Toilet-linked Biogas Plants: Generating energy through waste – India
Open defecation is still a significant problem in India. The 2011 Indian census stated that 67 per cent of the rural population still openly defecate. The impacts of this practice are far reaching; both in terms of increasing the spread of infectious diseases and effects on the environment. Excreta releases methane gas into the air – a gas that is 21 times more harmful to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.
Compounding the issue of environmental damage through open defecation are the carbon gases released into the air through the use of traditional stoves and fuels for cooking. Women usually spend hours sourcing firewood to burn, while others buy kerosene or burn cow manure. All three have the same thing in common; they release plumes of greenhouse gases into the environment when they burn. This impacts both the environment and the health status of women and children who inhale most of the smoke from indoor fires. The smoke generated is often inhaled causing a plethora of disease burden. According to the WHO more than 1 million people die each year from COPD developed from inhaling indoor smoke (1).
“The answer comes in the form of an innovation – toilet-linked biogas plants underpinned by a carbon credit scheme.”
In West Bengal roughly 19,817Kg of methane gas is produced from waste alone each day.
Regional Information and Context
The impact of global warming on India is an undeniable reality as evidenced by sweltering summers in Kolkata, devastating flooding in Mumbai and shortened winters in rural Bengal. Those worst affected tend to be rural dwellers living off the land. The challenge now is learning how to slow, or even reverse, the severe effects of climate change on vulnerable children and their families.