Researchers find alternative source of energy

Researchers find alternative source of energy | Saturday May 11, 2013 00:00

A lot of people had attempted similar research and failed but Chimbombi said that they had secured financing from the UNDP-Global Environment Facility to achieve their breakthrough. 'They gave us a small grant for this technology so that we can set up as we were certain that it will work,' he said. All in all the entire whole project, including training will cost close to P345,000. Now Chimbombi and his team have decided to use the participatory approach where they get the farmers and work with them. This engagement will mean that the farmers will be able to see what is going on until the biogas plant is functional. The last thing they did, as part of that research, was to do a survey to determine whether there are pig farmers and if they are there do they have a waste management problem? The research was carried out in the South East region (which covers Mochudi, Molepolole, and Ramotswa). The findings were that there are over 4,000 pigs in the region and they do have a waste management problem.

The second step was to call the farmers and workshop them from Monday to Thursday last week at the Rural Training Center. They told the farmers that they have established that there is a problem of waste and they were happy that they have finally been helped to alleviate this. It was this four-day workshop that the farmers were taught how the plant will work.Asked why they decided to use pig waste over other animals, Chimbombi said that when they approached their financial sponsors, they knew very well that it is a competitive grant process. He said that they did not choose cattle because they are all over and are not confined like pigs.  So they had only two choices, either chickens or pigs but they resolved to use pigs as people normally associate them with dirt but now it's no longer waste but a resource.Starting this week, Chimbombi and his team will build the biogas plant and will be calling farmers occasionally to see the development. 'We want to engage them so that they can finally adopt it.' In addition, they are hopeful that the plant will be ready in less than six months.

The benefits of this plant will reduce the methane gas in the atmosphere as it is a pollutant gas. When they light it up, they will be reducing global warming. Secondly, farmers will have a resource from what they call waste. It will be also enhancing educationally. The gas can be used for cooking, warming and space heating (for chicks and piglets).If the gas is produced on a large-scale, it can be used for generating electricity but Chimbombi said that since they want to start small they did not look at it from that perspective. He said that there are various models of how the plant can be utilised by interested stakeholders. Farmers can group themselves and have a plant, which they could supply with waste and get something out of that. Alternatively, it can be located wherever by an entrepreneur and then he/she can get the waste from farmers. The primary benefits will be keeping the farms clean and they can also pay the farmers for their waste.