Sustainability Paying for Itself: International Biogas and UK Home-Grown Energy

by Martin Wright

In a small farm on the hills above Nairobi, a slender woman in a flower-patterned headscarf is gently, politely shattering myths. Standing among the fruit trees on her shamba (smallholding), Mary Waringa Nguku dispels two of the most common clichés trotted out about the developing world. First, that people in Africa and elsewhere are too busy worrying about day-to-day life to share the West’s obsession with forest loss or climate change. “We cannot trust the weather any more”, she tells me. “It doesn’t rain like it used to, and the rivers are drying out. We do not always have the water we need…The forests are less, so we are going short of wood and it is more expensive. That is why, when I saw the biogas at my brother’s farm, and he told me how much money he was saving, I really wanted to give it a try.”

That last remark gives the lie to the second myth: that sustainable solutions always cost more than unsustainable ones. Mary is among over 200 customers of Skylink Innovators, a local Kenyan company which is installing biogas energy plants in the nation’s schools and even two of its prisons. The plants use a mixture of cow dung and human waste to produce cooking fuel via a process of anaerobic digestion (AD). It’s a well-established technology which tackles several problems at once: it provides clean fuel in place of smoky firewood for cooking; it helps to reduce pressure on dwindling forests and cuts out the greenhouse emissions from burning wood; and it saves people money. Once the biogas plant is in place, there’s no need for firewood. Many farmers save at least as much again on chemical fertiliser, too, as the nutrient-rich residue from the digester does the job just as well. Most plants pay for themselves in a couple of years. All of which makes it a sound business prospect for the likes of Skylink’s founder, Samwel Kinoti. “My father was a pioneer of biogas on his farm, so I grew up with it. I saw the beauty of it, and I knew others would, too.”

It’s this combination of entrepreneurship and environmental good sense which has won Skylink one of the 2010 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, presented by David Attenborough at a ceremony in London. The Ashden Awards celebrate local sustainable energy success stories in both developing countries and the UK. In doing so, they echo and amplify Mary Waringa’s mythbusting, turning the pursuit of sustainability from something worthy into pure common sense.


The beauty of biogas is appreciated in Vietnam too – on an impressive scale. Here, Dutch development agency SNV is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on a scheme to install 168,000 biogas digesters by 2012. Based on a hugely successful SNV program in Nepal, the project works with hundreds of masons across the country, training them to become self-employed biogas engineers. Anyone who’s eaten in a Vietnamese restaurant will know that pork plays a prime part in the country’s cuisine. It’s also at the heart of its biogas success: for thousands of pig farmers across the country, a biogas digester doesn’t just mean abundant cooking fuel in place of wood, coal or LPG. It’s also the perfect solution to the age-old problem of pig muck. Instead of (literally) shoveling the shit on an almost daily basis – which is just as unpleasant a task as it sounds – they simply sluice it down a hole in the pigsty and into the digester, where, by the miracle that is AD, it’s transformed into cooking gas.

“It’s so much quicker to cook meals now”, farmer Nguyen Van Vach told me, “and you don’t get smoke in your eyes the whole time… It’s a lot less smelly indoors and out – so I’m more popular with my neighbors!” As in Kenya, multiple benefits abound. “Before, we used to have to get rid of all the slurry, so we put it in the fishpond,” Nguyen explains. “But sometimes there was too much, the water turned black and the fish died. There’s no such problem with the purified residue from the biogas. On the contrary, it actually boosts production. Now the water stays clear and we’re selling around one-third more fish.”

A modest subsidy has helped the program take off, but increasingly the trained masons are simply selling directly to householders, who are eager to reap the benefits of biogas and unwilling to join the program’s waiting list: proof that, with the right technology, sustainability can pay for itself. Further evidence for that comes from Delhi, where solar start-up d.light has scored dramatic successes with its simple solar lanterns – over 220,000 sold worldwide in little over two years, almost all without any subsidy. Such rapid growth from a standing start belies another common charge leveled at sustainable energy: that it will struggle to reach scale. In Nicaragua, Ashden-winner TECNOSOL has sold everything from solar home systems, water heaters and pumps to solar fridges (vital for storing vaccines in areas without mains electricity), benefiting over a quarter of a million people. And in the far south of Brazil, the CRELUZ power co-operative has harnessed local rivers to provide clean, affordable electricity to over 80,000 of its members and their families.

In Uganda, by contrast, green energy is in its infancy. But it’s poised to grow fast, thanks to the efforts of another of this year’s Ashden winners, the Rural Energy Foundation. It’s aiming to kickstart a robust commercial market for solar power across the large swathes of countryside beyond the reach of reliable mains electricity. This means training local shopkeepers as expert solar vendors, helping them access and, in some cases, offer credit, and generally raising awareness of solar’s potential. As well as using familiar techniques like radio and newspaper ads, REF staff also adopt a more direct approach: standing on a corner in a busy marketplace with a portable power system, demonstrating solar’s potential to light a lamp, recharge a mobile – or even power a haircut or a shave.

In a ‘developed’ country such as the UK, of course, an electric shave is hardly novel. But as concerns over energy security and a looming ‘generation gap’ kick in, so the search for home-grown power is taking on a new urgency. It’s a quest taken to heart by the fiercely independent islanders on Eigg, off the west coast of Scotland. Having bought out a feudal landowner back in 1997, they’ve taken steps to green every aspect of island life – culminating in the installation of their own renewable grid. Powered by a 100kW hydro turbine, a small wind farm and a solar PV array, it meets 90% of the island’s electricity needs. Home-grown energy is a winning theme in Suffolk, too, where the council is helping local schools switch from oil- to wood-fired boilers – with fuel sourced from the county’s own woodlands. It’s knocked a quarter off the schools’ heating budgets – and cut their carbon emissions by 90%. Two other schools – Okehampton College in Devon and St Columb Minor in Cornwall – won Ashden Awards for making dramatic savings in energy use and carbon emissions while inspiring the wider community to take action, too. Meanwhile, over in Northern Ireland, a local family plumbing and heating business, Willis Energy Systems, has been rewarded for its ‘Solasyphon’: a device which allows householders to retrofit a solar water heater, without going to the hassle and expense of installing a big new water tank.

Saving money as well as carbon is key to the success of Northwards Housing, which has given ‘whole house’ energy efficiency makeovers to 70% of north Manchester’s housing stock. “The house used to be an absolute nightmare, it was so cold”, recalls tenant Susan Savill. ”I even considered renting privately, but I’m glad I didn’t now, as it’s so good. Now we can just have the heating on for a couple of hours instead of all day long.” And, echoing Mary Waringa, she adds: “It’s definitely reduced the bills.”


Martin Wright is Editor in Chief, Green Futures.

This piece originally appeared in Green Futures. Green Futures is published by Forum for the Future, one of the leading magazines on environmental solutions and sustainable futures. Its aim is to demonstrate that a sustainable future is both practical and desirable – and can be profitable, too.

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy is a Forum for the Future partner.

AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION (AWEA) NOTES WIND INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS OF 2009

AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION (AWEA)
NOTES WIND INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS OF 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Reflecting on a year that opened with high expectations for renewable energy policies from the new Obama Administration and was buffeted by financial and economic storms, AWEA today identified the wind industry’s top accomplishments and developments in 2009.

"Wind power is a symbol of hope in our economy and supports thousands of jobs, but U.S. wind turbine manufacturing is lagging at the very time that the global clean energy race is heating up," said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. "One of the most urgent measures that our government can enact is a national Renewable Electricity Standard, which will unleash in the U.S. a wave of manufacturing investment that will otherwise go overseas. Many companies are eager to enter or ramp up their activities in this sector, as this year’s highlights show, but all need to see a long-term commitment with hard targets to renewable energy in order to be able to invest."

The top accomplishments and developments include:

* American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 Funds a Lifeline: The ARRA included several provisions to spur development of wind and other renewable energy industries along with the Treasury Grant Program, which by year end had supplied over $1.5 billion in crucial capital. Since the early July announcement to implement the stimulus bill, at least 37 different wind projects, using large and small turbines, have been recipients of the grant program, powering the equivalent of 800,000 homes and providing a lifeline for the industry and sustaining wind power as a bright spot in the economy.

* … But Manufacturing Still Lags: Wind turbine manufacturing, however, has fallen behind 2008 levels in both announcements and in production activity. While this is bad news, the good news is that a solution is readily available: A strong national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) will create the market certainty that manufacturers need in order to invest, enabling the U.S. to become a wind turbine manufacturing powerhouse creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

* Strong Support for a National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES): An RES is included in the House version of climate legislation passed this spring and in pending Senate energy legislation. The wind industry, backed by popular support, continues to advocate for swift passage of a strong RES. A poll released by AWEA in May showed that over 75% of Americans, including 71% of independents and 62% of Republicans, support an RES requiring that 25% of the nation’s electricity be generated from renewable energy by 2025.

* COP15: AWEA sent a delegation to the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen this month. AWEA’s participation at the conference is another indication of America’s reengagement in the international climate change process and of the key role that wind power plays today in the transition to a clean energy economy.

* National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Study Shows Conventional Power Costs Plenty: The NAS calculated that fossil fuels cost the U.S. $120 billion a year, including $62 billion from coal plants, in damages to human health. The figures do not include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems, or effects of some air pollutants such as mercury. The NAS study is a reminder of the high hidden cost that energy-related pollution inflicts on our society and of the environmental and economic imperative of using renewable energy.

* Avoiding Carbon: The electricity produced by the entire fleet of wind turbines installed in the U.S. through 2009 will avoid emitting over 57 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, based on the conventional mix of fuels used for electricity generation. That is equivalent to taking over 9.5 million cars off the road.

* Improving Environmental Health: The electricity produced by the entire fleet of wind turbines installed in the U.S. through 2009 will, based on the conventional mix of fuels used for electricity generation, avoid annually:

o 200,000 additional metric tons of acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide which would otherwise have to be abated to achieve the national Acid Rain Program goals;
o 80,000 additional metric tons of smog-causing nitrous oxide which would otherwise have been emitted.

* Saving Water: The electricity from the entire fleet of turbines installed through 2009 will conserve over 20 billion gallons of water annually, which would otherwise be withdrawn for steam or cooling in conventional power plants. Wind power makes it possible to meet our energy needs without further polluting or diminishing valuable water resources.

* R&D Funding Up: President Obama signed an $80 million appropriation for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Program. The funding, which was part of the energy and water appropriations bill, is a $25 million increase from last year and $5 million above the President’s budget request. It also includes an additional $22.8 million in funding for wind-specific projects across the country. According to International Energy Agency numbers, the $80 million allocation is the highest funding level, adjusted for inflation, since 1981.

* 20% by 2030 Report Card: "B" AWEA issued its first annual progress report card on the roadmap as outlined in the DOE 2008 “20% Wind by 2030” Report. The U.S. received a solid “B” for its 2008 progress toward reaching 20% of electricity supply from wind energy by 2030, but could be “at the high-water mark” for wind without a strong and immediate national policy commitment to renewable energy. Prepared by an in-house team of experts, some of whom worked on the DOE report, the report card examines progress in four key areas--Technology Development, Manufacturing, Siting, and Transmission & Integration.

* States Continue to Pass Laws to Support Renewable Energy: Kansas became the 29th state to adopt a renewable electricity standard (while simultaneously announcing a major new Siemens turbine production facility), Rhode Island and Delaware moved forward with provisions to facilitate offshore wind projects, Wisconsin adopted statewide siting reform to facilitate approvals for wind projects--and, despite a very tough fiscal climate for state governments, states from Illinois to Texas to Washington moved forward with significant tax changes critical to the economics of wind projects in their states

* Green Power Superhighway White Paper and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Filings Move Transmission Agenda:Inadequate transmission capacity remains a significant barrier to renewable energy development in the U.S. Nearly 300,000 MW of wind capacity is held up in the pipeline due to transmission limitations. Underscoring that fact,AWEA and the Solar Energy Industries Association issued a white paper titled “Green Power Superhighways: Building a Path to America’s Clean Energy Future,” detailing current inadequacies of the U.S. electric transmission infrastructure and offering policy solutions to address them. AWEA has also filed with the FERC on the key issue of transmission cost allocation, calling on FERC to broadly spread costs of transmission to all beneficiaries.

* Progress on Siting: AWEA welcomed a U.S. government Memorandum of Understanding to improve coordination among nine federal agencies and minimize delays in the permit approval process on federal lands. Additionally, the wind industry continued cooperative research studies on bats and other species to ensure the best science is available for decision-making.

* Property Values Study:A study released in December by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that proximity to wind energy facilities does not have a pervasive or widespread adverse effect on the property values of nearby homes.

* Sound Panel Report: A multidisciplinary panel concluded that the sounds generated by wind turbines are not harmful to human health. Comprised of medical doctors, audiologists, and acoustical professionals from the U.S., Canada, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, and convened by AWEA and the Canadian Wind Energy Association, the panel undertook extensive review and analysis of the body of peer-reviewed literature on the topic.

* A Thousand Businesses Join AWEA: In another sign of the continued development and expansion of the wind industry, AWEA experienced significant growth in 2009. The association gained over 1,000 new business members—the largest increase ever for the association in a single year. Many of these new members are companies entering or seeking to enter the wind turbine supply chain.

* WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition is Nation’s Fastest Growing Show. Tradeshow Week this year named AWEA’s WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition the fastest-growing trade show in the country. WINDPOWER 2009, in Chicago, hosted over 1,200 exhibiting companies and 23,000 attendees, up from 770 exhibitors and 13,000 attendees in 2008.

* Momentum Towards First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Accelerates: The announcement of the Minerals Management Service guidelines for the siting of offshore renewable energy projects, the issuance of requests for proposals in Lakes Erie and Ontario and of power purchase agreements in the mid-Atlantic, the establishment by the U.S. Interior Department of a mid-Atlantic renewable energy office, and the participation of two Governors and record attendance at AWEA’s offshore workshop this fall are clear signs that offshore wind power is on its way to become a reality in the U.S. AWEA’s annual workshop will grow into a North American Offshore Wind Power Conference & Exposition as it moves next year to Atlantic City (http://www.offshorewindexpo.org/).

* Small Wind Systems for Homes and Businesses: The U.S. government expanded the critical federal Investment Tax Credit for small wind systems to provide an 8-year, uncapped 30% tax credit for small wind systems. AWEA expects to finalize a small turbine safety and performance standard by year’s end, and held its first Small & Community Wind Conference and Exposition to showcase these burgeoning sectors of the industry. The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency incorporated small wind systems into their popular Energy Star consumer certification program. This is the first time Energy Star has addressed electricity-generating technology.