Converting waste to Biogas ON-SITE

During the COP26 Summit on Climate Change, Prime Minister Modi committed India to achieving net-zero emissions by the year 2070. With the shorter-term objective of tripling the use of renewable energy and slashing India’s carbon emissions by a substantial amount by 2030 HomeBiogas has collaborated with a number of Indian companies to promote this objective through CSR projects in rural India, incorporating Biogas systems in order to advance the issues of women’s empowerment, sanitation in rural communities, economic development as well as environmental sustainability. We develop biogas systems that enables individuals and businesses to convert their organic waste into clean energy for cooking or heating, on-site. It is a publicly traded Israeli company (TASE: HMGS) that develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells domestic and industrial-scale biogas systems that provide a comprehensive solution for waste management renewable energy generation, clean cooking, fertiliser production, and sanitation.

Biogas systems addresses the following challenges

- Reduce methane emissions to combat climate change. Our systems have prevened 86,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to date. According to the recently published IPCC report, methane gas has more than eighty times the warming potential of carbon dioxide in the near future. Each unit reduces carbon emissions by 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes annually, which is currently valued between $5,000 and $10,000.

- Reduce Waste: To date, our systems have kept 15,000 tons of food waste in circulation.

- Renewable Energy: Our systems use anaerobic digestion to convert these organic materials into fuel for cooking

and fertilizer.

- Cooking without smoke: Women in developing countries feel safer and healthier with Biogas systems which allow them to cook without smoke, in addition to allowing them to spend time previously spent collecting firewood on self-development activities.

Over 14,000 systems have been sold in 110 countries. The company has recently signed new distribution agreements for its products in several countries Including India, Pacific Islands, Colombia, and El Salvador.

Today, the world produces more than 2 billion tons of solid waste, and by 2050, that number is projected to increase to 3.4 billion tonnes by volume, 44% of global waste includes food and organics. Biogas is part of the circular economy, with a projected value of $4.5T by 2030. Circular economy business models offer a clear path to achieve our collective climate goals, tackling the greenhouse gas emissions tied to the extraction, processing, manufacturing, and landfilling of goods. Biogas systems create a closed ecological ecosystem: waste enters the system, which generates fertilizer to grow more food and gas to cook the food - which in turn produce leftovers that will go in the system and so on.

Biogas Magazine | Edition 20 | 20 Each household system diverts 1 tonne of waste annually from landfills and offsets 6 tonnes of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of a vehicle.

In a recent CSR project in India, HomeBiogas successfully installed 70 systems in Hardoi, that will convert cow manure and food waste into clean cooking gas and organic fertilizer. Hundreds of individuals now have daily access to clean renewable energy. This project contributes to women empowerment and gender equality in these communities, by allowing women to cook without inhaling harmful smoke, making them safer and healthier.

In addition to the benefits of producing biogas for cooking, the farmers also have access to the chemical-free bio-fertilizer that is naturally produced in the biogas system. By using the bio-fertilizer they are transitioning towards organic farming, and can significantly reduce the usage of chemical pesticides & fertilizers in their farming activities. Now that the local farmers have greater access to renewable energy sources, their ag-

Emily Corkill Marketing Manager Home Biogas ricultural practices are more sustainable.

Using the Biogas system as an on site waste management tool contributes significantly to manure management, health & sanitation, all of which are crucial for the resilience of communities & families in rural India. In addition, each Biogas system reduces GHG emissions by 6 tonnes per year. This makes a substantial contribution to the fight against climate change.

As the Biogas system now produces cooking fuel, each family will be able to save INR 1,200 per month on cooking fuel expenses. Pesticides and fertilisers result in average monthly savings of 3,215 INR. Chemicals and firewood-related expenses will also be reduced, resulting in an average monthly savings of 2,165 INR.

In a span of 10 years the project’s impact on 70 families will be 11.5M tons of animal manure treated, 1.53 tons of CO2 emissions reduced, 1.27 tons of wood saved and USD 210k of savings.