(seems a tad bit cleaner and more sustainable than oh, say, deepwater drilling – promoted by eli_beckerman)
Methane (CH4) is a much more effective greenhouse gas than CO2. Methane is also fuel, natural gas. Methane can be made from animal and human dung as well as other kinds of waste.
In Nepal, it is known as Gobar Gas:
“Gobar” is the Nepali word for cow dung. The “Gas” refers to biogas derived from the natural decay of dung, other waste products, and any biomass. In Nepal, villagers use buffalo, cow, human, and other waste products for biogas production. Pig and chicken dung are used in some places, as are raw kitchen wastes, including rotted vegetation….
The Nepalese government built nearly 200 small biogas plants in 1975/6, but decentralized methane digestion truly took off in 1992 when the Dutch group, SNV, launched a large program, including subsidy mechanisms and microfinance schemes, which led to the installation of approximately 204,000 units to date.
Michael Yon wonders if this could also work in Afghanistan.
The biogas is 50-70% methane by volume, similar to natural gas, and a convenient source of clean energy. The gas is easily collected and stored for lighting, cooking and other household uses. After bacteria digest the dung, the by-product is a rich organic fertilizer, sometimes called slurry, or bioslurry. That fertilizer is more effective than raw dung, with important benefits for hands-on farmers. For instance, it doesn’t smell bad, and almost all the pathogens and weed seeds have been destroyed. There is no downside. No waste. No poisonous residues or batteries. Few moving parts. Gobar Gas is an astonishingly elegant tap into “the circle of life” which environmentalists, economists, development people and humanitarians can all admire….
There are even portable methane digesters available.
Many sorts of digesters have been developed, including plastic bag and prefab fiberglass versions. The basics are the same: Waste in, gas and slurry out. Gas is collected from the vertical pipe at the top of the ‘collection dome.’….
Paula Kahumbu has a photo essay on a Kenyan model for nomadic herders.
On the larger than household or small farm scale, the Deepwater Horizon well is not only gushing oil but methane too into the Gulf of Mexico. Some scientists are taking advantage of this uncontrolled experiment in regional geoengineering to study the oceans, atmosphere, and ecology of the Gulf bioregion.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sci…
Oceanographer John Kessler of Texas A&M University, College Station, and his colleagues have been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation for a research cruise on the R/V Cape Hatteras, to measure concentrations of methane gas. Methane makes up about 40% by mass of what’s spewing out of the well, according to measurements by BP.
The concentration measurements will help estimate the extent of the wasted oil from the blow out and test the hypothesis that the release of underwater methane, clathrates, has been instrumental in previous rapid climate changes. Among the questions that will be explored are how much methane remains in the ocean, where it depletes oxygen, and how much escapes to the atmosphere, where it is a greenhouse gas.
hat tip treehugger.com
Towards Zero Emissions: The Methane Cycle
Methane Cycle: Climate Change
cross posted to dailykos.com, eurotrib.com, and globalswadeshi.net
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