You've heard of "green" fuel. Now get ready for yellow as scientists have found a way to turn banana waste into a sustainable fuel source that could be relevant to many countries across Africa.
The simple, low-tech idea, was developed by researchers at Nottingham University.
They used banana skins to create briquettes that can be burned for cooking, lighting and heating.
It could alleviate the burden of gathering firewood, the dominant energy source in many parts of the continent.
This would help reduce deforestation, which makes a significant contribution to global climate change.
Go yellow
In some African countries, like Rwanda, bananas are an important and versatile crop, used for food, wine and beer.
But experts estimate that the edible fruit makes up just a small part of what the plant produces.According to scientists, for every one tonne of bananas, there are an estimated ten tonnes of waste, made up of skins, leaves and stems.
It was on a visit to Rwanda that Joel Chaney, a PhD student from the University of Nottingham came up with the idea of developing a low-tech approach to turn this banana waste into an efficient fuel source.
Back in the laboratory at the University's faculty of engineering, Joel showed me how to make bananas burn.
He first mashes a pile of rotting skins and leaves. This pulp is then mixed with saw dust, compressed and dried to create briquettes that ignite readily and throw out a steady heat, ideal for cooking.
"The banana skins bind other materials together really well, they act like glue," says Mr Chaney.
