| dc.description.abstract | Attempts by the government of Kenya to control the noxious water hyacinth via various intervention efforts have had limited success only for the weed to resurge. The proliferation of water hyacinth in Lake Victoria – Kenya has decimated the livelihoods of the locals and reduced the water quality, among other negatives. Meanwhile, the indigenous trees and bushes have been felled for firewood leading to environmental degradation. This study explored water hyacinth briquettes as alternative to the local wood fuels through a pilot briquette production process by appropriate levels of technology mediation. The commonly used biomasses, reasons for community’s preference of one species to another were also sought. The survey of 152 randomly sampled respondents from Beach Management Units (BMUs) in Kisumu, Kendu Bay and Homa Bay beaches established commonly used firewood tree species whose samples were collected and tested for the calorific value, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon and moisture content. These were compared via paired samples t –test with those of prepared samples of water hyacinth briquettes. The study indicated that the calorific value of water hyacinth briquettes was statistically different from those of local plant fuels at T = 7.01 and df = 7, and at 95% confidence level. The decision by the community to use any biomass as fuel depends on its abundance and not on cost or amount of heat generated, thus the choice of hyacinth as alternative energy could be based on its abundance and not its calorific value. | en_US |
