Clean air in Kenya

Many women in Kenya wake up in the morning worrying how they will be able to generate heat to cook.

"We find less and less wood," says Lucy Kingori. "Pretty soon, there will be no wood and no forests left."

Kingori has to pay 2,000 shillings, or about 20 euros ($30), for the coal she uses to cook - when she has enough money for it at all.

Enough fuel to cook each day

Now, Kingori has built her own biogas unit on her farm in Githunguri, about 50 km north of Kenya's capital. She powers it with the dung from her cows. She cooks with the biogas, and uses the leftover waste from the unit as fertilizer for her fields, where she grows tea, tomatoes and other vegetables.

Her neighbors are doing the same.

In the meantime, the little village has developed into a center for the use of biogas - thanks to a project of the Kenyan Agricultural Ministry and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Gas from manure

Since 2008, biogas has been significantly gaining ground. Chris Wilson has been producing enough biogas from cow manure and sisal plants in the coastal town of Kilifi that he can power all of his operations with the gas he produces.

"The biogas unit takes care of itself now," Wilson says. "It does not amount to an extra cost because the investment pays itself back so quickly."

With biogas, he generates heat to pasteurize his cows' milk. He also uses it to generate the electricity that powers his machines and lights his factory. According to Wilson, his production site is now completely energy efficient. Typically, he even has enough energy left over at night to contribute to the city's power supply.

From the bathroom to the kitchen

Cow manure is not the only good resource for biogas units. Even human waste can be used to produce the fuel.

In Kibera, a slum district in the middle of Nairobi with nearly a million inhabitants, such a project is being developed. At the elementary school "Ushirika wa Usafi" - "Sanitation Society," the waste from 800 students and teachers is processed in an airtight container to produce the biogas that George, the school's cook, uses to heat his stove.

Are "flying toilets" now obsolete?

The set-up in Kibera is a success. Now, 30 similar facilities are being built in impoverished areas in Nairobi. When they are finished, they will improve the lives of other slum inhabitants by reducing the amount of filth while providing a useful place to cook.

This represents a first step to a more humane way of life. Until now, sanitary means of waste disposal have been rare in Kibera, where "flying toilets" are frequently used instead. These are black plastic bags containing excrement that are disposed of in the streets, occasionally by way of a pointed toss from the huts.

Biogas: the silver bullet

The potential of biogas is so great that it is now being promoted as the Kenyan government's silver bullet. And it is being handled accordingly. Biogas derived from waste and dung saves money, produces energy, protects the environment, fights poverty and improves educational opportunities.

"If the switch to biogas were undertaken in Kenya's big agricultural centers, there would be more electricity available for the populace," according to Wilson. Currently, the production of exported goods like greenhouse flowers, fruit and vegetables requires so much energy that there is not enough left for the farmers' homes - where electricity is often unavailable at night.

However, by using biogas, there would be enough power even for households that are currently not connected to the network. That amounts to three out of every four households in Kenya.

Author: Kateri Jochum
Editor: Sabina Casagrande