HAVANA, Apr 26 (IPS) – Simply to acquire fertilizer it was value constructing a biodigester, says Cuban farmer Alexis García, who proudly exhibits the greens in his household’s backyard, in addition to the wide range of fruit timber which have benefited from biol, the tip product of biogas know-how.
García and his spouse Iris Mejías organically develop all of the agricultural merchandise that make them self-sufficient, on the land round their house within the semi-urban neighborhood of Sierra Maestra, within the municipality of Boyeros on the south facet of Havana.
“I used to make use of slightly urea, however due to the financial scenario it has develop into very troublesome to import this and different fertilizers. The bioproducts are a possibility to make up for that scarcity and, in some circumstances, perform as pesticides,” García, a 62-year-old retired college professor who’s now devoted to his crops, informed IPS.
Biol is the liquid effluent with a sure diploma of stabilization that comes out of the biodigester, as soon as the method of anaerobic digestion of natural matter, which incorporates animal manure, crop waste and/or liquid waste, has been accomplished. It’s wealthy in vitamins for crops and for restoring soil by way of fertigation.
García identified that the challenges of acquiring vitality and the necessity to course of manure prompted the set up of the geomembrane biodigester, which as of December 2023 gives about 4 cubic meters of biogas per day.
This is without doubt one of the three kinds of biodigesters most used at a small and medium scale in Cuba, along with the cell kind, also referred to as the Indian mannequin, and the fastened dome or Chinese language biodigester.
“I had learn slightly about it and wished to have a biodigester. With some financial savings we determined to begin constructing one. Along with the help of our sons Alexis and Alexei, we had the backing and recommendation of José Antonio Guardado,” coordinator of the Biogas Customers Motion (MUB), mentioned García.
Based in 1983, the MUB brings collectively some 3,000 farmers who use this know-how on this Caribbean island nation of 11 million individuals.
Biogas alternatives
Mejías, 59, mentioned that “with biogas you lose the worry of not having sufficient gas for cooking. It gives safety.”
Meiías, a academics at a preschool for the younger kids of working moms, says that when the financial disaster turned extra extreme within the Nineties, she cooked with firewood, charcoal, kerosene and even coconut shells to arrange her household’s each day meals.
“For those who prepare dinner with electrical tools, you rely upon the facility provide, or if in case you have a gasoline cylinder (liquefied petroleum gasoline), you are concerned that it’s going to run out and you will not have a spare. In each circumstances the biodigester saves cash,” she mentioned.
Mejías mentioned it’s simpler to prepare dinner meals for home animals and warmth water “with out smut or smoke that makes it crucial to clean your hair every single day or makes it troublesome to care for your palms.”
Research present that methane is a potent greenhouse gasoline, with a warming energy 80 instances better than that of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Correct administration of the organic methane ensuing from the decomposition of agricultural residues and manure can generate worth and be an economical answer to keep away from water and soil contamination.
Subsequently, its extraction and use as vitality, particularly in rural and semi-urban environments, could be a answer to cut back electrical energy consumption and assist fight local weather change.
In response to García, the island may obtain better vitality advantages if there have been clear incentives for the set up of biodigesters.
Though the acute home financial disaster has had a really destructive influence on the nationwide swine and cattle herd, “many dairies and pig farms have no idea what to do with the each day output of manure. Actually, our biodigester is fed from close by services the place it’s piled up and so they give it to us without spending a dime,” he mentioned.
Different incentives
Cuba has a biogas manufacturing potential of 615,595 cubic meters per 12 months from agricultural and industrial manufacturing, in accordance with the Bioenergy Atlas 2022.
That quantity represents 189,227 tons of oil equal per 12 months or 710,095 megawatt hours (MWh) per 12 months. Of the entire, 63 p.c comes from agricultural manufacturing, he mentioned.
In García’s opinion, Cuba’s rural atmosphere “is in a greater place to attain the specified vitality independence. However financial services could be crucial, corresponding to loans for the development of biodigesters, bonuses for individuals to provide that vitality and entry to purchase lamps, pots and even fridges that use biogas.”
Of Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, about 23 p.c, some 2.3 million individuals, dwell in rural areas, in accordance with official statistics.
However, it’s estimated that there are some 5,000 biodigesters on the island, though conservative estimates by specialists take into account it attainable to broaden the community to twenty,000 household models.
Consultants argue that the direct use of biogas is extra environment friendly than remodeling it into electrical energy.
A big proportion of Cuba’s 4 million households use electrical energy as the principle vitality supply for cooking and heating water for bathing, which represents about 40 p.c of consumption.
Cuba is a rustic extremely depending on gas imports.
Over the last 5 years, in parallel to the deterioration of the home financial scenario, the decline of the principle sources of international foreign money and the strengthening of the U.S. embargo, the authorities have confronted growing difficulties in assembly the demand for gas.
About 95 p.c of Cuba’s electrical energy era depends on fossil fuels. The federal government goals to extend clear sources from the present 5 p.c to round 30 p.c of electrical energy era by 2030.
“Think about what it might imply if not all, at the least many of the homes within the Cuban countryside had a biodigester or photo voltaic panels. Any technique that encourages independence from the nationwide energy grid, or that gives vitality, could be very optimistic,” mentioned García.
Lately, the worldwide Biomas-Cuba challenge (2009-2022) targeted on serving to to grasp the significance of renewable vitality sources in rural environments, the function of on-farm biodigesters and waste remedy techniques in swine services.
The initiative, financed by the Swiss Company for Growth and Cooperation (Cosude), was coordinated by the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station, a analysis middle connected to the College of the western province of Matanzas, and concerned associated establishments in a number of of the nation’s 15 provinces.
Ministerial Order 395 of the Ministry of Vitality and Mines of 2021 stipulated that every of Cuba’s 168 municipalities will need to have a biogas growth program and technique, and coordinate its administration and implementation with their respective provinces.
As well as, the non-governmental Cuban Society for the Promotion of Renewable Vitality Sources and Respect for the Atmosphere (Cubasolar), along with the MUB, encourages coaching workshops and the recommendation of specialists.
Shifting in the direction of vitality independence
One of many aspirations of the García-Mejías household is to attain vitality sustainability for his or her house and agricultural manufacturing.
“We foresee the development of a second biodigester, however this one can have a cell dome, which ought to present two cubic meters of biogas per day, however rather more effectively, and with a better strain. With a better quantity we are able to profit some neighbors,” García mentioned.
On the roof of their home, six 720-watt photo voltaic panels backed up by recovered batteries give them autonomy of roughly three hours of electrical energy within the occasion of an influence failure.
“We plan to put in a wind turbine, in addition to a photo voltaic heater made from plastic pipes. We wish to arrange an illustration space in the home to indicate the benefits of renewable energies and display how every little thing we do is completed utilizing these vitality sources,” mentioned the previous professor.
“We want a better tradition and consciousness about renewable energies. There may be resistance amongst some locations and folks. However, there are the excessive costs which don’t foment the fast growth of applied sciences and tools,” García mentioned when IPS requested him in his house concerning the obstacles to growing the family use of renewables.
“Individuals hear concerning the biodigester and assume it is troublesome. It takes slightly work, however then the advantages are many. There’s a lack of know-how within the media. Individuals come to us in search of assist in constructing biodigesters. We additionally obtain college students, which opens up a possibility for the brand new generations to develop up with the tradition of utilizing nature in a sustainable approach,” he added.
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