Project details
1237 · Biogas
  • Haikou, China
Clean and independent energy supply for farmers

With the support from this project, 15,555 biogas digesters have been constructed in rural households in the 20 towns belonging to the city of Haikou in Hainan province. The project helped farmers to build methane digesters where organic matter including manure and wastes are decayed anaerobically. Every household has an average of 2.5 pigs, the manure of which is fed into the digester with a volume of eight cubic metres, producing enough biogas to meet one household's thermal energy demand.

Before the project started, the farmers stored the manure in deep pits with anaerobic conditions for more than three months, which caused large amounts of methane emissions to the atmosphere. The project helps avoid these methane emissions, but also CO2 from cooking. The biogas produced in the digesters is used for cooking meals and heating water, replacing the use of coal stoves which was used in absence of the project activity.

How do biogas projects help fight global warming?In biogas facilities, biomass is fermented into biogas in sealed digesters. Biomass may consist of organic waste or dung from cows or other animals. In countries like India or Vietnam, families use the gas from small biogas plants for cooking. This reduces CO2 emissions that would be produced by cooking with wood or charcoal. Biogas plants also prevent methane from escaping into the atmosphere, as is the case when organic waste is stored in an open pit. Instead, the gas is fed from the closed digesters to specific cookers and thus provides an independent and renewable source of energy.
Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Good Health and Well-BeingImproved hygiene due to better waste treatment; prevention of respiratory diseases by avoiding smoke from cooking
Affordable and Clean EnergyAccess to fossil-free, economic and independent energy supply for rural households
Decent Work and Economic GrowthLocal job opportunities for the construction and maintenance of methane digesters
Climate ActionThe project saves an average of 53,680 tonnes of CO2 per year
Project standardGold Standard VER (GS VER)TechnologyBiogasRegionHaikou, ChinaEstimated annual emission reductions53,680 t CO2