Peer Review Committee

Good practice rating:

(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)

Comments on this example:

      Environmental friendly energy sources are the focus to today. With the depletion of forest resources, the full exploitation of the countrys hydro capacity and due to the high cost of thermal power many developing countries are now turning bio-gas, wind power, solar power and the increased use of energy efficient technologies. The main issue in disseminating these technologies, especially among households is that they are too expensive for an average person. Provision of subsides in order to reduce the price may be a good option, but cannot be an option in the long run. Under these circumstances much work will have to be done for reducing production costs of such technologies if, they are to exist as an alternate energy source in developing countries.

      In countries where a solid home garden system exists, most of the fuel wood requirements (almost 75% in Sri Lanka) are met from these sources. In such cases the first option would be to develop and use energy efficient technologies which uses fire wood.

     Awareness and visions: Ironically, the Gobar gas plant project, with its magnitude, was initiated by only one man. Fortunately, the Government, the private sector and other international organizations foresee a common vision with this man and collaborated together to carry on the project until it became a success. From the statistics above, Nepal has contributed a great deal to earth by reducing waste and CO2. If other countries could adopt the same practice, more pollution will be abated and money can be saved from waste management.

      When introducing new and environmentally friendly energy, supply of the energy needs to be consistent, appropriate for the climate, and government needs to give support in terms of incentives for use. Producing energy from animal discrete seems like a simple and cheap practice to adopt; however, there some circumstances that are a prerequisite, which need to be considered, for example

• Socio-cultural adaptability: A need for consistent supply of fuel-animal dung-to feed the plant. In order to do so, a household or community has to acquire enough cattle population to produce enough manure.
  
  
• Location adaptabiltiy: Suitable climate conditions for drying the dung cakes.
  
  
• Style of government adaptability: Support from the government, such as, low interest loans to build the plants or training courses to properly practice the method.

     Integrating stakeholders: The various stakeholders involved in this project have contributed a great deal to the success of the Gobar gas plant project today:

• The private sector provided technical supervision
  
  
• The government offered financial support
  
  
• The farmers paid much interest and were cooperative, and
  
  
• The international organizations supplied further financial assistance in the form of subsidies.

     Evidentially, it takes various groups of people working cooperatively to make this project a success. This same situation is most likely to apply to other projects as well.

     Cost efficient: This project should be highly emphasized in terms of cost efficiency. Many people believe that the act of pollution abatement requires a great deal of financial investment. However, this example has demonstrated that the concept is not entirely true. Although the start up cost or fixed cost to construct the gobar gas plants are high, but once the plants have been set up, they can be utilized like cash cows. Also, the process of managing waste while producing energy at the same time is extremely desirable for sustainable development practices because it increases development and improves the environment.

Documentation:

Source of Information:

Contacts:

Submitted by: