a try.

Take East Africa’s largest clay brick factory.  They already use a wide variety of “waste” fuels including coconut husks, sawdust, and shredded currency (that’s been taken out of circulation, of course).  And to obtain some of these, they travel as far as 300 km. With lower cost fuels becoming increasingly scarce and costly, choosing “fecal fuel” may not just be good for the environment and public health but also good for their bottom line.

At WE in Ghana, we’re going to be very busy over the next six months turning this concept into a commercial reality.  Watch for progress reports.

Here’s the deal. The Unreasonable Institute is a chance to get thrown in a house with 50 mentors (powerful business leaders and social entrepreneurs), 20 investors, and representatives from top funds and foundations. It’s a six-week program, but we think of it as a catapult that will launch WE 12 months ahead of where it is today in terms of business strategy, exposure, investor relationships, and capital in-hand.  This could be the tipping point that massively accelerates our growth and impact on sanitation across Africa.

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Hurry! The clock is ticking.

Upon learning this, we realized the critical importance of rearing catfish fingerlings in small tanks, where they can be coddled, fed, and continuously size-sorted from their size at purchase of 10 g until they reach about 40 g.  In Abban’s experience, this alone can double survival rates at harvest.  We project break-even at 65% survival.  Fingers crossed!

Last month, WE invested in building a nursery and series of rearing tanks adjacent to the Chirapatre Waste Stabilization Pond system, which we’ll be stocking for the first time once the fingerlings get to size.  So far so good: they’re fattening up on commercial feed and should be ready for the open waters at Ahinsan and Chirapatre next month.

Emily’s work with WE will entail conducting feasibility studies at three waste stabilization pond systems in Ghana that appear to be promising candidates for our aquaculture business. She’ll be conducting water quality analyses, developing operations plans, and building supply chains for each of the sites. To get to know us, Emily spent her first week with WE up in Kumasi, getting familiarized with our existing aquaculture systems and pitching in with some on-site labor.