Off the grid

By MiNDFOOD

Off the grid
This product is turning your leftovers into cooking gas for communities in need.

A brand new start up is revolutionising the way we recycle. Focussed on transforming our otherwise unrecyclable leftovers into useable energy, HomeBioGas is providing a safe and socially conscientious way to help those in need.

Focussing on products that otherwise cannot be composted, the invention takes food waste and animal manure and converts them into cooking gas and liquid fertiliser.

Their aim is to supply impoverished and developing communities with a safe and financially viable source of energy – where they would otherwise be using dangerous and expensive indoor cooking methods.

The system works by adding bacteria to a mixture of waste and water which starts a fermentation process. This in turn creates a combination of methane and carbon dioxide.

The goal of the company is to reach the farmers and families in developing countries and communities in low-income areas who have no choice but to use alternative cooking methods, resulting in a dangerous and environmentally damaging process.

The harmful byproducts emitted by such methods are responsible for the premature death of approximately 4 million people every year, according to the World Health Organisation’s report on household air pollution.

The pilot program has already been installed in the Palestinian village of al-Awja in Jordan Valley and already the benefits are being seen.

Oshik Efrati, chief executive officer of HomeBioGas told Reuters that he hoped “the product would save many lives in rural areas across the world where smoke from cooking on an open fire causes severe respiratory illness and death.”

“This system will be available to everyone that needs it in the developing world. It will eliminate waste, it makes clean gas, and there is no need to breathe in any smoke,” he said.

The device has been so well received in these communities that the founders have begun working in partnership with the EU and the Peres Centre for Peace, setting up around 40 ‘digesters’ in the pilot location.

The company is hoping their design will become more widely accepted and dispersed by government and non-government organisations to communities in need.

 

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