For centuries, cattle dung was used to power ovens across the Egyptian countryside, a form of power that only became obsolete when the advent of bottled gas meant that rural families were able to switch to fossil fuels that were more convenient, less smelly and easier to handle. However, today things seem to have gone full circle, and in a pioneering experiment in Fayoum and Menoufiya nearly 1,000 homes will be powered not by the dung itself perhaps, but nevertheless by the gas that can be extracted from that dung. Environmental officials have been excited about the preliminary results of the project. And the public has given it its stamp of approval, with some of those taking part in the experiment saying that producing gas is easier than trying to buy it bottled in the market. As the country strives to meet its declared objective of producing 20 per cent of all its energy needs from renewable resources, such a foray into an amended version of ancient ways is also only one of many, according to experts. The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs , the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, the Social Fund for Development, the Misr Programme, the Ministry of Planning Initiative (UNDP), the New and Renewable Energy Authority, the Agricultural Research Centre, and various NGOs are all taking part in the drive to power villages across Egypt with cattle dung. The stated goal of the project, which started with a sample 100 households in Fayoum three years ago, is to promote bio-energy technologies in a manner that can lead to the “sustainable socio-economic development of rural communities”, according to the project's website. The minister of state for the environment, Layla Iskandar, was joined by environmental experts, UNDP officials and the Indian ambassador in a ceremony to inaugurate more biogas units in Assiut last week. This second initiative, taking off from the earlier project in Fayoum, is part of the Bio-Energy for Sustainable Rural Development-Biomass initiative, a project that started in the villages of Mazazli, Atsa and Ibshway in Fayoum, before moving on to Awlad Ilyas, Al-Nekheila and Kom Asfat in Assiut. The total cost of the project runs to LE4 million, mostly shared between the government and the UNDP. The project aims to install 1,000 household units to generate bio-energy from manure, Iskandar said, adding that the project was part of an initiative to provide renewable energy in a manner that would protect the environment in line with the National Plan for Environmental Action 2002-17. It was also designed to help curb poverty, create work opportunities and improve living conditions in the countryside, she said, as well as to help reduce Egyptian greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Project director Ahmed Medhat said that the project aimed to use household animal refuse to produce an alternative to liquefied natural gas. Some 110 household biogas units have been installed at no cost to residents in villages in Assiut and Fayoum thus far, he said, adding that these had now been operating successfully for a full year. Medhat said that the intention was to replicate the project around the country in cooperation with various government departments, including the ministries of petroleum and international cooperation. Local authorities and NGOs were also active in the project, he said, and the second phase, launched last week, would involve the installation of a further 900 units, with the costs split between the participants and the aid agencies. To finance their share of the costs, the participants will be allowed access to easy loans from the Social Fund for Development, and under the terms of the project participants are provided with routine maintenance as well as a full guarantee of the equipment for three years. According to Medhat, the overall aim is to introduce biomass energy technology to rural areas in a way that is both ecologically and economically rewarding. The technology also allows for the production of high-quality organic fertiliser, he added. Training sessions for new participants began in the second half of October and involved instruction on how to build and maintain the units. These units, which cost around $1,000 each, can produce the equivalent of a bottle of gas every five days, according to environmental expert Nevine Mustafa, who added that the project had also attracted the attention of the Egyptian academic community, with the College of Engineering at Ain Shams University in Cairo now setting up classes in biogas production as part of its curriculum. The dung needed to fuel the equipment is taken from local farms, one such being at Misr Al-Khayr and having 5,000 head of cattle. According to Hala Salem, a housewife who was one of the first people to be given a unit in Fayoum, it had saved her the trouble of buying bottled gas. The project had no adverse health or environmental effects, she added. Government officials hope that the production of bio-fuel in Egypt will not only help to save the environment, but will also save the country's budget from the need to continue expensive fuel subsidies, which are currently estimated to run to LE20 billion on an annual basis. More information is available at http://www.egyptbiomass.com.
