Biogas brings changes in lifestyle in Lalmonirhat
Our Correspondent | Thursday, 31 July 2008
RANGPUR, July 30: Biogas has changed the lifestyle of a large number of people in Lalmonirhat district.
According to sources, more than 300 families of different areas of the district have changed their lifestyle by using biogas in cooking meals.
A total of 285 biogas plants have been installed in the rural areas of the district. The number of biogas users is increasing every day in the district.
Anisur Rahman (45), a biogas user under Aditmari upazila in the district, has told this correspondent that he has been saving his hard-earned money by using biogas instead of wood for last three years. He saves Tk 12,000 every year, he added.
Another biogas user under Bongram village said besides cooking they also enjoy light, fan, radio and TV by using biogas.
All the biogas plants of the district have been installed on the basis of cattle dung. Seven or eight cows are needed for a making plant. Cow-dung is mixed with water in equal proportion and stored in a tank. After 10/ 12 days biogas is produced in the plant, that is supplied to the ovens through plastic pipes.
A family of six members can easily cook their food and light lamps in their houses with the help of a plant.
About 70 per cent of the gas is methane which is a better fuel than firewood and the rest amount of the gas is carbondioxide.
The installation of biogas plants started in Lalmonirhat in 1997 under the biogas pilot plant project of the Institute of fuel Research and Development under Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).
Now different non-government organisations, especially BRAC, are giving biogas plants to the people of Lalmonirhat on instalment basis.
According to a BRAC official at Lalmonirhat, the cost of installation of a biogas plant with a production capacity of 100 cubic feet gas daily is estimated at Tk 16000. The cost of a biogas plant with a generation capacity of 200 cubic feet gas is Tk 23000, and a plant with a capacity of 300 cubic feet costs Tk. 30,000.
Biogas is conducive to health. It improves the environment by destroying cowdung, garbage and other wastes. The ideal places for setting up biogas plants are near the dairy and poultry farms as these have sufficient cattle and poultry wastes, sources added.
According to sources, more than 300 families of different areas of the district have changed their lifestyle by using biogas in cooking meals.
A total of 285 biogas plants have been installed in the rural areas of the district. The number of biogas users is increasing every day in the district.
Anisur Rahman (45), a biogas user under Aditmari upazila in the district, has told this correspondent that he has been saving his hard-earned money by using biogas instead of wood for last three years. He saves Tk 12,000 every year, he added.
Another biogas user under Bongram village said besides cooking they also enjoy light, fan, radio and TV by using biogas.
All the biogas plants of the district have been installed on the basis of cattle dung. Seven or eight cows are needed for a making plant. Cow-dung is mixed with water in equal proportion and stored in a tank. After 10/ 12 days biogas is produced in the plant, that is supplied to the ovens through plastic pipes.
A family of six members can easily cook their food and light lamps in their houses with the help of a plant.
About 70 per cent of the gas is methane which is a better fuel than firewood and the rest amount of the gas is carbondioxide.
The installation of biogas plants started in Lalmonirhat in 1997 under the biogas pilot plant project of the Institute of fuel Research and Development under Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).
Now different non-government organisations, especially BRAC, are giving biogas plants to the people of Lalmonirhat on instalment basis.
According to a BRAC official at Lalmonirhat, the cost of installation of a biogas plant with a production capacity of 100 cubic feet gas daily is estimated at Tk 16000. The cost of a biogas plant with a generation capacity of 200 cubic feet gas is Tk 23000, and a plant with a capacity of 300 cubic feet costs Tk. 30,000.
Biogas is conducive to health. It improves the environment by destroying cowdung, garbage and other wastes. The ideal places for setting up biogas plants are near the dairy and poultry farms as these have sufficient cattle and poultry wastes, sources added.