GREASEBALL CHALLENGE PROJECTS

Greaseball Challenge raises funds to support small-scale biofuel projects in Central America that benefit local communities.  This year, we are raising funds to support community biofuel projects in Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Nueva Allianza Community Cooperative, Guatemala http://www.comunidadnuevaalianza.org/index.htm 

Comunidad Nueva Alianza is a fair trade, organic coffee and macadamia plantation owned and run by a cooperative of forty Guatemalan families. All profits raised by the community are divided amongst the community members and are used to improve the health, education and living conditions within the cooperative. Nueva Alianza is located in a temperate area 1000 metres above sea level in the Guatemalan municipality of El Palmar, Quetzaltenango. As well as producing coffee and macadamia nuts, Nueva Allianze have an innovative mini-hydroelectric plant and biodiesel project underway.

Greaseball funds will help Nueva Allianza to fund a small 2.5 kW (bio)diesel generator used to power different areas of the Nueva Alianza, including the biodiesel refinery. The generator will be powered by biodiesel produced in the community from waste vegetable oil collected from surrounding restaurants.  In addition, the money will help pay for a small mechanical macadamia nut dehuller that will be used to remove the hard macadamia shells from third class macadamias.  Third class macadamias are otherwise thrown away as they cannot be sold for food use, however by deshelling them and running them through the community's small scale oil expeller the oil from the third class seeds can be used for biodiesel production.