HAVANA, Apr 26 (IPS) – Simply to acquire an excellent fertilizer it was value constructing a biodigester, says Cuban farmer Alexis García, who proudly reveals the greens in his household’s backyard, in addition to the wide range of fruit timber which have benefited from biol, the top product of biogas expertise.
García and his spouse Iris Mejías organically develop all of the agricultural merchandise that make them self-sufficient, on the land round their dwelling within the semi-urban neighborhood of Sierra Maestra, within the municipality of Boyeros on the south aspect of Havana.
“I used to make use of a bit urea, however due to the financial state of affairs it has turn out to be very troublesome 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, instructed 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 power and the necessity to course of manure prompted the set up of the geomembrane biodigester, which as of December 2023 offers about 4 cubic meters of biogas per day.
This is without doubt one of the three sorts of biodigesters most used at a small and medium scale in Cuba, along with the cellular kind, often known as the Indian mannequin, and the fastened 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 begin constructing one. Along with the assist of our sons Alexis and Alexei, we had the backing and recommendation of José Antonio Guardado,” coordinator of the Biogas Customers Motion (MUB), stated García.
Based in 1983, the MUB brings collectively some 3,000 farmers who use this expertise on this Caribbean island nation of 11 million folks.
Biogas alternatives
Mejías, 59, stated that “with biogas you lose the concern of not having sufficient gas for cooking. It offers safety.”
Meiías, a lecturers at a preschool for the younger kids of working moms, says that when the financial disaster turned extra extreme within the Nineties, she cooked with firewood, charcoal, kerosene and even coconut shells to arrange her household’s every day meals.
“If you happen to cook dinner with electrical tools, you depend upon the ability provide, or when you have a fuel cylinder (liquefied petroleum fuel), you are worried that it’s going to run out and you will not have a spare. In each instances the biodigester saves cash,” she stated.
Mejías stated it’s simpler to cook dinner meals for home animals and warmth water “with out smut or smoke that makes it needed to scrub your hair daily or makes it troublesome to deal with your palms.”
Research present that methane is a potent greenhouse fuel, with a warming energy 80 instances larger 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 answer to keep away from water and soil contamination.
Due to this fact, its extraction and use as power, particularly in rural and semi-urban environments, is usually a answer to cut back electrical energy consumption and assist fight local weather change.
In response to García, the island might obtain larger power advantages if there have been clear incentives for the set up of biodigesters.
Though the acute home financial disaster has had a really detrimental influence 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 actual fact, our biodigester is fed from close by amenities the place it’s piled up they usually give it to us without cost,” he stated.
Different incentives
Cuba has a biogas manufacturing potential of 615,595 cubic meters per 12 months from agricultural and industrial manufacturing, based on the Bioenergy Atlas 2022.
That quantity represents 189,227 tons of oil equal per 12 months or 710,095 megawatt hours (MWh) per 12 months. Of the whole, 63 p.c comes from agricultural manufacturing, he stated.
In García’s opinion, Cuba’s rural surroundings “is in a greater place to realize the specified power independence. However financial amenities could be needed, equivalent to loans for the development of biodigesters, bonuses for folks to supply that power and entry to purchase lamps, pots and even fridges that use biogas.”
Of Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, about 23 p.c, some 2.3 million folks, dwell in rural areas, based on official statistics.
Alternatively, it’s estimated that there are some 5,000 biodigesters on the island, though conservative estimates by specialists take into account it attainable to broaden the community to twenty,000 household models.
Consultants argue that the direct use of biogas is extra environment friendly than remodeling it into electrical energy.
A big share of Cuba’s 4 million households use electrical energy as the principle power supply for cooking and heating water for bathing, which represents about 40 p.c of consumption.
Cuba is a rustic extremely depending on gas imports.
Over the last 5 years, in parallel to the deterioration of the home financial state of affairs, the decline of the principle sources of international forex and the strengthening of the U.S. embargo, the authorities have confronted growing difficulties in assembly the demand for gas.
About 95 p.c of Cuba’s electrical energy technology depends on fossil fuels. The federal government goals to extend clear sources from the present 5 p.c to round 30 p.c of electrical energy technology by 2030.
“Think about what it could imply if not all, at the very least a lot 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 power, could be very constructive,” stated García.
In recent times, the worldwide Biomas-Cuba mission (2009-2022) centered on serving to to grasp the significance of renewable power sources in rural environments, the position of on-farm biodigesters and waste therapy programs in swine amenities.
The initiative, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development 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 Energy and Mines of 2021 stipulated that every of Cuba’s 168 municipalities will need to have a biogas improvement 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 Surroundings (Cubasolar), along with the MUB, encourages coaching workshops and the recommendation of specialists.
Transferring in direction of power independence
One of many aspirations of the García-Mejías household is to realize power sustainability for his or her dwelling and agricultural manufacturing.
“We foresee the development of a second biodigester, however this one could have a cellular dome, which ought to present two cubic meters of biogas per day, however way more effectively, and with a better stress. With a better quantity we are able to profit some neighbors,” García stated.
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 need to arrange an indication space in the home to indicate the benefits of renewable energies and show how every little thing we do is completed utilizing these power sources,” stated the previous professor.
“We’d like a larger tradition and consciousness about renewable energies. There’s resistance amongst some locations and other people. Alternatively, there are the excessive costs which don’t foment the speedy growth of applied sciences and tools,” García stated when IPS requested him in his dwelling concerning the obstacles to growing the family use of renewables.
“Individuals hear concerning the biodigester and suppose it is troublesome. It takes a bit work, however then the advantages are many. There’s a lack of understanding 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 method,” he added.
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