Biogas as an alternative energy source and a waste management strategy in Northern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The consumption of fuel wood and charcoal in Ethiopia continues to increase as there is limited or no access to modern energy sources in the majority of rural areas, and most households cannot afford, even if they have access to, modern energy sources. This has resulted in environmental degradations in various forms. Harnessing biogas energy at household level can be a sustainable energy option for low income households. Based on primary data collected using a household survey and the use of propensity score matching model, this study analyses the contribution of biogas energy to reduction in firewood and charcoal consumption of households and its role in the management of cattle dung and human excreta in Ofla district, Ethiopia. The empirical findings show that the fuel wood and charcoal consumptions of biogas adopter households were on average reduced by 143.55 kg hh⁻¹ month⁻¹ (45% reduction) and 16 kg hh⁻¹ month⁻¹ (50.9% reduction) respectively compared to their non-adopter counterparts. Each biogas adopter household utilises about 2.1 kg day⁻¹, 7.2 kg day⁻¹ and 20 kg day⁻¹ of wet faeces, urine and cattle dung respectively via anaerobic digestion which would otherwise have been unsafely discharged into the local environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Biogas
• fuel wood
• cattle dung
• human excreta
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the African Union Commission (AUC) for funding this study under the joint University of Ibadan and Pan African University training project. The authors also extend their appreciation to those who took part in the household survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. SNV is the Netherlands Development Organization that works on domestic biogas energy promotion in Africa and Asia.

2. Wood fuel refers to firewood and charcoal.

3. ETB is Ethiopian Birr, currency of Ethiopia (US$1 = 20.5 ETB June 2015 exchange rate)

4. An assumption was made that all members of the household always use toilet to discharge their faeces and urine for calculation purpose in which it may not always hold true as there might sometimes be a possibility to discharge elsewhere out of the toilet linked to the digester.

Additional information

Funding

African Union Commission (AUC) for funding this study under the joint University of Ibadan and Pan African University training project.