Comments on: From waste to fuel

By: Daniel Omodo McMondo

Daniel Omodo McMondo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:27:02 +0000

Biogas production sounds a good idea, but how feasible is it for poor people in urban and peri-urban settings to produce and utilise this technology?

Though I am not an expert in biogass production, I know human feaces are a good source of biogass. How best can the technology be harnesed for most urban and peri urban slums of most towns and municipalities of sub saharan Africa, which are characterised by high levels of poverty, landlessness and poor sanitation among others?

Are there any prospects of generating biogass from municipal solid waste and waste water as these are major problems in most sub saharan municipalities? For instance, I know of one Municipality, where a sample of 24 groups of local people discharged MWW at an average rate of 1,262l (SD 129.4) per day into a nearby wetland, from local alcohol distillation. Is there any prospects of generating biogass out such MWW, given its high Chemical Oxidation Demand (24,000 mg/l)?

I shall be grateful to receive feedback from an interested party.

By: NELSON NGARI

NELSON NGARI — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:26:12 +0000

With the escalating cost of energy this is the way to go. This resource is availablbe freely in every household. AS long as there will be food and man will have the same.

When we were small boys in rural kenya stories were told of how we could get electricity directly from the toilet. Anybody out there with knowledge of how this is done.

NASA have identified some some bacteria that generetes an electric current using human feaces.

I am doing an MSc in renwable energy technology at Kenyatta University KENYA

By: Karolina Hagegård

Karolina Hagegård — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:42:46 +0000

I am writing a thesis called:

Implementing Small-Scale Biogas by Lake Victoria

and I agree, biogas can do a lot of good, with a little input! In fact it is more a question of re-arranging.

For info about how to build and use biogas digesters, as well as lots of general info on biogas, please see my website: http://web.telia.com/~u52311127/karolina or e-mail me: karolinahagegard@gmail.com .

Thanks for mentioning our humble, Swedish biogas train! :)

/Karolina from Sweden

By: Augustine

Augustine — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 10:45:38 +0000

Many people have distroyed the environment in search energy, I resolve is to begin using both animal and human waste as a way to contribute to the protection of the environment. I need the knowledge on how the system of harvesting biogas is constructed.

My other contribution in this struggle would be to begin demonstrations to mainly schools in Uganda which actually use alot of wood energy and yet they production lots material that couyld be used to generate this energy. These institutions wood even save on the money used to purchase this wood for cooking.

I therefore request for the knowledge in this regard.

For institutions like hospitals, prisons and schools this is the way to go if we are to reduce the degardation of the environment by using the already existing and yet free source of energy.

Augustine Wandera

By: polyscience.org » New initiative for biomass fuel

polyscience.org » New initiative for biomass fuel — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 15:16:09 +0000

[...] Back in July, I reported on prisons in Rwanda using human waste as fuel. Now a new bill has been signed in Texas regarding how and where biomass fuel can be used. The bill also requires that more renewable energy resources be explored and developed over the next ten years. [...]

By: Durf

Durf — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 06:21:52 +0000

In the 1600s Edo (now Tokyo) was the biggest city in the world, with more than a million people. There was an extensive system in place for collection and reuse of human waste. “Night soil” carriers ran from the city center with their valuable loads out to the farming districts, where the feces turned into fertilizer, which turned into rice (which eventually turned into feces once again). Reusing the stuff certainly sounds like a wiser option than treating it with harsh chemicals and flushing it into the sea . . . or, as is probably the case in the third world, than not treating it at all and letting it seep into the supply of drinking water.