Ugandans turn Kampala’s uncollected garbage into versatile fuel
November 30, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Cement kilns are used to transform waste, which would otherwise pollute the city, into a fuel that suits petrol engines
Fred Kyagulanyi and James Sendikwanawa used to get up in the dark to dump bags of rubbish in Kampala‘s suburbs. Trying not to be spotted, they would sneak past the houses of sleeping neighbours and throw the bags on to the roadside or toss them in drains.
“We would wait several days until we had many bags and then make a trip,” Kyagulanyi says. “We were embarrassed, even if nobody was watching us at the time.”
Without a proper waste collection and management system, such nocturnal enterprises are not unusual in Uganda. These days, however, the two men turn rubbish into fuel. The friends have honed a technique to produce what Kyagulanyi calls “non-fossil fuel”, made from refuse such as plastic bottles, polythene bags and organic waste.
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa, who are from Ndegye, a township about 17km outside the Ugandan capital, were inspired to find a use for rubbish after waking each morning to find piles of garbage thrown by other people.
“We decided that we would try to find a solution to deal with garbage,” says Kyagulanyi. “So we began researching how we could put it to good use.”
The pair had dropped out of school before their final exams, but Sendikwanawa had always had an interest in chemistry. It occurred to him that each year hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste were piling up in Kampala and around other towns across Uganda and that perhaps he could do something with it all.
The result of their research can be found in a factory, little more than a corrugated iron roof held up with wooden poles. Here they use cement kilns to turn rubbish into fuel.
The men are heroes among the boda boda (motorbike taxi) riders who buy fuel from them at around $ 1 a litre – half the price of the petrol stations. Other customers include local car drivers and the neighbourhood video hall manager.
“We have three types of petrol here,” Kyagulanyi explains. “We have ‘super’, we have ‘premium’ and also we have ‘pure’. This is our factory language but in the language of fossil fuels, it can be called unleaded premium or benzene. But ours is very different so we have different names.”
“We use all types of waste from plants, plastic bottles, shoe soles and all different types of organic waste,” Kyagulanyi says. “We use all that waste to make fuel that runs petrol engines,” adds Sendikwanawa, who is known as “engineer” in Ndegye Township due to his day job: fixing biogas digesters on pit latrines.
He says they had originally tried turning waste into manure and fertilisers, hoping to sell it to farmers, but found there was little demand. However, with fuel prices soaring they knew they would have an eager market if they could power engines. Kyagulanyi found out about biodiesel during a four-year stint working in Germany. When he returned to Uganda he brought back literature on biodiesel, which inspired Sendikwanawa, who, he says, is the brains behind the project.
The men dry and sort the rubbish then heat it in kilns to produce a crude oil. A catalyst is added to produce different types of fuel. It is a process known as catalytic pyrolysis, in which material is heated at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Pyrolysis is the basis of several methods being developed around the world as a means of producing fuel from crops or waste products.
The pair admit there were a few hiccups, but they kept experimenting until they had a breakthrough in early 2009. Now they can process up to two tonnes of garbage a day.
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa have formed Lat Photo Energy Uganda Limited and hope to ramp up production, pointing out there is no shortage of raw material for their fuel.
Kampala’s suburbs are choked with tonnes of uncollected waste, with city officials estimating that each person generates 0.2 tonnes of waste annually. Michael Mudanye, a waste engineer for Kampala council, says the city generates an estimated 1,500 tonnes of garbage a day, three-quarters of which rots uncollected on the streets, or gets thrown into in sewerage outlets and water channels, some of which run into Lake Victoria.
“So far we can only produce 100 litres of fuel a day,” says Kyagulanyi. We hope to increase the production if we get partners to expand our kilns. The challenge is that some people are still doubtful that our fuel works. We are now out to show the nation that we can produce enough fuel for everyone to run their vehicles while cleaning up all the rubbish left lying around the country.”
Uganda’s state minister for energy, Simon Du’janga, said he was aware that some gas and fuel could be obtained from garbage but his message to Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa was: “Tell those fellows they should not waste their time. It is a very costly process with very little output.”
However, Lat Photo Energy Uganda appears to be proving him wrong. The company may be small but it’s doing steady business.
Raj Kaakeeto is a boda boda rider and one of Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa’s regular customers. He says at first he doubted whether the fuel would work. “One day I had no money yet I needed fuel. So I bought some of their fuel and mixed it with the little that I had in the tank. I was surprised – it worked,” he says. He likes it because it’s a lot cheaper than the regular petrol.
Jimmy Lutakome, another resident in the area, testifies that the fuel works well in petrol engine generators. He says: “The fuel lasts longer if you mix it with that from the petrol stations. I have been saving about 2,000 shillings per day [about 90 cents] compared to the past.”
Kyagulanyi and Sendikwanawa have a grander vision than just providing cheaper fuel for their neighbours. “We thought we should be part of the solution to the global demand for environmentally beneficial practice. And I think we are succeeding,” Sendikwanawa says. “We only need to expand the capacity of our kiln and distilleries and we shall clean up the city of waste.”
Pakistan to plug into the world’s largest floating power station
November 19, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
New supply from ship will not come close to ending the energy crisis that is increasing public frustration with government
The world’s largest ship-based power plant will begin supplying Pakistan with electricity next month in an effort to ease the country’s chronic energy shortages, a company official said today.
The new supply still will not come close to ending the energy crisis that plagues Pakistan, increasing widespread public frustration with the US-allied government as it struggles to contain the Taliban insurgency.
The ship, which burns furnace oil, will generate about 230MW for the national power grid, said Asad Mahmood, a spokesman for the vessel’s Turkish owner, Karkey Karadeniz Electrik.
The owner has a five-year contract to sell power to the deeply indebted Pakistani national power company. Mahmood did not disclose the price of the contract.
Now anchored off the southern port city of Karachi, the 75,595-tonne Kaya Bey will begin feeding into the national grid within four weeks after a dedication ceremony on Sunday, Mahmood said.
The ship’s contribution, however, will only make a dent in the overall power crisis. Pakistan’s energy demands outstrip supply by an estimated 5,000MW, thanks to lack of investment, soaring usage and a crumbling electricity generation infrastructure that heavily relies on hydropower.
Power cuts last up to 16 hours a day in some areas and damage industrial growth. Shortages are worst in summer, when the temperatures soar but power cuts mean fans and air conditioners do not work.
The national power company recently raised its rates by 2%, capping two years of increases that have nearly doubled the cost of electricity for consumers.
Authorities have said the price rises pushed by international aid donors are necessary because the former military government froze rates for years and many state agencies have failed to pay their bills, leading to debt of more than $ 4.5bn (£2.8bn), curtailing Pakistan’s ability to invest in new power plants.
Iran loads fuel rods into Bushehr nuclear reactor
October 26, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Iran’s long-delayed 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant expected to begin generating electricity early next year
Iran began loading fuel into the core of its first nuclear power plant today, moving closer to starting up the facility.
Iranian authorities see the completion of the Bushehr plant, built with the help of Russia, as a show of defiance against UN security council sanctions against its nuclear programme.
“Nearly 160 fuel rods have been placed into the core of the reactor … which will be the energy production stage and a key stage for its operation,” said Mohammad Ahmadian, a senior nuclear official.
At the plant’s inauguration on 21 August, the vice-president, Ali Akbar Salehi, said loading the fuel into the reactor core would take place in the next two weeks and electricity production would begin by November.
A leak in a storage pool delayed the process, and Iran now says the 1,000-megawatt plant will begin generating power in early 2011. There had been speculation the delay was caused by a computer worm found on the laptops of several plant employees.
The US withdrew its opposition to the plant after Russia satisfied concerns over how it would be fuelled and the fate of the spent fuel rods. Under a deal signed in 2005, Russia will provide nuclear fuel to Iran, then take back the spent fuel, a step meant to ensure it cannot be diverted into a weapons program.
Iran has also agreed to allow the UN’s nuclear agency to monitor Bushehr and the fuel deliveries. Worries remain, however, over Iran’s programme to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel, since the process can also be used to create weapons-grade material.
The US claims that the fuel deal with Russia shows Tehran does not need uranium enrichment, but Iran maintains it will build other nuclear power plants and needs its own fuel source.
Iran is already producing its own nuclear fuel – uranium enriched to about 3.5%. It has started a pilot programme of enriching uranium to 20%, which officials say is needed for a medical research reactor. Weapons-grade material has to be enriched to 90%.
The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran’s US-backed shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi commissioned the German company Siemens to build the reactor. Siemens withdrew after the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the shah and brought hardline clerics to power.
In 1992, Iran signed a $ 1bn deal with Russia to complete the project, and work began in 1995. Under the contract, Bushehr was originally scheduled to come on stream in July 1999, but start-up has been delayed repeatedly by construction and supply glitches.
Moscow has cited technical reasons for the delays, but Iranian officials have sporadically criticised Russia, some calling Moscow an “unreliable partner”. Russians began shipping fuel for the plant in 2007 and carried out a test-run in February 2009.
Human waste turned into renewable gas to power homes
October 5, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Pilot project is first in UK to produce domestic gas from sewage
Next time you flush the toilet, you could be doing your bit for green energy. After being stored for 18 days, human waste will from today be returning to homes in the form of renewable gas.
Centrica is opening a plant at Didcot sewage works which will be the first in the UK to produce renewable gas for households to use.
National Grid believes that at least 15% of all gas consumed could be made from sewage slurry, old sandwiches and other food thrown away by supermarkets, as well as organic waste created by businesses such as breweries.
However, there are fears in the industry that the government’s spending cuts could make it more difficult for companies to come up with the £10bn needed to develop the new plants and pipelines.
Because it is more expensive to produce renewable gas, companies say they need to be paid twice the market rate for it to make economic sense.
But a proposed subsidy, scheduled to come into force in April, has yet to be approved and there is speculation that the government could delay or scrap it.
The Didcot facility is a pilot project to demonstrate the technology and will supply about 200 homes with gas. The project is a joint venture between Thames Water, British Gas and Scotia Gas Networks.
One industry expert likened the process to a “cow’s stomach on a life support machine”. The sewage sludge is collected in air-tight vats which are heated and enzymes added to speed the anaerobic digestion process and break down the material. Methane is produced and then it is purified ready for use.
Landfill sites can also produce methane gas which is then typically used to generate electricity. But British Gas says supplying renewable gas directly is much more efficient, as about two thirds of the energy is lost when electricity is generated.
This Friday, Adnams the brewer will open an anaerobic digestion facility in Suffolk using waste slurry which will provide renewable gas to about 235 homes. British Gas is also involved in this project and is planning to open three more.
Gearóid Lane, managing director of communities and new energy at British Gas, said: “This renewable gas project is a real milestone in Britain’s energy history, and will help customers and the environment alike. Renewable gas has the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting the UK’s energy needs. Gas from sewage is just one part of a bigger project, which will see us using brewery and food waste and farm slurry to generate gas to heat homes.”
US Navy sails into solar future
September 24, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Navy installs third solar project at pioneering Seal Beach base
• US Navy to launch Great Green Fleet
• First zero-carbon super-yacht to ease conscience of world’s billionaires
The US Navy’s high profile efforts to cut its carbon footprint have secured another victory with the installation of a solar parking lot at its Seal Beach facility in California.
The $ 1.9m project, paid for by US stimulus funding, consists of a car park with a photovoltaic carport system. Built in a year by contractor Stronghold Engineering, the system will provide 190Kw of power.
The project saw 812 individual 235 watt modules installed on top of a steel building that serves as a canopy for station cranes. Between them, they will produce approximately 265,310 kw/hours of energy per year, which the Navy says is enough energy for 15 houses.
It added that the scheme will save carbon dioxide equivalent to to taking 33 cars off the road for a year.
This is Stronghold’s third solar installation at Seal Beach. Between them, the three systems boast over 2,000 panels, generating roughly 6.5 per cent of the Naval facility’s total power needs. It brings the Navy close to meeting a goal set out by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which mandated that it increase its use of renewable energy to 7.5 per cent of overall energy use.
Stronghold also hopes that the project will serve as an inspiration to the owners and managers of other parking lots in the US, which offer vast expanses of flat, sun-soaked roof perfect for solar installations. In 2006, Google equipped a parking lot at its Mountain View headquarters with 1.6mw of power and it is hoped that other corporate campuses could similarly use parking space to generate energy.
The project is the latest in a series of high profile moves from the US Navy, which has seen the force emerge as one of the leading pioneers of renewable energy in the country.
In April, the Navy declared it aims to use renewables for half its power needs at sea and shore-side by 2020, and alongside solar power it is working on a number of marine energy and biofuel projects.
Alex Salmond unveils plan to turn Scotland into ‘world’s first hydro-economy’
September 8, 2010 by drjohnmcgowan
Filed under Green Energy
Proposed legislation would allow state-owned Scottish Water to use vast landbank and pipe network for renewable energy projects
The state-owned utility Scottish Water is to be given new powers to build windfarms, hydro schemes and “green” power stations in partnership and competition with established energy companies.
The company, one of the country’s last remaining state-owned firms, could generate £300m or more in extra revenues by using its 80,000 acres of land and vast pipe network for renewable energy projects.
The proposal was unveiled by Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, in his government’s last legislative programme before next May’s Scottish elections. He claimed it would turn Scotland into “the world’s first hydro-economy – wisely exploiting our water to help drive our economy”.
Salmond is resisting pressure to convert Scottish Water into a mutualised company under public ownership, similar to Welsh Water, to generate much-needed revenue and offset cuts of up to £3.7bn expected in next month’s spending review.
The Conservatives and Salmond’s own economic advisers believe mutualisation would immediately raise up to £3bn for the Treasury, with £1bn going to the Scottish government, and save the taxpayer £140m a year in loans.
Salmond, an enthusiast for renewable energy investment, said that the company would remain entirely in public ownership, while having much greater freedom to exploit commercial opportunities that would eventually allow it to become self-financing and self-sufficient.
“They have identified potential for new economic activity in other business areas of some hundreds of millions in the medium term,” he told the Scottish parliament. “If we give Scottish Water room to grow, then we have the makings of a great Scottish company, in public ownership.”
Scottish Water, which has annual revenues of about £1bn and assets worth £5.5bn, is the UK’s fourth-largest water company. It owns about 80,000 acres, including high ground with great potential value for onshore wind and hydro schemes.
The company hopes the legislation proposed by Salmond will allow its fledgling commercial services division, called Harmony, to drive its new energy projects. The Tories hope to amend the water bill with Labour support, forcing the SNP to mutualise the company.
The utility is also in talks about joint projects with some of the largest players in renewables and potential competitors, which are thought to include Scottish and Southern Energy and ScottishPower.
Richard Ackroyd, the company’s chief executive, said: “Our success in reducing our carbon footprint and expanding our work into renewables and recycling is helping to put Scottish Water in a position where it can make a real contribution to the environmental challenges facing Scotland.”
Scottish and Southern Energy, the UK’s largest hydro-electricity producer, would not comment directly on Scottish Water’s entry into the energy market. “There are other people who are becoming players in the market all the time; we wouldn’t have any comment to make on Scottish Water becoming part of that,” a spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for ScottishPower’s renewables arm welcomed Scottish Water’s involvement, saying: “Scotland has a wealth of renewable energy opportunities and we are keen to see the country fulfil its renewables potential. Investment from both the public and private sector will be critical in achieving this.”