When will the world wake up to the potential of poo power? [View all]

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http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/nov/16/when-will-the-world-wake-up-to-the-potential-of-poo-power
Ta Quang Nah is a Vietnamese rice farmer, pig breeder, builder and fisherman. But for several months now he has also been running a power station from his home on the Ca Mau peninsula.

All the family’s waste goes straight from their outdoor latrine to join that of their four pigs in an airtight underground chamber, and the methane gas that is naturally let off as the combined excreta decomposes collects in a long polythene bag secured above ground.

Ta Quang Nah was advised by Oxfam how to set up his family biodigester, and when I met him last month he was proudly cooking on his own gas, and saving money by not buying wood or charcoal. His simple operation cost less than $50 to instal, paid itself off in a few months, needs little maintenance and is more than big enough for his family’s needs. Dozens of his neighbours want one too.

Using vegetable or livestock waste to generate biogas is now common and growing fast as cattle farmers and food companies in Europe and the US are encouraged with subsidies to set up anaerobic, or airless, digesters like Ta Quang Nah’s rudimentary one. But using human waste is still largely taboo outside Asia.