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The Details about Green Idea:
Wool for Bosnia's Houses displayed below
Green Idea: Wool for Bosnia's Houses
Innovative, wool-based insulation wins
World Bank grant for Green ideas
Washington DC,
May 27, 2005—The World Bank recently held a global
competition for innovative and profitable environmental ideas.
Thousands of applicants responded to the call with clever plans
for saving Siberian tigers, reusing mosque water for irrigation or
making eco-friendly coffins.
Vesna Kolar, a woman from Travnik, in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
was no exception. She came to Washington DC this week armed with
wool samples and a disarmingly simple plan for converting wasted
wool into warmth. Her project, which addresses pollution and
landfill issues and is set to benefit a wide range of citizens,
was awarded $148,000 by the Bank. The institution handed out a
total of four million dollars at the two-day 'Development
Marketplace' competition.
For Kolar, it all started with a piece of yarn. When she looked
at the shaggy sheep frolicking in the mountains of her native
Bosnia, she wondered whether their wool could make nice sweaters.
“I like to weave,” Kolar smiled, standing at her booth among other
finalists at the World Bank headquarters.
As it turns out, the mountain sheep that are prevalent in
Bosnia and Herzegovina are not the knitting kind.
The Pramenka sheep may be renowned for their milk and meat, but
their bodies are covered with thick mops of wool that are
unsuitable for making clothes. Some farmers tried to introduce
more sophisticated wool-producers. Over time, however, their coat
either turned impossibly dense like the local mountain breed, or
the sheep died of pneumonia, unable to survive the damp, cold
weather. So shepherds resigned themselves to milking their herds
for cheese and dumping their wool into small landfills in the
neighboring countryside.
This drove Kolar mad. “We have all these resources running
around,” she remembers thinking. “We have to use them.”
At the same time, Kolar noted that the houses built in area,
especially the ones built in haste after the devastation of the
war, are poorly insulated and usually heated by burning coal and
wood. Heavy reliance on fossil fuels contributes to deforestation
and nefarious emissions of carbon dioxide. During the harsh winter
months, dense smog is common above Bosnian villages and towns.
Kolar decided to “dress the houses” in wool to save energy and
reduce the chopping of wood. “Natural wool has excellent
insulation properties,” said Kolar. “It is better than Mineral
wool,” [rock wool?] the toxic material made out of melted fibers which is
sometimes used in construction. Kolar discovered that farmers in
Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand were already using wool as
insulation and pushed ahead with her vision. The World Bank grant
will help her set up the production of insulating wool layers,
using simple machinery, and train people to install it safely in
houses. UPUT, the Travnik business association, CHF, an
international NGO, and a regional development agency called REZ
are partners in the project.
Wool will initially be used to insulate 100 households in
Travnik. Displaced people, whose homes were destroyed during the
war and have returned to the area, will be the first to benefit
from the project. Shepherds, who will now have an extra market for
their herds, are sure to profit as well.
Kolar estimates that roughly 100 tons of wool a year can be
gathered at shearing stations in the area of Travnik alone.
She sees potential for growth in other parts of Bosnia, as well as
in neighboring Balkan countries - everywhere Pramenka sheep graze.
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