Getting energy without killing the climate (continued)

Some people nowadays praise Jatropha like a miracle cure against climate change and the impending shortness of petrol. It doesn't seem to be that, because large plantations of Jatropha would cause a reduction of available soil for food production. So we used a fallow field of 20 ha to plant Jatropha. People from the surrounding villages can get additional income from working on the field. The money invested stays inside our country and doesn't go to the large oil companies.

Until our plants yield fruit after three years, we still depend on diesel. Besides we are now checking the possiblity of generating electricity from wind energy. We already use solar energy for supplying some houses with energy. But a large solar plant sufficient for the needs of the whole abbey is not affordable yet.

Of course we won't be able to save the climate on our own, but we hope that our search for "green energy" will be a model for other institutions in Tanzania.