Conservation of Energy, Improving the

Environment, and Tackling Climate Change

while Addressing Rural Poverty: A Case Study
of China and India

Case of China, Part-1

Cases on the Use of Biomass
Energy

Introduction
Bio-energy is receiving significant attention

recently, for various reasons.

First, it is celebrated for its potential contribution
in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Second, it can contribute to alleviating rural
poverty by additional sources of income.
Third, it is often believed to increase energy
security by lowering oil import dependencies of
countries and regions.

Bioenergy in Shandong Province

The agricultural sector in Shandong provides considerable

amount of biomass resources.

The total amount of biomass residue from crops in Shandong in
2004 is 67,322,676ton. With pyrolysis gasification technology,
2.5kg biomass is enough for a normal family to cook meals for a
whole day. In other words, one-forth of the total crop residue
production, 18,250,000ton, can provide the 20 million rural
families with sufficient fuels for cooking. This to some extent
competes with the use of crop residues as animal fodder,
industrial materials and fertilizers in Shandong. But it is
estimated that currently about 20% of crop residues are burnt
directly in the field as waste, which could in stead be used as
bioenergy without conflicts for other use functions.

Bioenergy in Shandong Province

The urgent demand for renewable energy development,

availability of biomass resources, and well-established

institutional and policy framework enhanced the blossoming of
bioenergy demonstration projects in Shandong.
Around the year 1997, China started several rural
biogasification demonstration projects under its agreement with
European Union. In 1998, about 200 village-level biogas stations
were established in China, and 7 years later more than 1000
village-level biogas stations have been constructed through
national investment, mainly in the rural areas of eastern and
south-eastern coastal provinces such as Liaoning, Shandong
and Zhejiang .
These projects aim to provide village residents access to clean
and cheap energy and to improve local air quality by reducing
direct combustion of straws and stalks.

Bioenergy in Shandong Province

Table :Basic information of selected biogas stations

Bioenergy in Shandong Province

Pyrolysis gasification is suitable for treating various biomass materials,
such as corn stalk, sawdust, wood chips and crop straw. The entire
pyrolysis gasifier consists of four components: the feeding system, the
gasifier, the steam generator and the gas storage facility. The pyrolysis
gasification process includes two stages. At the first stage, workers put
biomass into the feeding system. Then the feedstock is transferred into
the gasifier and becomes fluid in it. The diameter of feedstock can range
in size between 0.25 and 250mm. Biomass undergoes partial combustion
at a temperature above 800C in absence of oxygen, to produce volatiles
(mainly carbon dioxide and water vapor) and charcoal. At the second
stage, charcoal transforms the volatiles into CO, H 2and CH4. After three
rounds of purification, a mixed fuel gas is obtained, consisting of CO,
H2and CH4. This mixed gas is stored in a gas storage facility and
transported via underground pipes to individual families. The entire
process operates in batches.

Assessing the Performance of Bioenergy

Projects: Economy Aspect
During operation of the seven biogas stations, no financial support was

received from higher level governments. It was the village government's

full responsibility to run the station financially healthy. In most cases, the
village government appointed one village official as station manager and
hired two workers.
The village government had authority to decide the price of biogas; higher
level governments gave no directions. Most villages set the price at a low
level, comparable to the level of the neighboring village, to prevent
complaints from villagers. The purchase of fuels, house rent, electricity,
workers salary and occasional repairs were all paid from the village
government account. Every half year the station manager collected money
from the villagers for the biogas they consumed, which formed the main
income of the station and was put into the village government account.
At the end of the year, the village government compensated any deficit.
None of the seven stations could provide detail account records of its daily
operation. Income and expenditures were recorded just as a single item on
the community government's account, resulting in poor (financial)
transparency. With the assistance of the station manager of XLJ station an
estimation was made of expenditures and income of this biogas station in
2005, suggesting a significant annual government subsidy.

Assessing the Performance of Bioenergy

Projects: Economy Aspect

Expenditure and income of XLJ station in 2005 (Yuan)

Assessing the Performance of Bioenergy

Projects: Technical Aspect
Major outputs of the bioenergy projects included the installation of

equipments such as biomass gasifiers, pipes and biogas stoves. Of the

seven stations, XZM, NGE, CXC and YJC were discontinued shortly after
their construction (seeTable 3). SZY is being rebuilt into an electricity
plant that uses biomass as fuel. XLJ was still in use, although, the station
had to be discontinued for several days every 23 months due to
technical problems. SSC was the only station that was still functioning
properly. Most stations only used about half of the designed capacity
during operation.
During operation, the gasification equipment faced various problems. Tar
was the most serious problem. Equipment was regularly jammed by tar,
which is very difficult to get rid of when it has coagulated on the inner
surfaces of pipes and containers. In some villages workers had to open
the equipment and clean them every week. This is time and money
consuming.
Another annoying problem with the gasification equipment consisted of
biogas leakage from pipes. Biogas contains CO and CH 4, which are
hazardous to human health. Therefore, leakage needs to be prevented or
quickly mitigated. Because all pipes were placed underground, leakage
resulted in high costs for repair and pipe replacements.

Assessing the Performance of Bioenergy

Projects: Technical Aspect
Average caloric value of biogas produced in these stations is only 5316KJ/m 3,

much lower than other fuels. As a result, users have to consume a higher volume
of biogas than other fuels to cook the same meal. A consequence is that stations
need large storage facilities. Normally workers in biogas stations run the
equipment and fill the gas storage twice a day, which provides enough biogas for
all users to cook meals for a day. If the caloric value of biogas could be doubled,
the storage capacity could be halved or workers only needed to fill the storage
once a day, saving costs
A final problem is that the gasification equipment cannot treat wet fuel, as it

harms or even damages the steel equipment. Some rich villages such as SSC and
SZY built extra buildings for storing fuels, while in others workers had to spend a
lot of time drying wet fuels. During the raining seasons, these stations were often
forced to stop producing biogas, due to a lack of dry fuels.

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Institutional Effectiveness
Approximately 365 million Yuan (36.5 million) was budgeted by both national and provincial

governments for constructing biogas stations in Shandong. Village governments also

supported bioenergy projects. When Shandong government planned the project in Jinan City,
more than 20 villages applied to be sites for bioenergy demonstration projects. After an
evaluationwith criteria such as village scale, economic level, distance to highways and
availability of biomass resourcesseven villages were selected. Subsequently, opinions of
villagers in these seven villages were collected regarding, among others, their willingness to
install a biogas stove and the costs for biogas they could afford. Visits to neighboring villages
with running biogas stations were organized for villagers. Their final opinions directed the
design and capacity of the individual projects. All seven biogas stations have been delivered,
be it sometimes with delay.
But significant ineffectiveness emerged during the running of the projects. During interviews
staffs in EAS of Shandong DOA, who are supposed to take full responsibility for renewable
bioenergy projects in rural areas, could not give clear answers to basic questions such as how
many stations had been built or which institutes were doing research and development on
bioenergy. Communications between Shandong authorities and village governments were
poor. For instance, no Shandong department in charge was informed 2 years after the NGE
village government discontinued the biogas station and sold the equipment. In case of
emergencies around biogas projects, it always took a long time to decide who had
responsibility and where necessary financial and technical resources for repair could be
obtained. In addition, no monitoring and evaluation mechanism was established to follow and
investigate the status of the stations.
It seemed that for Shandong Province, bioenergy projects ended not when local people were
provided stable biogas provision, but when it was reported that the construction of the station
was finished and this good news was released to the media. Several stations had no other
function than to demonstrate the ability to construct a project.

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Target Group Effectiveness
Most villages in Shandong showed a strong willingness to establish

bioenergy projects. By the end of 2005, Shandong Province alone had

constructed more than 400 biogas stations.
Although several of our case study stations were shut down, all village
leaders interviewed expressed strong interests in continuing the projects if
financial conditions and technical support were improved. But citizens in
these villages did not show the same enthusiasm. The average proportion
of families that applied for using biogas was below 50% in all the seven
villages. A large number of villagers expressed their reluctance to pay the
300 Yuan for installation of pipes and stoves, which prevented many
families from using biogas.
Nevertheless, fewer families burned straw and stalks, even after bioenergy
projects discontinued. This change in behavior relates to two mechanisms.
Villagers found that the air quality improved during the period they used
biogas and thus did not turn back to biomass burning in the field after
discontinuation of bioenergy projects. And during the first years of the new
millennium the government posed stronger enforcement and sanctions on
burning biomass in the field. Currently, most biomass not used in
bioenergy projects is used as fertilizer or as feedstock for livestock, and a
small amount is still used as fuel in traditional stoves. Much less burning in
pen air takes place nowadays.

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Impact Effectiveness
One important purpose of constructing biogas stations in Shandong was

to improve local air quality. Crop stalk and firewood were once traditional
energy resources for rural household in Shandong mainly for cooking and
heating. In the 1990s, energy from crop stalk and firewood accounted for
about 80% of rural energy consumption. With rapid development of
economy, the rural energy consumption has increased while energy
structure changed. The consumption of commercial energies such as
electricity, coal, gas and oil increases rapidly, especially in the coast
areas and vicinity of large cities. The consumption of energy from crop
stalk and firewood decreases sharply. It is estimated that crop stalk
consumption for rural residential in Shandong decreased from 33.5
million tons in 200028.8 million tons in 2004. As a result, a
considerable amount of crop stalk is directly burnt in the harvest period
by farms, leading to serious air pollution.
After implementationof course also of biogas stations outside our case
study areaair quality in Jinan City has significantly improved, and that
remained even after the discontinuation of several projects. Within the
same period, average pollutant concentrations in other areas without
bioenergy project reduced much more slowly (SO 2for 35.9%, NO2for
29.4% and PM10for 61.1%).

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Impact Effectiveness
Bioenergy projects contributed to lower air pollutant concentrations in

two ways. Firstly, they reduced burning of crop stalks in open air, which
directly contributed to air quality improvement. This is clearly the most
important reason, as it continued even after most projects ended.
Secondly, the biogas stations reduced the consumption of fossil fuel. In
comparison with fossil fuels, biogas production, transportation and
consumption is more environmentally friendly. Biogas releases less
harmful waste when being processed compared with coal and oil
(although it has small amounts of byproducts of tar and ashes, which
are usually dumped locally).

Fig. Concentration of air pollutants in Jinan, 19972005 (mg/m3).

Source:Shandong Statistical Bureau (2006).

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Societal Effectiveness
Local farmers obtained economic benefits from the bio-gasification

implementation. First, these projects provided them cheap energy

resources. Every family only needed to pay 300 Yuan for installation of
pipes and a stove, and on average 0.20Yuan/m3for consumed biogas.
According to rough estimations, a family could thus save 740 Yuan
annually on energy consumption.
Second, these projects offered farmers new sources of income. In most

villages with a biogas station, farmers could sell their straws and
corncobs to the station at prices around 0.20Yuan/kg. For an individual
farmer family this could mean annually several hundred Yuan of extra
income.
Third, opportunities were created for new employment and business,

including biogas station workers, equipment producers, station builders

and contractors, and biofuel traders. Upgrading the technological level
to generate electricity, as in the case of SZY, increases the need for
more well-educated and skilled employees.

Effectiveness of the Bioenergy Projects:

Societal Effectiveness
Bioenergy projects provided rural residents clean and safe biogas for

cooking and heating. After the installation of a biogas station, straws

were no longer piled all over in the villages, and sooty kitchens and
chimneys disappeared. Villagers felt living a modern lifestyle, similar to
urban residents using piped gas. This motivated them to improve other
aspects of their daily life. Using biogas also reduced the chance children
caught injured or burned through coal stoves.
With bio-gasification, time used for cooking meals reduced significantly,

freeing time for recreation and education. Traditionally, people in rural

Shandong had to spend significant time on gathering straws, tree
branches and waste wood for fuel. Even after coal was introduced for
cooking in rural areas, buying and transporting coal from outside the
village and heating the coal stoves remained time-consuming tasks,
especially for women. Using biogas saved time. As local people
indicated, after the introduction of bioenergy project, only two persons
are busy firing the gasifier when the whole village is cooking.

Causes of Bio-energy Project Failure:

Institutional Shortcomings
Renewable energy development in China is co-managed by a number of

agencies, both at the national level and at the local level. These
governmental departments work under different national ministries and
have different interests in developing renewable energy resources. No
institutional arrangement has been constructed to encourage
harmonious collaboration between these agencies, or to define clear
hierarchies.
As a result, coordination between different departments is heavily

retarded, and responsibilities of each agency with respect to bioenergy

development are unclear. All governmental departments are reluctant to
monitor the status of biogas stations and to take responsibilities in
ensuring project effectiveness. Stations encountering technical problems
have no addressee for requesting financial and technical support.
This lack of coordination and division of responsibilities is enhanced by

unclear division of responsibilities between the central provincial

departments and the local village authorities. These unclear institutional
arrangements impose important negative impacts on bioenergy projects
in China.

Causes of Bio-energy Project Failure:

Policy Shortcomings
In 1986, the National Economic Committee issued theCircular on Improving

Rural Energy Development. This was the first policy on renewable energy
development that mentioned the importance of bio-energy. However, more
than 20 years later no detailed plans have been formulated, no technical
standards and guidelines for bio-energy been implemented to regulate the
equipment market, and no quantified objectives have been set.
In rural areas, development of bio-energy lacks long-term planning and

strategy. Many county and town governments constructed biogas stations

not in the framework of a long-term energy policy, but following orders from
higher level governments. While most villages had strong enthusiasm for
bio-energy demonstration projects, they lacked the authority and resources
to formulate long-term energy policies that include these projects.
In recent years, emphasis of bioenergy development in Shandong has been

shifted from pyrolysis gasification to marsh gas as the national government

does in its most rural areas. Pyrolysis gasification is no longer attracting the
interest of government leaders. Infrastructure of marsh gas is cheaper to
construct and easier to manage than that of pyrolysis gasification in rural
areas. However, marsh gas projects also encounter many problems. In
northern China, the temperature is very low in winter, which easily freezes
marsh gas pools. There is still no satisfying way to treat poisonous residues,
which could cause heavy metal pollution to crops and vegetables. With
current technologies, production and use of marsh gas is not safe enough.

Causes of Bio-energy Project Failure:

Technical Shortcomings
Pyrolysis gasification technology was designed and developed 20 years

ago, for application in rural areas. Too much attention was paid to
lowering costs, with equipment having a simple structure and laborintensive operation. This had a number of consequences. Insufficient
purification devices were designed, which resulted in tar jamming. The
equipment could not treat wet fuels. The caloric value of produced
biogas was too low. And during construction, no high-quality steel was
used and storage facilities and pipes started to rust and leak biogas.
These technical problems prevented pyrolysis gasification from

becoming a dominant renewable energy technology in China. Some

advanced bioenergy technologies developed in Western countries
remained too expensive for rural areas in China. Although domestic
research institutes are making efforts to improve these technologies and
experiment with electricity generation using biomass (e.g. SZY and
other places), it will take some time before pyrolysis gasification
technology can meet the technological requirements of today.

Causes of Bio-energy Project Failure:

Financial Shortcomings
Financial problems especially occurred during the running of stations. A

biogas station has to pay for fuels, workers salary, electricity bills,
house rent and regular repairs. At the same time, no effective renewable
energy market has been established, and biogas was sold at a low price
(on average 0.20Yuan/m3).
The annual deficit of a biogas station evaluated in this research is

estimated at more than 30,000 Yuan (3000), which had to be

compensated by the village government. Increasing the gas price would
be a logical solution. In order to balance cost and benefit, the gas price
should increase around 60%.
Village officialswho are in charge of setting gas pricesare reluctant

to set higher gas prices, as it is likely to raise strong opposition from

villagers and a reduction in biogas consumption. But village budgets for
necessary repairs, fuels and salary are limited, also because only a part
of the community profit from cheap biogas. SSC station is the only one
that received continuous funding from China's Ministry of Agriculture
during operation, which made it possible to carry out daily maintenance
and further technical improvement. This seems to be a main reason why
SSC station is the only station in good condition. Unfortunately, other
stations can hardly survive without this kind of continuing financial
support from (higher level) governments.

Causes of Bio-energy Project Failure:

Lack of Public Support
Raising gas prices also is difficult as biogas stations did not receive full

support from local residents. Changing cooking routines was one of the major
obstacles, while advantages of biomass gasification have been insufficiently
realized. In some villages, such as YJC, only one-third of the families chose to
install and use pyrolysis gasification equipment. This increased infrastructure
cost per consumer, while later connections to the biogas infrastructure were
significantly more expensive.
In addition, quite some villagers refused to pay for the installation of pipes

and stove, as they claimed that government promotion of bio-energy in rural

areas should come together with free infrastructure. Other villagers were even
reluctant to pay for the biogas consumed. In SSC and NGE, many families
opened the gas meters installed in their kitchens and destroyed the
arithmometer, in order to use biogas for free.
This low public support for bio-gasification had three interdependent reasons.

First, villagers access to information on bio-energy technology was

insufficient, resulting in a lack of confidence on the economic and
environmental benefits bio-gasification could bring. Second, on average the
income level of rural villagers is low. The prime criterion to judge innovations
is direct economic benefit. As sufficient fuels often were locally available for
villagers, this resulted in a lack of urgency to useand pay fornew energy
sources. Finally, prices of LPG, coal and electricity were not high enough to
economically motivate villagers to change to biogas.

Concluding Recommendations
First, it is essential to reform the institutional structure governing bio-

energy projects. Given the cross-departmental nature of bio-energy

development, concentrating the responsibility for bio-energy
development in one department seems not feasible. The establishment of
interdepartmental working groups, both at national and provincial levels,
consisting of representatives from the relevant departments and with
clear mandates, could improve coordination and responsibility allocation.
Second, an effective renewable energy market infrastructure should be

established.
Finally, the technology and management structure of biogas stations

need further development and improvement

Case of China, Part-2

Cases on Using Energy Efficiency to Clean
Up Pollution and Raise Income from Animal
Husbandry

Introduction
Since the reform and opening-up, animal husbandry in China

has attracted global attention for its achievements.

In 2007, national output of meat and poultry ranked first in the
world, with an output of 69 million tons and 25 million tons,
accounting for 25 percent and 38 percent of world output,
respectively.
China also ranked third worldwide in milk output in 2007,
producing 36 million tons, or 5.4 percent of global output.
Animal husbandry has become a pillar industry for Chinas rural
development.

The Impact of Animal Husbandry on

Energy Use and the Environment
Chinas expanding animal husbandry industry is raising peasants income and

improving the living standards of both urban and rural residents. However, the
industry is also posing growing challenges to rural society.
In modern animal husbandry, farmers must provide daily ventilation for indoor

areas, and cool them in summer and heat them in winter. The development of
animal husbandry in China and a continuous increase in its scale has therefore
meant growing energy demand. Global climate change and rising average
temperatures will only make the situation worse.
Animal husbandry also accounts for a significant portion of agricultural GHG
emissions. Livestock and poultry continuously discharge carbon dioxide created
during metabolism, as well as methane produced by fermentation in their
intestinal tracts. Ruminants such as cattle and sheep release methane at much
higher rates than poultry and other animals. Animal waste also releases large
amounts of methane and nitrous oxide during storage and treatment.
The huge volume of wastes from animal husbandry greatly pollutes the rural
environment. In 2007, excrement from beasts and birds reached 2.7 billion tons,
while cultivation sewage reached 11 billion tons. Because of the lack of waste
treatment facilities, most of the wastes and sewage are discharged directly into
the environment, seriously polluting the air, land, and underground water.
Animal waste also contains numerous pathogenic microorganisms, parasitic
ovum, and mosquito and fly larvae, which can harm both people and animals.

Effectively
Two projects in rural China are aiming to raise the income of rural residents
engaged in animal husbandry while reducing energy use, improving the
local environment, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Oversize Marsh Gas Project of Shandong Minhe Animal Husbandry Co
Shandong Minhe Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., is Asias biggest

manufacturer of breeding chickens. The company uses an oversize

marsh gas project, which costs over 60 million Yuan, to produce
combined heat and power. The project includes eight efficient, 3,000cubic-meter anaerobic digesters, which produce 10.95 million cubic
meters of biogas annually. The biogas is sent to a power plant with 3
megawatts of installed capacity. The power plant, connected to the
grid, uses the biogas to produce 60,000 kWh of electricity daily, and
21,900 MWh annually. At a per-unit price of 0.35, the plants annual
income from the sale of electricity is about 7.60 million Yuan.
After anaerobic fermentation, the digesters produce 47 tons of sludge
each year (with a water ratio of 70 percent), which converts to 17.5
tons of organic fertilizer (with a water ratio of 20 percent), as well as
about 850 tons of slurry (with a solid content of 1.3 percent). These
substances retain most of the nutrient content of the chicken manure,
including nitrogen, phosphate, and calcium, making them efficient
green fertilizers.

Effectively
Oversize Marsh Gas Project of Shandong Minhe Animal Husbandry Co
The sludge is applied to crops and fruit trees and used in aquaculture

and floriculture, while the slurries are used to irrigate neighboring

farmland, replacing 310,000 cubic meters of fresh water every year. At
a price of 500 Yuan per ton, the sale of solid fertilizer brings in 3.20
million Yuan each year, and annual income from the sale of both
sludge and slurries totals 3.51 million Yuan.
Total annual income from the project is therefore 11.11 million Yuan,
and net income is 5.61 million Yuan, after operating costs. Given that
the project required an investment of 60 million Yuan, its static
payback time is 10.7 years. However, because the project reduces
GHG emissions by 86,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, the company has
agreed to transfer credits for those reductions to the World Bankthe
first agricultural project approved under the United Nations Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM). At $10 per ton of CO2 equivalent, the
company will receive nearly 58 million Yuan for its GHG credits over a
10-year period.
That income, combined with revenue from the sale of fertilizer, brings
the companys annual gross income from the biogas project to 16.91
million Yuan. After deducting operating costs, the company will see
total net earnings of 11.41 million Yuan per year, enabling it to recover
its investment in 5.3 years.

Effectively
Small Marsh Gas Project in Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province
In 2003, the Party Committee and government of Enshi proposed

creating a model ecological prefecture and villages, with construction

of marsh gas tanks as the core strategy. The government saw this
approach as the key to resolving the three rural issues while also
protecting the environment.
Local leaders planned to construct 700,000 marsh gas tanks in
appropriate rural areas over five years. The cost of facilities was
around 3,0005,000 Yuan each, of which 1,000 Yuan was subsidized by
the government. Farmers themselves paid the remaining 2,0004,000
Yuan. As of 2006, Enshi had built 410,000 marsh gas tanks for home
use, accounting for 44 percent of farm households in the chosen areas.
On February 19, 2009, the project was approved by the CDM Executive
Board and successfully registered as a CDM project. Around 33,000
farmers from eight counties and cities are involved in the project. By
replacing coal use and the traditional approach to managing swine
excrement, the project could reduce GHG emissions by 59,153 tons of
CO2 equivalent while providing income of 330 million Yuan to local
residents over 10 years.

Case of China, Part-3

Cases on Reducing Greenhouse Gas
Emissions from Agriculture and Forestry

Introduction
Rural China has huge potential to save energy and reduce GHG

emissions. Annual straw output totals more than 600 million tons,
and nearly 150 million households are suitable for producing
marsh gas from animal and human excrement. Large areas of
barren mountains and salt lick farmlands are suitable for growing
energy crops.
Using these resources to reduce agricultural GHG emissions
would help increase grain yield, improve the environment, and
bring economic benefits, especially if farmers can receive
payments for producing marketable GHG credits. Projects to
reduce agricultural GHG emissions are therefore becoming very
popular in rural areas.

Xinjiang Chinese Tamarisk Greenhouse

Gas Reduction Project
Overview of the Project
The Chinese Tamarisk Forestation Project aims to reduce GHG emissions

by growing more Chinese tamarisk trees, which store carbon as biomass

while they grow, and also increase the amount of carbon stored in soil.
The project is occurring mainly in Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang, a
multiethnic region with 250,000 square kilometers of land and a
population of 1.8 million. Hotan prefecture includes seven counties and
one cityall of which are high-poverty areas, and thus receive key state
support. Mountains cover 44 percent of the prefecture, deserts 42
percent, and oases 4 percent. Agriculture is the mainstay of the
economy, so farmland accounts for 18 percent of the oasis area, where
local peasants plant mainly cotton, wheat, and fruit trees.
The prefecture planted 100,000 mu with Chinese tamarisk and

inoculated 60,000 mu with herba cistanche (a valuable traditional

medicine) in 2008, and plans to expand reforestation by another 265,000
mu within 10 years. In addition, Manas, Hutubi, and Qitai counties would
then have artificial Chinese tamarisk forests covering 365,000 mu, with a
biologic carbon fixation of 288,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. Carbon
fixation includes the amount of carbon stored in biomass and soil, minus
carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions from the use of fossil fuel and
any chemical fertilizers used to establish the trees.

Xinjiang Chinese Tamarisk Greenhouse

Gas Reduction Project

Benefits of the Project

The initial target from artificial forestation of Chinese tamarisk carbon fixation at

Manas, Hutubi and Qitai County was to reach 365,000 mu and store 288,000 tons
of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2010, which would result in earning of $5 per ton
of carbon dioxide emissions avoided through credits for reducing GHG emissions.
The project would then earn a total of $1.44 million. If forestation in Hotan would
reach 300,000 mu and biological carbon fixation reached 400,000 tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent, the project could earn $2 million.
Farmers could also earn $1.604 million annually from the sale of 2040 tons of

herba cistanches. If the area planted in Chinese tamarisk expands to 365,000 mu

and the area inoculated with herba cistanches reaches 200,000 mu, total income
from the project could reach $5.413.4 million.
The project is already providing more than economic benefits. The trees have

clothed the bare desert in green, and form a windbreak and sand-fixing forest belt
more than 300 kilometers long and 1015 kilometers wide from the oasis margin
in North Manas to the oasis margin of Hutubi County and Qitai County. Vegetation
now covers 54 percent of this land, and the number of species of vegetation has
increased from 4 to 46, because the forest allows a three-layer structure of trees,
shrubs, and grass. These rising levels of biological diversity are expanding the
areas productive potential, preventing the desert from encroaching on the oasis,
and gradually improving the environment on which human survival depends.

Soil Testing and Formulated Fertilization

Project in Sichuan
Jiange County is one of more than 200 counties that have encouraged

farmers to test their soils and then apply fertilizer specially formulated to
provide the precise amount of nitrogen, phosphate, calcium, and trace
elements that the soil and crops need. The goal is to increase the
percentage of the fertilizer that plants absorb while reducing the overall
need for fertilizer.
Crops covered by the project include wheat, rice, corn, and rapeseed. A

survey showed that crops absorb formulated fertilizer much more easily
than regular fertilizer, so farmers can apply less. That helps reduce labor
costs while increasing yield, with no significant change in unit cost.
About 72.2 percent farmers in the demonstration villages therefore
prefer to use formulated fertilizers, covering 77.3 percent of the
demonstration farmland.

Case of India, Part-1

Cases on the Use of Biomass
Energy

Source: Biogas for rural communities: Study report, Center for Technology
Alternatives for Rural Areas, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , May 2011

Gujrat
Introduction
Majority of the biogas plants in India are individual, household level plants.

However, since only comparatively rich villagers have adequate number of

cattle, most small farmers and landless labour and artisans in the villages
cannot have biogas plants.
The common needs of the villagers such as organic fertilizers in large
quantities, lighting and water supply cannot be met from individual plants
as privately owned individual biogas plants are used mostly for cooking and
the sludge for fertilizing the fields.
Some of the other advantages of a community plant are listed below:
Sanitation: with proper management of animal and other agriculture/organic wastes/

village will be clean leading to better health and hygiene in rural areas.
Energy security: conversion of organic waste into methane and its use as fuel will lead to
energy security because the fossil fuel is not going to last forever.
Pollution control: normally aerobic decay of organic waste leads to emission of green
house gases like carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. The process of methanation reduces
green house gas emission and helps in arresting depletion of the ozone layer. This is likely
to earn carbon credits.
Employment generation: Such plants can be easily set up and operated at village level
and can be managed by women self help groups or local entrepreneurs with lower per
capita investment. Since the product has a captive market the plant is bound to be
economically viable and generate employment opportunity for a large number of people .

Gujrat
Introduction
Some of the disadvantages of a community biogas plant (CBP) in

case of India are listed below:

Economic:
High capital and interest cost of CBP compared to the smaller family biogas

plant.
High repair and maintenance cost.

Social:
Women gather fuel wood for cooking while the decision making for CBP is by

the men folk. Therefore, the need for construction of such plants in not dealt
with urgency.
Lack of awareness.

Technical:
Inadequate dung availability.
Initial gestation period of about two months of feeding.
Scarcity of water.
Non-availability of space.
Maintenance problems.
High rate of plant failures.

Gujrat
Overview of the Project:
Bhintbudrak is a village in Uchhal taluka of the Taapi district in Gujrat.

Bhintbudrak is located almost on the Gujrat-Maharashtra border, very close to

the town of Navapur in Maharashtra. The village consists around 500 families
(Population- around 2200), all of which are milk suppliers to the nearby Surat
District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd (SUMUL).
Almost 90% of the total number of households possess cattle or other bovine
animals, the number of cattle at each household ranges from 2-6.
One cow produces around 10-12 kg cow dung per day. Before the establishment
of the biogas plant, this cow dung used to be dried and processed into dung
cakes which were then used to fuel gobar chullas or sold annually to external
contractors at Rs. 800-1200 per tractor load.
Before the biogas supply, the main fuel for cooking was dried dung cakes. Wood,
cut down from nearby forests was also used in some households. Use of LPG
cylinders increased due to the government scheme of free cylinders to belowpoverty-line families.
Idea of the biogas plant was triggered in order to have a proper disposal system
for the cow dung. Before the establishment of biogas plant, the dung would be
collected in households, streets, empty spaces and left there itself till it was sold
to some external contractor. The contractor would collect the dung once in a
year which resulted in dung being piled up in large quantities. This was an
unhygienic practice and raised health concerns.

Gujrat
Overview of the Project:

Satellite map of Bhintbudrak showing closely spaced households (Source:

Wikimapia)

Actual photograph of the plant

Gujrat
Overview of the Project:
The CBP at Bhintbudrak has two major systems viz. the biogas plant itself

and the gas distribution system.

The design of the plant is based upon many factors. Some of the major
factors imposing specific design constraints have been discussed below.
Location of the plant: The site of the plant had to be chosen in the close vicinity of

the main settlement of the village. This constraint is imposed as the plant cannot
be far off from the beneficiary owing to the daily transport of dung to the plant and
piped pressurized gas supply to the beneficiary.
Sizing: The size of the plant was primarily decided by the number of beneficiaries
that signed up for the project. We see that, 121 beneficiaries = 121*30 kg cow
dung per day = 3630 kg per day. Plant has a design capacity of 4500 kg per day.
Important Components of the CBP:
Mixing tank: Water and cow dung is mixed mechanically using pressurized air in the

mixing tank. This process of mixing requires electricity supply.

Digester : There are 2 diesters each of size 85 m3 and floating dome type. The
digestion time is 40 days.
Pressure regulation tank : Gas generated in the floating domes gets transferred to
the pressure regulation tank which pressurizes the gas using water column. Gas
pressurization is essential for its distribution through underground pipes.
Vermicompost sheds : Vermicompost sheds are constructed near the plant to
process the output slurry into vermicompost.

Gujrat
Overview of the Project:
Design of the gas distribution network
The second crucial design aspect is the design of the gas distribution

system. Special care has to be taken so that gas is supplied at each

household with sufficient and equal pressure, irrespective of the
distance of the household from the plant. This is achieved with the help
of the pressure regulation system and the robust distribution network.
A detailed map of this network along with the location of plant and
beneficiary households is shown below.

Gujrat

Daily Operation of CBP

Gujrat
Benefits to the Stakeholders:
Individual beneficiaries:
Health: Biogas is a smoke free fuel. The health hazards due to the smoke emitted by previous cooking
fuels like wood and cow dung is eliminated. Also the efforts and discomforts involved in procuring
firewood for burning are reduced which is an important benefit related to the health of villagers.
Time: Use of biogas for cooking saves the time of villagers as cooking time is reduced and so is the
time spent in collecting firewood.
Convenience: Use of piped gas supply for cooking is surely more convenient than use of traditional
wood or biomass chullas.
Money: As seen in the economics section, each beneficiary earns around Rs. 165 per month from this
scheme.
Village co-operative:
Revenue: The village co-operative generates huge revenue from the CBP which can be used for many
development activities in the village.
Village:
Cleanliness and hygiene: The main vision behind the establishment of CBP was to have a proper cow
dung disposal system. Accordingly, the CBP has contributed in increasing the cleanliness in the village.
Also spread of diseases due to accumulation of cow dung is now not an issue.
Employment generation: The CBP requires 1 supervisor, 4 workers and 10-15 daily wage laborers for
its entire operation. All the staff at the plant is local.
SUMUL:
CSR: Establishment of this plant can be seen as a corporate social responsibility initiative of SUMUL.
Visibility: Huge success of this plant has helped SUMUL gain visibility in various spheres. The
vermicompost produced here is marketed under the SUMUL brand name.
Environment:
Use of clean fuel, proper waste disposal system for cow dung and the prevention of deforestation for
firewood are the main benefits to the environment from the plant. It is estimated that the plant can
generate carbon credits worth Rs. 2,66,000 annually.

Gujrat
Reasons for success :
Involvement of villagers in the establishment and operations: This is

the key factor behind the success of the Bhintbudrak plant. Villagers
contributed a certain amount of money for the construction of the
plant. Also they are involved in its day-to-day operation. As the
villagers have invested in the plant, they feel a sense of ownership of
the plant and strive to maintain its proper functioning. This idea also
supports the observed failure of government schemes wherein 100%
subsidy is provided. 2 similar plants constructed in neighboring villages
failed as people there did not value the plants established out of 100%
government funds and no contribution of the villagers.
High cattle/human ratio: Primary occupation of Bhintbudrak villagers is
milk supply to SUMUL. Therefore, the high cattle population here
ensures sufficient cow dung for the plants operation. The gas
generated is sufficient owing to lower human population.
Closely packed households: The geography of Bhintbudrak is also one
of the factors contributing to the success of the CBP. Households in
Bhintbudrak are very close to each other. Thus it was possible to
construct the plant at a location close to all the beneficiaries which
made transport of dung to the plant and transport of gas from the plant
feasible.

Gujrat
Shortcomings:
Gas supplied at fixed times of the day. Therefore, villagers have to rely

upon alternate fuels if food is to be cooked during those times of the day
when gas is not supplied.
Inefficiency in operations:
The plant is not working in its full capacity considering the amount of gas that

can be produced and the amount of vermicompost that can be produced.

Vermicompost produced= 400-700 bags/month<700*50=35000 kg/month.
Amount of vermicompost if entire slurry is utilized= 2.5 tpd*30*0.6= 45000
kg/month
Production of vermicompost is limited by the availability of land and labor. There
are problems (owner not willing to sell/rent the empty land near the plant which
he uses as a pasture for his cattle) in acquiring land near the plant. Laborers are
hired on daily wage basis. Therefore, there is no fixed manpower devoted to the
vermicompost facility. During harvesting season, laborers (all local) are
preoccupied with farming work and hence the vermicompost production goes
down.
Only 35% of the total amount of gas that can be produced from the input cow
dung is produced. This may be due to a design error.
Non-professional outlook towards the plant operation. A proper business approach

would increase the output drastically.