Gunung Walat, Sukabumi – The training for making charcoal briquettes and energy-saving stoves for the community around Gunung Walat University Forest (GWUF) took place on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
This training activity was part of the AKECOP (ASEAN-Korea Environmental Cooperation Project) agenda. GWUF has long become the AKECOP project site in the field of alternative energy development. In the beginning, this project was aimed for cultivators of agroforestry in GWUF. But this time the target was extended to the communities around GWUF in several surrounding villages, namely Hegarmanah Village and Batununggal Village.
The number of participants in this training was 25 people from representatives of two villages around GWUF and 70% of them were women. This had become a distinct advantage because this training was closely related to energy savings in households and women are the best party who understand the household affairs, especially kitchens and financial management, so that they can intelligently choose which energy is efficient and cost-effective.
Activities started at 08.00 and ended at 13.30. On the sidelines of the event, entertainment, quiz, and door prizes were also held which made the trainees become more enthusiastic.
The trainer was Dr. Supriyanto, DEA that was accompanied by Soni Trison, M.Sc. The topic offered by Dr. Supriyanto was how energy can be utilized optimally by creating a Jimat (energi hemat, energy-saving red) furnace.
This training introduced the method of making briquettes from the branches. The production of briquettes is the result of research by Adi Setiadi from the Chemical Laboratory of Forest Products, Department of Forest Products, Faculty of Forestry, IPB. The ingredients for making briquettes came ingredients which were not used by the community such as twigs, so they were easy to make.
According to Soni Trison M.Si, this training was one of the implementations of GWUF services to the surrounding community through the AKECOP project. Most people around GWUF still rely on firewood so alternative energy from briquettes would be very useful.
“The aim of this training is that the community is able to streamline limited energy resources,” said Soni Trison, M.Sc
“This training activity is very helpful for the community in utilizing alternative energy. All materials are available and easily found and the technology has been applied, but the need for assistance, from GWUF in particular, is important to make this alternative energy successful,” he added. At the end of this training, a sample of five “jimat” stoves, 8 packets of charcoal briquettes, and durian, rambutan, soursop, petai seedling were also distributed to later be used to develop their gardens to become a source of firewood in the future.
[hap]
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