ELECTRICITY FROM WASTE!!!

Waste is generated from our activities everyday.The choice of waste management depends on the people involved and the innovation prowess of those involved.Waste management is a global issue and as such numerous efforts are put in place to ensure a cleaner and safer environment. Waste generated from animals,food and humans can be processed using a biodigester and the gas generated used as electricity and cooking fuel. The electricity crisis is in every nation,with most developed nations thinking of how to cut energy costs by sourcing for alternatives, the developing and underdeveloped nations do not have enough energy,thus also looking for ways to provide electricity for all. Solar, and other energy have been used,but that which is most currently explored is electricity from waste. The benefits of biogas are enormous; see how a farmer is making use of it. Ta Quang Nah is a Vietnamese rice farmer, pig breeder, builder and fisherman. But for several months now he has also been running a power station from his home on the Ca Mau peninsula.All the family’s waste goes straight from their outdoor latrine to join that of their four pigs in an airtight underground chamber, and the methane gas that is naturally let off as the combined excreta decomposes collects in a long polythene bag secured above ground. Ta Quang Nah was advised by Oxfam how to set up his family biodigester, and when I met him last month he was proudly cooking on his own gas, and saving money by not buying wood or charcoal. His simple operation cost less than $50 to instal, paid itself off in a few months, needs little maintenance and is more than big enough for his family’s needs. Dozens of his neighbours want one too. Using vegetable or livestock waste to generate biogas is now common and growing fast as cattle farmers and food companies in Europe and the US are encouraged with subsidies to set up anaerobic, or airless, digesters like Ta Quang Nah’s rudimentary one. But using human waste is still largely taboo outside Asia.( story; the guardian) Housing estates stand to benefit from this; where all the waste generated is passed to a central collecting point, then to the biodigester for processing.The electricity produced can be passed to grid,thus reducing cost of electricity and also ensuring that power is always available.The plant can also use foodwaste,thus the central bin in the estate can be sorted and fed to digester to produce more power. This is truly an independent power source, that will ensure a clean environment.