Potentiality of Biogas as Renewable Energy Technology and its role for the Conservation of Environment

Abstract

The study shows the status of biogas as a Renewable Energy Technology (RET) and its role in the conservation of environment by reducing the consumption of fuelwood and Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emission. 95 household survey, 10 key informant interviews, 3 focus group discussion and direct observatory technique were used for primary data collection. Fuelwood was found to be dominant energy resource which comprises 93.73% of total energy and rest 6.27% of energy was supplied by other sources of energy. The fuelwood consumption was 71.29 GJ per year per household which emits 646.1 tCO₂e. The study shows that the annual GHGs reduction was found 7.62 tCO₂e per biogas plant. On the basis of population of the agriculture based livestock of the study area, there was the possibility of 84 biogas plants of size 6 m³ which can reduce the total 638.82 tCO₂e of GHGs emission per year. The study showed that the use of biogas technology can save 46.67% of fuelwood which can conserve 217.32 tons of fuelwood per year per household. The simple payback period in term of fuelwood saved for the construction of 6 m³ biogas plant was found to be only 4.08 years. Thus, the reduction or substitution of fuelwood as a primary energy resource, reduction of the GHGs emission and high potentiality of biogas in the area with adequate number of agriculture based livestock clearly indicates that biogas is as a suitable RET in reducing GHGs emission and helps in mitigating climate change.