Mitigation

7
Dec

Biogas energy for schools will make a very big difference in wood use!

A biogas plant is like an animal. You must feed it every day and feed it the right stuff in the right amount. Just like an animal if you don’t take good care of it, it will become ill and will yield poor results.

The results from our two year pilot project on renewable energy in Kenya, show that most boarding Schools in Kenya consume between 30-100 kgs of dry firewood per day, this translates to between 4.8-16 tonnes of wood per year per school. On a country wide basis, the use of firewood as a sole source of energy has negative and dire consequences for the environment. In Kenya, there are 26 000 primary schools. Less than 20% of Kenya has access to electricity.

Giitune Primary School Firewood in the yard

Giitune School Firewood in the yard (Bonventure Secondary School, November 2009)

Within a week schools in Kenya that provide meals for students use between 150-500 kgs of firewood. This depends on the number of meals they cook and number of students. On this basis, it can be projected that in a year, a school consumes approximately 4800- 16000 kgs (4.8-16 tonnes) of dry firewood.

Cooking in an open stove

In a district like Laikipia (an ASAL) there are 42 secondary schools, majority of which cook for the students. The daily and cumulative use of firewood on the environment is drastic and can not be over-emphasized. There is an urgent need for alternatives to be sought. The above statistics are based on schools that use fuel efficient stoves, in the case where the schools are not using energy saving stoves, the use of firewood is probably higher with a high economic and environmental cost.

Between 2007 and 2009 the project has developed the concept on Biogas as a renewable energy intervention with direct and immediate impact. Five schools have developed the biogas systems which are at different stages of completion. At the same time, biogas technicians trained on the technology have been able to privately build household systems and are now able to use the skill to earn a living. One technician has been able to build 5 biogas units, while the others have been offered jobs by organizations dealing with biogas systems even to work as far as in Sudan.