A biogas programme in Vietnam, which has been assisted by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), has been short-listed for the Energy Globe Award, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. Since 2003, the programme has provided 25,000 Vietnamese families with cooking facilities, lighting and toilets.
It is being implemented by the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the SNV, and is being co-financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The biogas programme has been short-listed from among 700 projects competing for the prestigious Energy Globe Award, the release said. In the sustainable energy category, two other projects have also been short-listed, and the winner will be announced at a ceremony in the European Parliament building in Brussels on April 11, and presented by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The Energy Globe Award enjoys the support of the United Nations and several leading European energy organisations.
Any family with at least two cows or four pigs can run a simple biogas plant, and the family toilet can often also be connected to it. Such a plant – the last word in sustainability – will generate enough gas to power a stove and a lamp, and the cost of a biogas plant, between 300 and 400 Euro, can be recouped within a few years through savings on firewood, and the rest can still be used as manure, the ministry explained in the release.
Biogas is also a clean cooking fuel, unlike firewood. Research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown that 1.6 million people die every year owing to fuel fumes and poor indoor ventilation.
The Netherlands is committed to improving access to modern energy in developing countries and has undertaken to extend such access to 10 million people by 2015, the ministry said. The SNV’s biogas programme is helping achieve this objective by making plants available to 1.3 million people in Asia, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented.