Biogas Plant for cooking and electricity production

Climate change has been a big problem to the current world. According to Rwanda Energy Group, the Rwandan government energy institution, 90% of Rwandans use  biomass as source of energy for cooking (https://www.reg.rw/what-we-do/biomass/#:~:text=In%20rural%20areas%2C%20the%20reliance,source%20of%20energy%20for%20cooking.). However, Rwanda is a small country with surface area of 26,338 Km squared and population of 14,290,748 making it among the most dense countries in Africa. Rwandan contains natural forests including Nyungwe that contribute positively in fighting against climate change by absorbing emitted carbon. However, the highest use of biomass in cooking has contributed in negative way of climate change as following (1) biomass has much of Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission in atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, that is warming the planet because of their heat-trapping characteristics (https://www.epa.gov/climate-re... changeresearch#:~:text=Greenhouse%20gases%20(GHGs)%2C%20including,wildfires%20and%20more%20destructive%20storms.); (2) deforestation that also increases the greenhouse gases especially carbon in atmosphere because forests play a crucial role in climate change, both as a sink and a source of carbon emissions. Forests are second only to oceans as the largest global stores of carbon, and tropical forests alone absorb up to 1.8 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere every year (https://forestsolutions.panda.org/approach/forests-and-climate#:~:text=Forests%20play%20a%20crucial%20role,from%20the%20atmosphere%20every%20year.). Both problems have contributed much on climate change that has started to show effects in Rwanda where rain seasons have much changed until the year 2023, we had flooding that have never happened in Rwanda history, rain is no longer friendly for cultivation, but it is very heavy to cause problems that is the first time in Rwanda (https://reliefweb.int/report/rwanda/rwanda-floods-and-landslides-operational-update-mdrrw022#:~:text=What%20happened%2C%20where%20and%20when,77%20injured%20and%205%20missing.). Weather has also changed where maximum temperature has increased too much to have level of hotness that had never happened in Rwanda. Actually, before the year of 2000, the temperature in Kigali was ranging from 15-25oC but now it can go to 38oC. Climate change is the biggest problem that affects much all sectors of life in the country. Climate change is a global concern and use of biomass in cooking especially in Rwanda play a big role

Secondly, 75% of Rwandans are farmers and it is their main source of their economy (https://www.visitrwanda.com/in) and they are small scale farmers. In addition to climate change that affects much their harvest, deforestation causes erosions of soil that is too much because Rwanda is mountain made country and a simple erosion can bring much soil to valleys in short period of time. There is also a problem of good fertilizers that is very expensive as they are imported from outside.

Finally, use of biomass for cooking especially firewoods has exposed to extra problems to users including increased respiratory diseases among kitchen workers exposed to smoke from firewoods, increased domestic workload, misused wastes that can be used as organic manure and access to expensive energy for cooking and domestic lighting. There is also limited access to  electricity in rural areas of Rwanda and most of them may need alternative source of electricity than waiting the supply from Rwanda energy group.Thus, use of biomass for cooking in Rwanda is source of problems ranging from climate change to health and economy 

Our solution is to introduce domestic biogas for cooking and lighting to farmers in Bugesera district of Rwanda.  

Biogas is a clean and renewable energy source that is produced through the process of anaerobic digestion. This process involves breaking down organic waste, such as cow dung and human stool, in the absence of oxygen to produce methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. These gases are then purified and used in a low-pressure system to generate heat for cooking, hot water, and small electrical generators.

A biogas plant has three major components that make the biogas production process possible:

·       A reception area: is where the raw materials (wastes) arrive and are prepared for anaerobic digestion 

·       A digester (or fermentation tank): is an air-tight, waterproof container with a mean of entry for the biomass. Here, you introduce the raw materials to be transformed into energy. Then, agitators shift the biomass periodically to free the gases and prevent the formation of layers. The digester also includes a pipe that enables the digestate to be removed after the fermentation is over.

·       A gas holder: is an air proof container, preferably made in steel, that collects the gas generated during fermentation. It’s provided with a gas outlet that permits the biogas to come out of the system and produce energy and heat.

The use of biogas will reduce the use of firewoods for cooking and therefore reduce greenhouse gases emission in atmosphere, reduce deforestation and therefore increase carbon adsorbed by forests in Rwanda and reduce erosion; Those are key answers on climate change that is a big challenge in world in general and in Rwanda in particular

According to UNDP, Biogas is considered to be an essential tool in the fight against climate change because it has the potential to replace fossil fuels, which are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Using biogas as an energy source can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and decrease the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Additionally, biogas can help reduce the amount of organic waste in landfills, generating greenhouse gases (https://www.undp.org/rwanda/bl... biogas#:~:text=Using%20biogas%20as%20an%20energy,in%20landfills%2C%20generating%20greenhouse%20gases.).

In addition to positive effect on climate change, the use of biogas has several benefits for rural communities. It reduces deforestation and soil erosion, which can lead to water pollution and the loss of biodiversity. It also increases agricultural productivity and food security, providing a source of income for rural households. Biogas can also reduce indoor pollution and related respiratory diseases. 

Biogas plant are also source of the best fertilizer. The wastes are digested with anaerobic digesters, produce renewable energy and the wastes went out with very highly concentration of NPK in a liquid fertilizer, being liquid is another added advantages on any fertilizer. NPK is the most efficient fertilizer worldwide and making it using biogas digesters is a new technology mostly used in some European countries such as Sweden, efficient as factory made NPK fertilizer as the concentration of NPK is high.

This solution will serve people of Bugesera district directly and other 30 district of Rwanda indirectly. Bugesera district is one of 30 districts of Rwanda with total population of around 466,666 people. It is among the top with more natural forests, and the most affected by climate change as most of its population are farmers and its weather has changed recently than other districts secondly to deforestation and how it is flat than other districts. The project will select farmers who has cows and pit toilets used for at least 3 years and make biogas for them. The biogas digesters will produce gas for cooking and electricity for lighting the house.

Bugesera district is one of flat districts of the country and among top practicing agriculture in the country. 95% of its population are farmers and 98.2% of them are small scale famers (cultivating on less than 2 Ha of land), their agriculture activities combine cultivation and elevation of mainly cows. Being small scale farmers means that the harvest is so small to feed their families and get extra to sell on the markets, this means that their work is only to feed them. However, if harvest is increased, they can feed themselves and get extra to sell on the market and get money. The main cause of small harvest is climate change that affected this district especially secondly to deforestation. Deforestation is a big problem because more than 95% of population use biomass for cooking and they cut down forests in order to get firewoods for use. As consequences, the temperature has increased to much up to 38 degree celsius in summer and rain seasons changed up to the level of that it is no longer favorable to agriculture, and there is high level of erosions. This has reduced the harvest from agriculture too much until the farmers are not able to get enough food for their families.

The best solution is to get biogas for cooking so that forests can grow enough, this will reduced the carbon in atmosphere and be solution to climate change, it will also prevent erosions to land and therefore agriculture harvest will increase dramatically.

Farmers of Bugesera also have limited access on food fertilizer because NPK is very expensive and they use only organic fertilizer that is not enough. This also affect their harvest negatively, our project will make sure they get the best fertilizer from biogas plants, that after producing the biogas for cooking the remaining wastes are the best fertilizer with enough quantity of NPK fertilizer in liquid form. 

Electricity coverage at Bugesera district is at 77.2% (https://www.reg.rw/what-we-do/...) this means that 22.8% families have no electricity. Produced biogas, after providing gas for cooking also produce energy for lighting the house helping also education of children. In addition, people of Bugesera will have access to clean kitchen, good health without smoke from firewood and reduced domestic workload.

This solution is a game changer tackling various problems faced by people of Bugesera.

Health Research and Services Solution (HRSS) has evolved from United Youth for Rwanda Development (UYRD) when were going to register nationally and had to change the name. HRSS is best placed to implement this project because:

Experience: since 2012, UYRD-HRSS has been working on biogas plant in order to solve the above mentioned problems. Under the fund of UNHABITAT, UYRD has implemented the similar project, at that time we were implementing the bigger biogas plant of 120 m3 in five high schools so that they stop using firewood for cooking. The five schools were pilot schools so that we construct the technology inside but also be used as learning centers for other schools and neighborhood who will, after learning the benefits of biogas, decide to implement in their respective schools or home respectively . The project was very successful because currently more hundreds of schools and thousands of households have implemented the biogas plant with their own budget. The pilot schools are still present and are still learning centers. The success of this project has made it be the award winner of Anzisha prize in 2014 (https://anzishaprize.org/fellows/nadege-iradukunda/ ). We got the prize as the best renewable energy project on the continent.

Link to beneficiaries: Our organization is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that is conducting its activities at community level and therefore always closer to communities. Our main activities are health related and agriculture takes a big percentage because we believe that food security is a key to better health. This has brought us implementing many agriculture activities to farmers especially Bugesera district. The example of those projects are aeroponic greenhouse systems implementation being funded by Grand Challenge Canada; with this project, we grouped farmers in cooperative of 100 farmers and we implemented for them the aeroponic system in order to fight against climate change effect on agriculture. We are working with 500 small scale farmers with this project. We have another project of providing improved seed and good fertilizers to farmers in Bugesera district that made us work with 1004 small scale farmers. During these projects implementation in Bugesera district, is when we had realized the need of a technology that would address the big challenge of climate change on agriculture in Bugesera district and would be good enough to reach as maximum farmers as possible. And with our research and previous experience is when we found biogas plant is the best solution.

Team leader: Finally, the other advantage is our team leader Dr. Uwizeyimana. He is the author of biogas plant and project leader since 2012 and he has done a lot of research on the field that has made him know more in the field. He has also studied a lot on the link between communities of Rwanda and use of biogas plant. His findings on conducted studies have made us improve the project and its administration has been strong enough to be successful and it will the same for this project.

This project is at growth level because as we said above we started it in 2012 in high schools and helping also neighborhood to get the biogas plants. The project has been successful until it started to get the prizes on Africa continent level (Anzisha prize in 2014). We have started with five high pilot schools and currently hundreds of schools and thousands of families are using biogas with learning from the pilot schools. We are not for profit and we estimate that around 2964 families and 103 high schools in the country are using the biogas plant secondly to our innovation since 2012. 

This is the reason why we consider our innovation at growth level because it has been tested and it is successful, and also passed pilot level where after piloting in five schools more other people and institutions adopted it. But also it has reached small number of beneficiaries compared to those in need, keeping in mind that Rwanda is a 13,246,394 people, and 75% of them may need biogas plant, the beneficiaries of this innovation is less than 0.1%; therefore it needs to grow more because reaching scale phase.

Those are the main reasons we consider it at growth level

We are looking for financial support from Solve. Since we have started this project, we only faced the challenge of financial support. Our organization is mainly depending on international donations that we succeeded to get funds from big donors such as UNHABITAT and Anzisha prize. However, even if these are big donors but they can not be enough to help us reach as big number as the one we expect because we need to reach at least 5% of Rwandans in need by 2025 and we are still at less than 1%. 

Otherwise, the solution is appreciated at all corners including innovation, technology, sustainability, scalability, cultural, technical, legal  and market. it is appreciated by communities, leaders, civil society and investors but the needed investment is high to reach so many beneficiaries and this is the main reason financial support has never been enough for us. 

We expect that Solve support through direct fund and link to big investors will help us to achieve more of our objectives than previous donors because they used to only fund us directly with restricted ending fund but have never linked us with big donors. 

Our solution is very innovative because it has the three fundamental elements of innovation: technology, address the bigger challenges affecting big number of people, easy to scale and it is sustainable.

Currently, the entire world is dealing with the problem of climate change that has affected all sectors of life. All countries especially those in low and middle income accuse developed countries that they are the main cause because they think only big industries and factories are the only enemies of the climate and main damages to ozone and therefore, main cause of climate change. However, what they do not know is that almost 100% of their people have much of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere  and when we add deforestation caused by again the house work of using firewoods and woods in daily activities, this make the higher level of greenhouse gas emission in the atmosphere; As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun's heat. This leads to global warming and climate change. 

This misunderstanding from low and middle income countries has made them never done any initiative on their own for contributing the climate change's causes. They are only working on mitigating problems caused by climate change like projects for irrigation because the agriculture has worsened due to more warmer weather than before; preventing erosion; expropriation of families living in dangerous area ect and adopting some developed world projects like promoting electrical source of transport.

Our project is going to use Rwanda's made mode of solution to climate change by reducing the greenhouse gas emission to the atmosphere by using domestic biogas plants for cooking. This will make all families turn their wastes into source of energy safe for atmosphere where they will stop using firewoods for cooking, instead use the biogas and therefore greenhouse gas emission from Rwanda will be turning to zero as we are percentage of families using biogas turn to 100%. Forests to absorb the carbon gas from other source will be increased that will make Rwanda contribute much more in reducing the greenhouse emission. As explained in previous pages, this project also benefits other sectors of life such as agriculture and health. 

Biogas plant is purely scientific and technological because as explained in previous pages, we use animal excrement especially cows and inputs, use anaerobic digester chamber to digest the wastes and get gas in which more than 75% of its content is methane gas. This, gas can be used for different purposes especially cooking and electricity. The final excrement used are the best source of the best organic fertilizer that is liquid and contain higher level of NPK. 

The market for this project is very high in Rwanda and other low and middle income countries especially in Africa and South America. In Rwanda only, about 95% of families needs this project and it is even higher in many similar countries 

Our main activity for this solution is to construct biogas plants in families starting by Bugesera district as explained above with purpose of reducing the use of firewoods for cooking and limit level of deforestation. Families whom will get biogas plant will use the biogas produced for cooking and lightening that will automatically stop the use of firewoods for cooking in targeted area (Bugesera district). The use of biogas for cooking and lightening will lead to reduction of greenhouse gas emission in the atmosphere, healthy kitchen, reduced workload for kitchen workers and improve the nature by growing forests/trees. After greenhouse gas emission is reduced, the issue of climate change will be reduced,  weather become as it was before that will improve quality of life and harvest from agriculture in the country. Rwanda will be more lovely with good nature and safe for life compared to the rest of the world.

Problem of greenhouse gas emission is very common concern in low and middle income countries, for it to be addressed, it needs projects that are scientific and sustainable so that people with will adopt them won't be disappointed. Domestic biogas is the best example of such projects and it shows the outcomes in short period of time to those using them. If this project is adopted by all countries in which use of firewoods for cooking is still very high, there would be a very big contribution on climate change than many being implemented projects.

                                                       GOAL: 

To create a community with zero greenhouse gas emission

                                                      AIM: 

Our projects aims at reducing the use of firewoods for cooking in Rwanda to 0%

                                                    OBJECTIVES:

(1) Increase families and institutions using domestic biogas for cooking and lightening in Rwanda than firewoods

(2) Improve harvest from agriculture in Rwanda through using organic fertilizer generated by biogas plants

(3) Reduce level of deforestation in the country

In order to evaluate our solution, we will use pre and posttest control group evaluation design. This is the best design when it comes to the evaluation of programs because it reduces the level of bias. It consists by randomly selecting a sample of beneficiaries among beneficiaries as interventional group and other sample in the same contexts of life in the community that we did not implement activities in, and this group is then called control group. We set indicators that measure and means of verification. Indicators for this project will be: (1) number of families and institutions using only domestic biogas and never use firewoods for cooking totally, (2) Improved respiratory life among kitchen workers, (3) improved cleanliness of kitchen and foods produced, (4) Improved agriculture's harvest, (5) improved care of trees and forests. 

These indicators will be measured using a questionnaire where we will set questions to measure each indicators. We will use the questionnaires to measure indicators in each of two groups in order to set the baseline data that we expect to get results that will not be statically different in both groups and we will then measure every three months in both groups in order to track the change of outcomes in interventional group because they will be benefiting from our activities. We expect that at the end of the project, there will be a very huge statistical difference between both group because one will have benefited from our project. This method of evaluation is the best because it helps to track changes brought by your intervention only not may be other interventions implemented by like government to the communities you are targeting.

We will also need to track the daily ongoing of our activities in order to know that they are well implemented and if there is anything to change be addressed on time. For this purpose, we will be using feedback forms where we will be distributing to beneficiaries after each activity's day in order to know how the activity went and get change on time.

The project has M&E team made by three persons and they regularly meet with project leaders in order to discuss data from M&E to be used in project improvement

Our project uses technology: Biogas technology, i.e. anaerobic digestion is biological method for degrading and stabilising organic, biodegradable raw materials in special plants in a controlled manner. It is based on microbial activity in oxygen-free (anaerobic) conditions and results in two end products: energy rich biogas and nutrient-rich digestion residue, i.e. digestate. Anaerobic degradation of biodegradable materials also happens in nature, e.g. in swamps, soils, sediments and in ruminant metabolism. 

Biogas systems rely on the natural interaction between microorganisms and organic wastes – such as  manure, sewage, agricultural by-products, and discarded food – to produce a clean and energy-efficient burnable gas. The gas is distributed through a network of pipes and is used for cooking and heating. This is done in the same way that many of us use natural gas from our local utility provider. With the simple strike of a match and turn of a knob, a family has a safe gas stove courtesy of their friendly neighbourhood microorganisms.

Biogas is a gas produced by anaerobic digestion (in the absence of oxygen) of organic material, largely comprised of methane (about two-thirds). Biogas originates from bacteria in the process of bio-degradation of organic material under anaerobic (without air) conditions

The key difference between natural gas and biogas is that biogas is a renewable source. This means that the system can continue running as long as there is organic waste being added. In comparison, natural gas comes from gas deposits underground, and once used, is gone. Another important difference is that biogas also produces a secondary benefit that natural gas cannot: the creation of free, methane-rich fertiliser as a natural by-product. This can either be sold to make an income or used on farmland to improve crop yields.

Biogas systems can save lives and improve the overall health of households. Because of its efficiency, biogas produces minimal emissions. This means there is no indoor air pollution or smoke. In comparison, other popular cooking and heating sources in rural communities such as firewood, kerosene, paraffin, and dried animal waste can produce extremely harmful emissions. These emissions, in addition to contributing to climate change, can ultimately lead to serious health complications and premature deaths within families.

This technology is so simple from construction, use and maintenance. You spend money during only installation ( construction) and it rarely needs maintenance fees and even when it is needed, is very minimal like to replace a lamp or a physically damaged pipe, otherwise all its components are so strong to be damaged easily. Use is so simple up to the level that it requires only 2 hours to educate an uneducated old woman/man and s/he use it efficiently in the future and is able to even educate others.

Biogas plants have different models and capacity, our solution will be using those that are cheap, durable and sustainable and fits with families are targeting.

Our team is made by organization's team that lead the project and subcontractors companies that are in charge of biogas constructions. Project leaders is made by 10 experts members of the organization, four of them are full-time and six are part time. Sub-contractors are hired according to the needs and we have a constructive company that we work frequently, it is made by 105 persons that are made by masons and construction engineers that we trained and we work with them at every biogas plant construction:

                                            SUMMARY:

Full time: 4

Part time: 6

Contractors: 105

I am the founder of this solution and working on it since 2012. I designed this project after seeing all problems mentioned above, the first fund we obtained was UN-HABITAT in 2012 and awarded as the best renewable energy project in 2014. Since then we got different fund. Therefore, I am personally working on this project for 12 years and have served over 100,000 Rwandans. I have been always working under my organization and team; therefore, we are all working with this solution since 2012 and therefore 12 years of experience

Health Research and Services Solution (HRSS) has in total 53 members who are registered as members and together they make general assembly of the organization. They lead the organization through leading different programs and projects and as needed we hire full or part time staff according to projects we implement. And we work also with volunteers that we get from partners's institutions and different youth associations.

In our team, we have different diversity:

(1) Knowledge/Skills: our team members have different level of expertise including civil engineering, environmental health, alternative energy-renewable energy, leadership, projects management, medical doctors and finance. We get the team involved in a particular project according to their knowledge and skills such in this solution, its leaders are experts in civil engineering, environmental health and alternative energy-renewable energy. Wen have then contractors and other staff.This diversity in knowledge and skills help us to put knowledge together and make the solution successful as it is clear that any project served by knowledge-full and skillful team will be more likely yo be successful than others.

(2) Culture: Currently, Our organization employ Rwandans from all geographic area of the country and it is open to everyone without considering race or ethnicity. This is because we know that all human being have potential and capacity to serve without considering their color, origin or other race or ethnic consideration. This helped us to be represented from all districts of the country and whenever we have a project in a certain district, it becomes easier to us because we have members who know every well the area and can orient us from project design by telling us the problems faced by that area and what solution can be the best according to the area.

(3) Gender: We have all gender in the organization and this solution's team. 59.4% are male and 41.6% are female. This percentage is not fixed because we do not recruit according to gender, but we favours female to make sure they are above 40% of members and other stakeholders. Our organization do not limit any gender and we also welcome LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) and we hope that in the future we may have some gay and lesbians members of the organization. Having all gender represented is very crucial in our activities because it creates balance of ideas and we have balance of staff and members when ever we have an activity within the organization.

Thus our team has needed diversity and does not limit anyone. We understand each other and we have organs that make sure that the team is in good line and understand each other toward the projects.

Our business model is like this:

Key customers: Our key customers are all Rwandans that are still using firewood for cooking and need biogas plants to get domestic biogas for cooking and lightening. As this number is big, we had to prioritize and in this piloting/first phase of the project, we are prioritizing all families that have at least three cows and are having cemented farm for cows. This is because biogas plant in Rwanda use dung and up to know Rwandans understand only cow's dung. They have not yet understood the use of human's dung because they take it as very dirty thing whereas those of cows are considered as clean until people touch and manipulate with unprotected hands without problem. Therefore, our biogas plant are feed with cow's dung and according to the size needed we need at least three cows.

Business design. Our business is designed like this, We approach customers that we see they need biogas plants according to the cows they have or they approach us because they heard about us in different marketing activities. The biogas plant for one family is 2,000,000 Rwandan francs (1550 USD), we explain to them all advantages from using biogas as discussed in previous pages of this project, and in addition to those,  we show them how they are going to pay 1550 USD that will be used for 100 years with only maintenance fee of 30 USD per year and replace the biomass products that they used with the price of 1500 USD per year in average and this means that in 100 years, they may have used 150000 USD and the money they spend on unsafe biomass for one year is enough to construct the biogas plant. This point convince them and they decide. As we are a Not for profit organization, we charge them only money that will be used for the biogas plant and we do not add any benefit. On the other hand, we keep doing fundraising for this project as we are doing on this project application and whenever we get a fund, it is used to help poor families who have the required number of cows but poor to afford 1550 USD and we provide to them the biogas plant for free. We used the fund to also help some families who want to pay the 1550 USD in monthly instalments as they have some income but they can not afford to pay the total at the same time.

Follow up: We keep in touch with our customers and we provide five years warranty for anything that can happen to the biogas plant we did construct within that period of time. We keep also advise follow up through either whatsapp group call so that we help any customer either online and physically in case they have any challenge related to the biogas plant we constructed and this has no time limit.

We have the following strategies to sustain our finance:

(1) Paid service: As explained above, even if we do not get any interest on providing the biogas plant but the service we provide is paid. This means that we provide the service but the customer pay all costs related to it. This has helped us to reach so many customers because they know we are providing the service with no interest and because they know we are not a business company. They trust us because we work together in the biogas plant installation and they are sure that all their budget has been used in transparency way than when they may be working with business companies that may want to get excessive benefits and therefore decide to use fake materials and system of construction

(2) Fundraising: We have a fundraising team dedicated to conduct the fundraising activities of the project both nationally and internationally. And they role is to make fundraising is well conducted to make sure we attract donors that will fund our social welfare of supporting poor families and getting able to construct with instalments payment. We have attract many donors including UNHABITAT and Anzisha prize that provided to us a good awards to support many families and the team is doing great job. 

(3) Social Enterprise: HRSS is planning to start a social enterprise where it will have its business with a good income so that this will fund all its interesting projects that have budget's burden. This solutions will be one of these projects because the budget we get is very minimal according to the needs. This business is planned to start by the end of 2024 and it will be making an annual income of around 100,000 USD that means that our solution will get a permanent fund for its activities and reach so many families as needed. We have learnt this strategy from our partners Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are using it and have succeeded to sustain their budget and achieved well their objectives than expected and we expect that it will be the same for our project where our results will be exponential compared to before.