RWANDA NATURAL ENERGY PROJECT

Manna Energy Foundation’s Manna Energy Ltd.’s Rwanda Natural Energy Project (the “Project”) intends to deploy more than 400 water treatment plants and biogas generators to secondary schools throughout Rwanda.  Benefiting more than 250,000 students, teachers, and staff the Project is just about the “greenest” project that exists today.  It will provide clean water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene, something that is unheard of in nearly all of these Rwanda schools.  The biogas portion of the Project will treat kitchen and human waste generated at the school, preventing sewage from seeping beyond the schools, converting it into methane, to be used in conjunction with high efficiency cook stoves, and sanitary fertilizer to be used for clean crop production. 

Our systems are comprised of materials and technologies that are tested and established.  They can be readily installed in place, and are maintainable at their location.  Indeed for the water systems most parts will originate in either Rwanda or neighboring Kenya.  The biogas systems will be just about entirely comprised of material and technology readily available in Rwanda.

Water will be treated through gravity filtration and solar powered ultraviolet lamps.  For the biogas digesters, waste will flow from latrines, or in the case of kitchen waste, be directly delivered to the digesters, which will capture the methane, which is a natural by-product of the decomposition of the sewage.  The methane will be used to run high-efficiency cook stoves.

The Project provides a chance for the students to study and thrive without the frequent illness and even death, attributable to the presently available, frequently contaminated water.  The Project provides the water with minimal carbon impact.  The Project also provides much needed sanitation, capturing and generating methane to be used in place of wood and charcoal harvested from non-renewable forests, which is very expensive, when available.  This represents a vast diminution in the carbon footprint of the schools.  It helps protect the forests of Rwanda and neighboring countries, many of which are habitat for the endangered Mountain Gorilla and other species of fauna and flora.

The Project, expected to operate for at least 10 years, will also train and employ a workforce in Rwanda.  The jobs created for the installation, maintenance and operation of the Manna Energy installations are important to the people of Rwanda, its economy, and its long term well being with its large proportion of young people. Providing stable employment will help Rwanda meet its goals and maintain its forward looking, progressive government.

Engineers Without Borders-USA (www.ewb-usa.org) has teamed with Manna to implement this project.  Manna also expects to rely on the expertise of the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology of Rwanda (www.kist.ac.rw) for the biogas installations.

Manna and its technology partner, Engineers Without Borders – Johnson Space Center Chapter, currently have three solar-powered water treatment plants operating in rural Rwanda. The success of these existing treatment plants provides Manna with the basis expand Manna Energy’s commitment throughout Rwanda to the benefit of its people and most especially its school children who are  the true future of Rwanda.

Manna Energy has identified, and is presently in negotiations with, contractors and manufacturers in Rwanda, and Kenya, to carry out the implementation of the systems. The parties that are interested in working with us, and whom we consider to be prime possibilities for meeting our needs expeditiously and at reasonable costs are: Great Lakes Energy LTD (http://www.energyforafrica.com); Kigali Institute of Science and Technology – Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer (KIST-CITT) (http://www.kist.ac.rw); and, Davis and Shirtliff http://www.dayliff.com. These parties are experienced and have demonstrated their ability to undertake the tasks, under Manna’s supervision, required to meet the targets of the project.

The implementation of the Project is to be funded through the generation of Certified Emission Reductions, under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.  This would be the first CDM project to generate carbon credits by purifying water with solar energy instead of by boiling with non-renewable firewood.  The Project's carbon credits will derive from the quantity of non-renewable firewood conserved from combustion.

Clean water, conversion of biological waste into cooking fuel, and elimination of indoor smoke all directly address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.   At the same time, the Project specifically advances the objectives of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 roadmap for development, by executing the project through direct investment in a new, Rwandan business venture.  Any dividends accrued by the non-profit Manna Energy Foundation through this venture will be reinvested into its humanitarian projects.

Unlike aid projects dependent on donor funding, this project generates a continuing stream of income through the production of carbon credits for a period of 10 years.   Thus, Manna Energy is accountable not only for the initial construction of facilities, but also for their continuing operation over a long period of time.

The financial return for Manna and its Rwandan operating company is through the reliable operation of the installed systems.   We believe that this economic model — built upon continuing operation rather than initial installation as the source of reward — will ensure that our systems continue to create value for those they serve and will enable projects in other communities.  This provides Manna with the unique opportunity to implement projects that are economically, culturally, and politically self sustainable, and ultimately not constrained by a dependence on donations.