Biogas: a form of clean energy

In recent years energy sources have become one of the main concerns related to global warming. However, the need of energy to support development and alleviate poverty is a key issue that affects all countries with no distinction (Howells et al., 2005, 1834).

To date developed and developing countries experience different energy contexts and policy strategies that fuel their development while try to mitigate the effects of their emissions towards the environment. Whilst developed countries are able to supply almost all their population’s energy needs and have adopted binding targets to mitigate their energy GHGs emissions, developing countries struggle to provide the basic energy needs to large part of their populations, in particular poor rural and isolated communities (IISD, 2004).

One of the characteristics of developing countries is that their rural poor inhabitants live in areas where distances prevents them to be connected to national energy grids. In this regard, the International Institute for Sustainable Development country study on Argentina states that ‘rural people without modern energy services and without access to grid electricity are typically those living in scattered, remote communities where the level of development is low’(IISD, 2004, 30).

The key relation between climate change and development issues is that under the guise of fighting global warming, renewable energy production combined with the CDM represents an interesting opportunity for reducing rural poor vulnerabilities while mitigating the impacts of GHGs emissions. In this regard, many studies estimate that providing energy to poor rural communities is a critical element that has the potential to alleviate poverty while fostering development (Lloyd et al., 2009, 241). In particular, it has been argued that ‘energy is a determinant for poverty and development, supporting basic needs such as cooking, lighting, water supply, health care and communications, and it facilitates agricultural production, commerce and transportation. In rural areas of the developing world, introducing even small amounts of energy can have a positive multiplier effect in terms of increased’ and diversified ‘income, education opportunities, health and food security’ (IISD, 2004,  31).

1. Biogas: environmental, social and economic benefits

           

Biogas is a natural form of energy that can be stocked to support rural and urban lifestyles. Its production comes from biodegradable waste. In rural areas biogas can be produced from animal and human manure, and other organic waste (IFAD, 2006).

The strength of this source of energy lies in its possible uses, low costs and potential to mitigate the effects of methane gas and promote rural development. For instance, on a poor rural family scale biogas can be used to cook and lighting (Fischer et al., 2001, 1). Thus, allowing rural poor to save time, money, produce natural fertilizers (IFAD, 2006), transform biogas into an extra source of revenue if connected with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and reduce their global warming effects. These potentials makes biogas plants very attractive as a to improve development in poor rural areas.

2. Biogas barriers

The first major challenge that rural biogas programmes have to face is the lack of funding to finance biogas plants. This is given because of the small size of the projects (Yapp et al., 2005, 4). Even though building biogas plants represent a cheap alternative, compared to other types of projects that aim to reduce GHGs emissions, its size and market potential makes it difficult to find funding other than those provided by NGOs and IGOs. The reason is that renewable energy produced from other sources such as wind farms or urban waste management, attract national and international companies because in addition to the revenues produced by CER units, they also produce income by selling the energy within national or international markets.

A further obstacle of rural biogas programmes is related to the capacities of such projects to mitigate GHGs. Typically, rural biogas plants are deployed in small communities where the quantities of energy consumption are low. Thus, the effects of switching from unclean energy to clean energy does not involve a radical change in GHGs emissions (Lloyd, 2009, 237). It is arguable that the solution to this concern consists in creating cooperatives among small communities. By doing so, rural communities are able to generate an interesting amount of CERs that could attract a larger quantity of potential buyers. Another important economic result of such strategy is that the costs of certification, administration and other transactions are improved (Yapp et al., 2005). In this way, the resources saved can be invested in infrastructure or community works that improve the living conditions of poor rural communities.

Temperature is another important factor to take in consideration while assessing the efficiency of rural biogas plants. Akinbami et al. (2001, 109) argue that ‘the temperature that is best suited for maximum biogas production is put at between 30–35°C. Fermentation comes to a standstill when the internal temperature of the digester falls to 15°C’. Unfortunately, there are zones in developing countries that might not be ideal to put into practice biogas projects. Their prolonged periods of average temperatures below 15°C mean that the projects will not generate the environmental, social and economic expected benefits.

Finally, the lack of expertise and innovation stimulus by national governments (Bleviss et al., 2006) and development practitioners on biogas plants risk to slow down the development of poor rural communities.

3. Way Forward

Although there exists a variety of risks that hinder developing countries progress potential, biogas projects have shown a large effect on the living conditions of the rural poor. Among the many implications the important role of biogas in cooking and lighting activities represent a drastic change in the quality of life of isolated rural communities, allowing them to spend more time in productive activities (IFAD, 2006) or to benefit from improved services provided to the rural community as a whole.

In order to be able to capitalise the benefits from biogas projects, poor rural communities need to be able to access the carbon market with competitive offers. In this respect, we argue that further reforms in the CDM, that give additional incentives to develop biogas small scale projects, may lead to real changes in promoting sustainable development among rural vulnerable populations (Lloyd, 2009).

References:

J.-F.K. Akinbami, M.O. Ilori, T.O. Oyebisi, I.O. Akinwumi and O. Adeoti, Biogas energy use in Nigeria: current status, future prospects and policy implications, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 5, Elsevier, 2001.

D. Bleviss, E. Hoyt, D. Marsh, S. Dubardzic, Financing Barriers for Clean Energy Investments in Latin America and the Caribbean, The Inter-American Development Bank, 2006.

T. Fischer and A. Krieg, Agricultural Biogas Plants - Worldwide, International Congress, Renewable Energy Sources in the Verge of XXI Century, Warschau, 10-11 December, 2001.

M.I. Howells, T. Alfstad, D.G. Victor, G. Goldstein and U. Remme, A model of household energy services in a low-income rural African Village, Energy Policy 33, Elsevier, 2005.

International Institute for Sutainable Development, Seeing the light, Adapting to climate change with decentralized renewable energy in developing countries, IISD, 2004.

B. Lloyd and S. Subbarao, Development challenges under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – Can renewable energy initiatives be put in place before peak oil?, Energy Policy 37, Elsevier, 2009.

J. Yapp and Adrianus Rijk, CDM Potential for the Commercialization of the Integrated Biogas System, UNAPCAEM, 2005.

Selected Web resources:

IFAD, Photo, Audio and Video Gallery, 2006:

http://www.ifad.org/\media\video\index.htm