On Tuesday, we put up this wind turbine. It’s attached to our workshop where we make them. It’s not an ideal spot for a wind turbine, but here, we can monitor the functioning of the different components. This morning, I took at battery reading and was pleased to see it was fully charged over night.

I can’t say I was overwhelmed with excitement about this photo session. Jua Kali translates as ‘hot sun’, and the afternoon lived up to that name.

I’m helping put together a tasteful calendar of Jua Kali artisans to help raise money for a training programme which will help train artisans to build small-scale renewable energy technologies. We think it’s an exciting idea. If you would like to buy a calendar, head over to indiegogo.com/accessenergy - hit contribute and choose the calendar. 

In the video is fellow permaculture student, Victor Monroy from the L’Esperance Orphanage in Rwanda.

Do we live on sunlight or do we live on fossilised sunlight? 

The more I learn about renewable energy, the more I realise it’s not that complicated. I feel I’ve spent far too long getting lost in the politics and economics of it in the UK while sitting on my hands doing nothing. In the UK, the challenge is not technical, it’s more societal, political and navigating the mazes of legislation. 

Today, on the permaculture course, the content was familiar. In the morning we talked about energy - the concepts, the types, the current situation, and how it links with permaculture. This was facilitated by my colleague Sam. It was interesting to get reactions from people about our project (access:energy) and to take a different perspective on what we are doing.

In the afternoon we made rocket stoves. These are relatively easy to build. All you need is some clay, dirt, water and a banana stem. There’s a guide on the access:energy website right here if you’re interested. And photos from the session are here on Facebook.

Please support and share access:energy’s campaign to train Kenyans to build more wind turbines. This is exciting. Check out the campaign here: www.indiegogo.com/accessenergy