HAVANA, Apr 26 (IPS) – Simply to acquire a very good 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 bushes which have benefited from biol, the top 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 residence 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 a bit urea, however due to the financial scenario it has change into very tough to import this and different fertilizers. The bioproducts are a chance to make up for that scarcity and, in some instances, perform as pesticides,” García, a 62-year-old retired college professor who’s now devoted to his crops, advised 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 among the three varieties of biodigesters most used at a small and medium scale in Cuba, along with the cell kind, often known as the Indian mannequin, and the mounted dome or Chinese language biodigester.
“I had learn a bit about it and needed to have a biodigester. With some financial savings we determined to start out 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 folks.
Biogas alternatives
Mejías, 59, mentioned that “with biogas you lose the concern of not having sufficient gasoline for cooking. It gives safety.”
Meiías, a lecturers at a preschool for the younger kids of working moms, says that when the financial disaster grew to become extra extreme within the Nineties, she cooked with firewood, charcoal, kerosene and even coconut shells to organize her household’s every day meals.
“For those who prepare dinner with electrical gear, you depend upon the facility provide, or when you have a gasoline cylinder (liquefied petroleum gasoline), you are worried that it’ll run out and you will not have a spare. In each instances 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 day-after-day or makes it tough to handle your arms.”
Research present that methane is a potent greenhouse gasoline, with a warming energy 80 instances higher 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 resolution to keep away from water and soil contamination.
Due to this fact, its extraction and use as vitality, particularly in rural and semi-urban environments, is usually a resolution to cut back electrical energy consumption and assist fight local weather change.
Based on García, the island may obtain higher vitality advantages if there have been clear incentives for the set up of biodigesters.
Though the acute home financial disaster has had a really unfavourable impression on the nationwide swine and cattle herd, “many dairies and pig farms have no idea what to do with the every day output of manure. In reality, our biodigester is fed from close by services the place it’s piled up they usually give it to us without spending a dime,” he mentioned.
Different incentives
Cuba has a biogas manufacturing potential of 615,595 cubic meters per yr from agricultural and industrial manufacturing, in keeping with the Bioenergy Atlas 2022.
That quantity represents 189,227 tons of oil equal per yr or 710,095 megawatt hours (MWh) per yr. Of the full, 63 % comes from agricultural manufacturing, he mentioned.
In García’s opinion, Cuba’s rural setting “is in a greater place to attain the specified vitality independence. However financial services could be crucial, reminiscent of loans for the development of biodigesters, bonuses for folks to provide that vitality and entry to purchase lamps, pots and even fridges that use biogas.”
Of Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, about 23 %, some 2.3 million folks, reside in rural areas, in keeping with official statistics.
However, it’s estimated that there are some 5,000 biodigesters on the island, though conservative estimates by specialists think about it potential to develop the community to twenty,000 household items.
Specialists argue that the direct use of biogas is extra environment friendly than remodeling it into electrical energy.
A major share of Cuba’s 4 million households use electrical energy as the primary vitality supply for cooking and heating water for bathing, which represents about 40 % of consumption.
Cuba is a rustic extremely depending on gasoline imports.
Over the last 5 years, in parallel to the deterioration of the home financial scenario, the decline of the primary sources of overseas forex and the strengthening of the U.S. embargo, the authorities have confronted growing difficulties in assembly the demand for gasoline.
About 95 % of Cuba’s electrical energy technology depends on fossil fuels. The federal government goals to extend clear sources from the present 5 % to round 30 % of electrical energy technology by 2030.
“Think about what it might imply if not all, no less than 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 constructive,” mentioned García.
In recent times, the worldwide Biomas-Cuba challenge (2009-2022) centered on serving to to grasp the significance of renewable vitality sources in rural environments, the position of on-farm biodigesters and waste remedy techniques in swine services.
The initiative, financed by the Swiss Company for Improvement and Cooperation (Cosude), was coordinated by the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station, a analysis heart hooked up 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 should 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 residence and agricultural manufacturing.
“We foresee the development of a second biodigester, however this one may have a cell dome, which ought to present two cubic meters of biogas per day, however way more effectively, and with the next strain. With the next quantity we will 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 manufactured from plastic pipes. We wish to arrange an indication space in the home to indicate the benefits of renewable energies and exhibit how every thing we do is finished utilizing these vitality sources,” mentioned the previous professor.
“We’d like a higher tradition and consciousness about renewable energies. There’s resistance amongst some locations and folks. However, there are the excessive costs which don’t foment the speedy growth of applied sciences and gear,” García mentioned when IPS requested him in his residence in regards to the obstacles to growing the family use of renewables.
“Individuals hear in regards to the biodigester and suppose it is tough. It takes a bit work, however then the advantages are many. There’s a lack of expertise within the media. Individuals come to us in search of assist in constructing biodigesters. We additionally obtain college students, which opens up a chance for the brand new generations to develop up with the tradition of utilizing nature in a sustainable approach,” he added.
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