Legacy Foundation provides training, technology and media services for biomass fuel briquette production, environmental conservation and income generation throughout the world.

Click here to see a new video about the Legacy Foundation and its partners.

The foundation has released 8 technical/training manuals and two devices on all known aspects of briquette making. For information and purchasing, click here.

Mission

The Mission of the Legacy Foundation is:

to promote sustainable human development and preserve our environment through the integration of technology innovation, media, and management. The Legacy Foundation is currently active in the USA, Malawi, Kenya, Peru, and Haiti.

Additional research and field extension is supported through active collaboration with Engineers without Borders, Colorado University (Boulder, Colorado), Southern Oregon University (Ashland Oregon), Venter Forestry Services (Pieternmaritzburg, South Africa) and several colleagues through the Crest Stoves and Crest Biomass Newsgroups, globally.


News

Through the initiative of a collaborant in west Africa, a new newsgroup: fuelbriquetting@google groups.com has been established. You are cordially invited to join it for global perspective of our collective and growing individual impact.

Thanks to some recent contributions by individual woman, Legacy Foundation has been able to provide a small loan to a woman's group in Uganda, The Uganda United Womens Association, for the provision of a briquette press and the construction of a production/training center. The UUWA is making great progress and any additional donations to this project will further support the growth and development of this hard working group of women.

March - May 2007; Legacy Foundation has just completed a 6 week training and equipment development effort in Mbale Uganda and Lushoto Tanzania.

The contractors for this were Eco Ventures organization funded by the McKnight Foundation. The local organizations were the Uganda Gender Rights Foundation (UGRF) in Mbale Uganda and the Environmental Enterprise Development Initiatives organization (EEDI) in Lushoto Tanzania. 

The result of this effort was over 100 trained briquette producers, 70 officially through the organized training with an additional 30 in Mbale gaining exposure to the briquette making process when they arrived the last few days of training to observe.

Eco Ventures has gone on to organize a useful cross training / collaboration between the leadership from both sites. UGRF and EEDI members went to Kenya to learn more from Mary and Francis Kavita, the Legacy Foundation trainers who lead the Mbuguni Women’s Briquette production group. The participants also met with the Wood family and Kangemi Women’s Empowerment Association.

Another result was the technical refinement of the thresher masher chopper device or TMC-1, which Legacy Foundation designed with the Uganda Industrial Research Institute in 2003-4. The refinements have made it possible to produce the device in more technically limited workshops. This means that it is now possible to fabricate the TMC on a far wider and more localized production base. See attached photo galley for images of the TMC and write us for the full set of plans.
 
Another result was that the Hand Press has been refined and further simplified for safer use, cleaner appearance and easier manufacture. These changes are provided in detail in an addendum to the existing hand press kit, construction manual. 

And in other countries:

The Legacy Foundation Briquette Making Manuals have been translated to Burmese and several border languages for use in Thailand and Burma by David Saw Wahl. David is a 12-year veteran refugee in the Karenni One Camp in  Mae Hong Son, northern Thailand. Karenni one has a population of some 22,000 refugees from Burma. David is a German trained engineer who has initiated a variety of in camp technologies including briquette making, biogas, Guerella gardening and other innovations.

In the process, he has set up fuel briquette centers in all sections of the camp. He has also created a  simplified version of the manuals in English, so that people without  a technical background (most of the refugee population) can also  use it. There is also another version of the manuals being printed in which fuel briquetting and biogas are introduced in one book. The Thai authorities were very interested in fuel briquetting,  especially during the dry season when there were a lot of bush  fires. David has given training to two Thai villages and has also wrote a handbook for refugees on Community Agriculture and Nutrition. It is a great book with lots of ideas and information for people who only have very limited access to land and resources.  David's email address: canproject@tbbc.org  

In Nepal. The FOST organization has jumped ahead with extension of briquette training to now more than 50 villages outside Kathmandu. They have developed unique drying racks, presses and a forced air stove for village use. 

In Haiti, Keith Flannigan and Ben Bryant have devised a novel way of potting tree seedlings, using the same slightly modified mold which is used for making a briquette. The metal center guide pipe is plugged with a round wood branch. A headless nail is pounded into that wooden plug which forces it to stand slightly off the base plate. When a nutrient rich biomass material is added to the mold, then compressed and dewatered in the usual fashion, it flows down around the bottom of the center pipe effectively plugging the bottom so that the plant can be inserted into a sealed container.

This resulting briquette pot medium provides an extended fertilization of the plant, while eliminating the need for the plastic bag or pot. The effect is a potentially higher germination rate with lower cost per plant. 

In Indonesia LF has provided online technical support to the WOMIN Project through GTZ which has developed its own style of the TMC machine and press based on the Legacy Foundation training materials.

Please click here to see our new Photo Gallery Link for pictures from some of these recent LF events.

Mechanized press development

Legacy Foundation has over the past several years, been developing a mechanized One-Step press, for household and small community briquette production.

Following the model of "acting locally, thinking globally", this machine is intended to be produced in several localities, globally. It has passed initial prototype stages and needs about 6 more months to reach commercial production.

Its overall dimensions are that of a small ~160 liter(~40 gallon) drum. It takes in raw, unprocessed agro- residues and commercial processing wastes (~junk mail and yard/ lawn cuttings) and extrudes a finished fuel briquette, all in one unit at one time. It is being developed for the industrialized nations or more urban markets globally.

We are actively seeking partners for its completion for local manufacture and local markets around the globe and invite your serious inquiry.