Publications

The purpose of this Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) pilot project is to encourage the use of homestead biogas technology in Tentulia district, Bangladesh. The ISD provided the possibility to acquire a homestead biogas plant without any cash down-payment and to use cow dung and bioslurry as a reimbursement mechanism. Once the beneficiaries reimburse the plants, they can continue to sell slurry and their biogas plant will become an income generating asset. This is the first time in Bangladesh that homestead biogas plants are built with the express purpose of becoming regular income generating asset through the sale of bioslurry.

This initiative is made possible through a unique partnership with a private sector actor: Kazi and Kazi organic tea estate. It is purchasing the cow dung and slurry from the biogas plant owners, due to its large need for organic fertiliser.

The study also sheds new light on the broader motivations for acquiring biogas plants; in particular regarding the barriers to acquiring biogas plants and indicators to better determine potential biogas plant owners.

ISD hopes that by creating a nexus where private sector needs for bio-fertiliser is the driving force, it can create a synergistic relationship between relevant stakeholders in the area whereby organic agriculture, green energy and social development are all mutually reinforced. This project has facilitated the first two (with 3 more requested) homestead biogas plants for individual households in the area and created a brand new market for bio-slurry in the process.

Workshop report of the regional inception workshop 'learning by doing: capacity development approaches at the local level, which took place on 26-27 November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, and was organised by UNDP and SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation), with support from the UNDP Asia Regional Governance Programme (ARGP). The primary workshop objectives were 1) to share lessons learned on capacity development strategies and development efforts aimed at contributing to the MDGs at the sub-national/local level; and 2) identify critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to support sub-national/local capacities for reaching the MDGs.

This report is an outcome of the mission study conducted to assess the performance of high altitude biogas digester in Nepal and to analyse the potential for improvement and local replication.

Two experimental and demonstration biogas reactors were constructed at high altitudes; one at 2500m and one at 3000m. These two fixed-dome reactors included a cattle shed and greenhouse construction that were suppose to avoid heat loss on the upper side of the “standard BSP fixed-dome” reactor. The two reactors were successfully started up during the summer, but only the 2500m reactor maintained in operation and produced some gas during the winter. The construction and realisation cost of the masonry and concrete fixed-dome design was very high and some materials were flown in by helicopter.

The need for construction of more biogas reactors at these high altitudes was determined based on various factors in the field of energy and environmental conservation. High firewood consumption for domestic cooking purposes and heating continuously depletes forest reserves, whereas at these high altitudes regeneration of biomass for firewood is far below consumption needs. The mission looked at technical, social and financial implications. The report gives a review of the technicalities of the design realised and suggests some improvements for future high altitude biogas reactor designs. A remarkable finding was that biogas was still produced at temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius.

Incident regarding increase of mosquito after installation of biogas have been mentioned in the study carried out by IEIA in the year 2002. Since, major tropical disease arc spread by biting insects and malaria being considered as the major international public health problem and is directly associated
with mosquitoes. BSP-Nepal's attention in this incident was fully drawn to preserve the image that it had muscled to create in the past 13 years.

The first major cause of mosquito increase incident is directly related to the indoor air quality because before biogas, the households used to use firewood as a source of daily energy that used to produce smoke. The smoke worked as the insects repellent that drove off insects and mosquitoes from. The second cause is due to deviation in the dung and water ratio that is fed into the plant if the mixing proportion of dung and water is not maintained as specified, the slurry texture becomes thin and provides breeding ground for mosquitoes. To overcome this problem, BSP-Nepal has designed two types (Siphon and Flip) of low cost mosquito control devices. These
devices were tested at Lalbandhi of Sarlahi and Birtamod of Jhapa districts of Nepal and the results are presented in the report.

It is recommended that the most effective way is to get rid of mosquito before they appear by maintaining the clean surrounding and feeding the biogas plant with recommended quantity of dung and water. Not allowing standing water accumulated for more than two days.

This study presents an overview of lamps and stoves samples testing conducted by three institutes: Chengdu Energy Environment International Cooperation (CEEIC), Chengdu in line with Biogas Appliances Quality Inspection Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, People's Republic of China; Department of Renewable Energy Sources (DRES), College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, India; and Kiwa Gastec
Certification (GASTEC). Stoves samples were obtained from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Lesotho, Nepal, Rwanda and Vietnam and lamps samples from Cambodia, Ethiopia, India and Nepal.

Study findings for both lamps and stoves are provided for each country individually. The general findings of the report indicated that no stove qualified for quality certification under both Chinese and Indian specifications. Further, the stove samples from Bangladesh and Cambodia have only met the minimal thermal efficiency standards. As for the lamps samples, the one from Cambodia performed better at CEEIC and DRES, while the lamp from India showed better luminous efficiency at GASTEC.

The study also discusses the main problems encountered with the stoves and the lamps, where some of the stoves problems include low heat flow (Bangladesh) and no air-intake (Cambodia & Bangladesh). Lamp problems included improper design (Ethiopia), small mud head (Nepal), etc. Based on the study findings specific recommendations were designed and presented in the report. For stoves, the most critical issue was the need for standardization of parts. Lamps recommendations included the necessary increase of burning area, increase in heat flow to improve thermal efficiency, etc.