Create special fund for biogas, manufacturers tell govt

KAMPALA

Government should create a special fund to subsidise the production of biogas energy, members of Uganda National Alliance on Clean Cooking (UNACC), an association of renewable energy producers, has asked.

If government subsidises their production costs, UNACC members said it will lower the cost of production thereby increasing uptake of biogas energy, create jobs, save the environment and manufacturers will cash in.
“From the fieldwork we have done, there is demand for cleaner and readily available energy from biogas but many people cannot afford Shs2 million to construct a digester,” Eng Christopher Kato, a biogas manufacturer and member of UNACC, said in Kampala last week.

“Our appeal to government is to subsidise this cost to make digesters cheaper. It will save the environment but also create millions of jobs,” he added.

Uganda loses 120,000 hectares of forest each year to meet energy demands for cooking and small scale industries, according to recent estimates by the ministry of Water and Environment.
This is unsustainable considering that the National Environment Management Authority in its State of the Environment report 2008, indicated that the country was losing 90,000 hectares annually.

Recently, another report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation indicated that Uganda loses 200,000 hectares annually. And 90 per cent of energy resource is currently generated from biomass (tree resource).
“Instead of leaving food waste, sewage and animal dung to decay in the fields and later release methane gas which leads to global warming, we can turn the waste into cash but we need support,” Mr Kato said.
This view was shared by Mr Anthony Okello, a representative from SNV, a Netherlands non-government organisation.

“Biogas materials are readily available and it does not only save the environment but other costs that come as a result of inhaling smoke,” Mr Okello said.

World Health Organisation estimates that 4.3 million people die every year from diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, low birth weight and burns, pneumonia, bronchitis and cataracts due to using unclean energy which emits smoke.

Of the said 4.3 million deaths, Uganda contributes 18,250 deaths annually.
Mr Michael Ahimbisibwe, a ministry of Energy official, said they carried out a survey in 2007, which revealed at least 2000 households in Uganda have materials such as cow dung that can be used for biogas making.

The numbers

4.3 million
The number of people who die annually due to using unclean energy that emits smoke. Of the said 4.3 million deaths, Uganda contributes 18,250 deaths.
Meanwhile, the country loses 120,000 hectares of forest in meeting energy demands every year.

ptajuba@ug.nationmedia.com