The Gold Standard team visits Suvidha's biogas project in Ramnagar, India
on International Women's Day
India March 2019
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Before receiving their biogas stoves, women spent hours in sometimes dangerous conditions -- such as crossing rivers -- gathering firewood to cook daily meals and heat their homes.
Previous cookstoves required that firewood, which also pressures local forests and forces women to travel further to gather it as the supply nearer to them is collected and used.
Burning firewood for cooking creates suffocating amounts of smoke. A glance at the blackened ceiling gives a clue to what it's like to breathe this poisoned air.
Here's the fuel. These cows not only provide food for the family. Their waste is the source of the biogas for stoves and heating.
Our Technical Director Abhishek Goyal shares some affection with these charming energy generators.
The women of Ramnagar, the keys to the project implementation and success.
This unassuming concrete block is the intake for cow dung - first step in the transformation from waste to energy. Etched tracking numbers enable project tracking.
Project supporter and Gold Standard TAC member Sudha Padmanabha of the Fair Climate Network India shares field monitoring logs.
The waste-of-the-waste, the "slurry" that is emitted after the biogas is produced is excellent fertilizer, is used in the families' fields to boost crop productivity. Another win.
Ta-da! The biogas burns clean in the family kitchen.
An illuminating experience for Communications Manager Claire Willers.
Micro-project beneficiary.
The women of Ramnagar line up to warmly welcome the Gold Standard team to their community.
Offering brilliant wreaths of marigolds and an honorary bindi to Platform Coordinator Olivia Bebe.
In pursuit of inclusivity, the gents of Gold Standard were also welcomed warmly.
How do you like your biogas stoves? Smiles tell the story. Thanks, thanks and more thanks to all.