“We often spend around 1.5-2 million rupees ($110-150) on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to pasteurize milk. Now we do not have to spend any money to purchase gas,” said Theresia Rukyatun, who runs a small milk business in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
“By using biogas, we were able to optimize our production process. With what we saved by stopping using LPG, we could provide better benefits to our employees and we could invest more in our storage.”
Theresia is considered one of over 10,000 farmers and small business owners who’ve adopted biogas for his or her needs. Theresia, with the assistance of Yayasan Rumah Energi, invested in a biogas reactor.
Rumah Energi Foundation is an Indonesia-based organization that hopes to vary the best way organic waste is managed in rural communities. One of their programs Home Biogas (BLUE)encourages using biogas as a sustainable energy source for small businesses and houses.
Biogas is a gas produced throughout the anaerobic fermentation of organic waste – biodegradable material that decomposes within the absence of oxygen. The gas is then piped to homes for cooking or lighting gas lamps. The fermented residue becomes bio-slurry, a free, universal fertilizer.
“Our main goal is to protect, preserve and save the environment,” said Wilhemus Leang, Yayasan Rumah Energi provincial coordinator for Our higher world, Singapore International Foundation’s storytelling initiative.
“The methane emitted by cows every day is much more hazardous to the environment compared to vehicle emissions.”
Theresia isn’t the just one benefiting from biogas. Across Indonesia, many farmers and small business owners use biogas in various ways. These include tofu and tempe producers, goat farmers, fish farmers and lots of others.
“We farmers have a lot of resources around us,” says Theresia in an interview with Our Better World. “All we have to do is manage agricultural waste.”
BIRU hopes that more farmers and business owners like Theresia will adopt more sustainable practices.
“We are working with society to think about renewable energy because it is inexhaustible,” says Wilhemus. “The availability of biogas will continue in parallel with the availability of organic waste on the ground.”
Find out more about BIRU and the work they do throughout Indonesia.
contact to learn more about how you need to use biogas in what you are promoting.
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