While in Corbett National Park, aside from our safari adventures, we were able to get a head start in learning about the Grassroots Pan-Himalayan Ecology biogas generator projects that several Indian families use for cost-efficient and eco-friendly energy. We began our learning around "poo-thirty", where we visited a home in a nearby village to experience their biogas generator first hand. We learned about the differences of burning pure manure versus using the biogas generator for a cleaner alternative for Indian families.
Since many Indian families have cows, either stray in the village or belonging to their homes, families convert their manure into energy or heat. How so, you might ask? The process begins with a tank usually dug into the ground. From there, the manure is added manually into the tank by the family. Then, through a fifty-fifty ratio of water added to the poop, a slurry of manure and water is made within the tank and it is sealed. The water is added to keep the manure from drying up in the heat. The methane gas produced by the cow's dung as it decays travels through a pipe in the closed tank that runs through the property into various rooms in the house. When the generator is in use, the methane gas comes out of the pipe, generating a pure blue flame for cooking, heat, and light. The flame can last for four hours, and can feed an entire family of 7 people.
Biogas generators use methane rich cow manure to produce pure methane gas which can be safely and cleanly burned through the generator system. When cows digest grass, the material is very hard on their stomachs, allowing the stomach microbes to ferment within the cow's stomach, creating the gas. When the cow defecates, the methane produced in the stomach is now in the cow's feces. While traveling around India we have seen many "mud pies" where people will take the feces and shape it into a disc that can be used to burn a simple fire for food or heat. However, the mud pies, when burned in the open, re-release the methane into the atmosphere, contaminating our troposphere with a greenhouse gas thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heat-trapping ability. The biogas generators allow the methane to be completely trapped within the tank, while the gas is put through the pipe to burn as a clean flame. The methane will then burn clean, releasing carbon dioxide and water in the process of the burn. On top of that, burning methane is also a baseload power source, making methane a viable option for both humans and the environment when used in a biogas generator.
The biogas units are extremely eco-friendly, cost efficient, and easy to use and install. In fact, the Grassroots people are facilitating the opening of a factory to mass produce the biogas tanks. Before this experience we thought, like many people, that methane was a gas that purely polluted our planet and did not help our energy crisis. After learning about these generators, we were clearly proved wrong as these Indian families showed us the simplicity of the methane power source. We were stunned at how clean it burned and how cost effective the entire process was, as well as how easy the whole thing seemed. If we were to implement this system across the U.S., we could be able to reduce global warming-causing gases by 4%. While the process is a little smelly, it's well worth getting the poo-wer!
- Georgia Paye and Sabette Grieve
"Dang Gina, that's some fine doo-doo!" - Chris Young
Since many Indian families have cows, either stray in the village or belonging to their homes, families convert their manure into energy or heat. How so, you might ask? The process begins with a tank usually dug into the ground. From there, the manure is added manually into the tank by the family. Then, through a fifty-fifty ratio of water added to the poop, a slurry of manure and water is made within the tank and it is sealed. The water is added to keep the manure from drying up in the heat. The methane gas produced by the cow's dung as it decays travels through a pipe in the closed tank that runs through the property into various rooms in the house. When the generator is in use, the methane gas comes out of the pipe, generating a pure blue flame for cooking, heat, and light. The flame can last for four hours, and can feed an entire family of 7 people.
Biogas generators use methane rich cow manure to produce pure methane gas which can be safely and cleanly burned through the generator system. When cows digest grass, the material is very hard on their stomachs, allowing the stomach microbes to ferment within the cow's stomach, creating the gas. When the cow defecates, the methane produced in the stomach is now in the cow's feces. While traveling around India we have seen many "mud pies" where people will take the feces and shape it into a disc that can be used to burn a simple fire for food or heat. However, the mud pies, when burned in the open, re-release the methane into the atmosphere, contaminating our troposphere with a greenhouse gas thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heat-trapping ability. The biogas generators allow the methane to be completely trapped within the tank, while the gas is put through the pipe to burn as a clean flame. The methane will then burn clean, releasing carbon dioxide and water in the process of the burn. On top of that, burning methane is also a baseload power source, making methane a viable option for both humans and the environment when used in a biogas generator.
The biogas units are extremely eco-friendly, cost efficient, and easy to use and install. In fact, the Grassroots people are facilitating the opening of a factory to mass produce the biogas tanks. Before this experience we thought, like many people, that methane was a gas that purely polluted our planet and did not help our energy crisis. After learning about these generators, we were clearly proved wrong as these Indian families showed us the simplicity of the methane power source. We were stunned at how clean it burned and how cost effective the entire process was, as well as how easy the whole thing seemed. If we were to implement this system across the U.S., we could be able to reduce global warming-causing gases by 4%. While the process is a little smelly, it's well worth getting the poo-wer!
- Georgia Paye and Sabette Grieve
"Dang Gina, that's some fine doo-doo!" - Chris Young
Slurry Tank
Blue Flame in Action!
