Gulu goes green with cow dung fuel
By Online Team
3rd Dec 2012:
The northern Uganda district of Gulu that endured a whole 20 years of under-development due to the war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the government has set new standards by embracing green technology ahead of most regions of the country.
According to a report by the UN news agency IRIN, as traditional sources of energy such as paraffin and wood fuel become more expensive, the people of Gulu have started embracing biogas – a renewable energy source produced from organic waste. Biogas is not only used for cooking, it is also used to light up homes in Gulu.
“Since I started using the biogas energy, my children…have their meals on time, unlike in the past when they had only one meal because [of a] firewood problem,” Florence Lawac, who has been using wood fuel for 13 years, told IRIN.
In Gulu, a litre of paraffin costs 2,500 Ugandan shillings (US$1), and a bag of charcoal costs 18,000 shillings ($7). On the other hand, a six cu.m. biogas digester costs an estimated 1.6 million shillings ($640), and can produce enough methane gas to cook and provide lighting for a household of five.
Through a pilot programme, the NGO Heifer International meets part of the cost of constructing biogas digesters. To feed the digester, beneficiaries are expected to have at least three Friesian cows or 10 indigenous ones, or have access to plant waste. Still, many of Gulu’s smallholders cannot afford livestock.
Uganda loses about 73,000 hectares of private forest and over 7,000 hectares of protected forest reserves annually to timber and charcoal production, according to the National Forest Authority.
“It’s important that we promote activities that seek to protect our environment because it’s the source of our entire livelihood,” James Ocaka of Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority, told IRIN. END: Login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories mid-week for our updates
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