The cattle which are generally used for transportation and farming are now found to be a greatest asset because of their dung which is potentially a new break through to supply the future energy demands of the world.
This dung mixed with straw has been used as an alternative to fire wood in many rural areas where collecting fire wood has led to deforestation. However, this fuel made from dung cakes is highly inefficient and also burns with a lot of smoke which in turn leads to several health hazards.
Why we are asking this now
The advancements in technology has enabled us to find a way to overcome most of the dis-advantages of using dung for fuel and the technology has reached its stage in advancement where it can be successfully implemented in the modern urban society.
Is it really that serious?
Work as per its definition is something which rewards a person in currency, hence there can be two classes of people evident the working class and the nonworking class. Several classes of people such as students, retired persons, dependents, beggars etc. are grouped as nonworkers in the present society and the same applies to the collection of cow dung. Hence, cow dung can be collected as a hobby and then refined into usable energy source.
What others are saying
BSP (bio-gas support program) bio gas plant is said to prohibit the entry of about 4.6 tonnes of green house gases into the atmosphere every year. This is a model bio-gas project developed in rural Nepal. This bio-gas plant is predicted to not only save the CO2 emission by a huge percentage, its byproduct, i.e., the waste from the digestor can be used as compost and it is also safe as it does not contribute anything toward the green-house effect.
The developments
Booming with energy
Cow dung energy is a booming renewable energy sector. It also has a whopping annual growth of 25-30%. The electrical energy produced from cow dung is slowly becoming an integral part of the gigantic global energy market. This sector received an investment of around $100bn in the year 2006. The BSP project developed in Nepal has created a very comfortable financial situation for the Nepalese and it has also proved to be beneficial for both the industrial world as well as the atmosphere.
This model project recently won several national and international accolades including the prestigious Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy and the project is also being incorporated into several Asian and African nations. And if that was not enough, the researchers are also developing a data center completely powered by energy generated from cow dung. We may soon be expecting computers powered by cow dung.
The main hurdles
As with every other technology in the modern world the bio-gas energy is also facing several hurdles. It is extremely difficulty to promote this technology in the modern urban society because of lack of open space in order to nurture the cattle. Also there are large and diverse options available in the urban society which are much better and far more efficient compared to bio gas for day-to-day use as the implementation of bio gas plants in urban areas is very expensive.
The methane digestors do not essentially require cow dung to be processed into methane any vegetation grass or weeds can be easily processed into methane using the same digestor used for processing cow dung and the byproduct can be easily used as fertilizer to grow food.
Methane is a gas which does not burn as efficiently as the currently available fuels. The main advantage of using bio-gas as an alternate source for energy is that it decentralizes the energy sources as each house can have its own localized bio-gas module and become self-sufficient in all its energy needs and also rendering freedom from fossil fuels.
What can be done?
The governments of all the developed countries must look forward to take serious steps toward promoting the energy campaign by building cow farms outside every city so that even the urban community may also enjoy the fruits of a better fuel for the community, the world and and also mother earth.
