A STORY OF THE REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE OF TUVALU

BIOGAS -

WHAT A BLAST!!!

WHERE PEOPLE LEARNED HOW TO POWER CARS AND MOTORBIKES

WITH COCONUT OIL AND COOK WITH BIOGAS.

Glaciers are melting, seas are rising, storms, ﬂoods and droughts are increasing,

species are disappearing and if we don’t act now, millions of people will have

to leave their home.

Our planet is drOwning...

How did it come to this?

Simple: to stay warm, the Earth lets the sun’s rays enter the atmosphere

and prevents them from going back into space. How? With what we call green

house gas, such as vapour, carbon dioxide or methane. Together these gases

act like a car window and keep the sun’s heat inside the atmosphere. Without

them, temperature would be -18°C (O°F) instead of the average 15°C (59°F).

This is known as “the Greenhouse Effect”

The problem is that we humans are burning more and more fossil fuels (coal, gas,

diesel, etc) creating more of these greenhouse gases. It’s getting hotter around

the planet and the climate is going crazy. This is what we call “Climate Change”.

The good thing is that we know how to do things differently.

from www.alofatuvalu.tv

and www.mtaterre.fr

Download

Tuvalu, a south paciﬁc nation

made of 9 small low lying islands,

might disappear because of the

rising sea level and the changing

climate. Its people may have

to “abandon ship” and leave

their country.

Hello !

Talofa !

Hi, my name is SIB,

for “Small Is Beautiful”. Yes I am... beautiful... lol...

and so is Tuvalu. I’m one of the heroes of “Our planet under water”,

the comic book... available in many languages... To save Tuvalu

and other territories, we need everyone, all the children of the world...

because there’s a lot to do !

The greek word “energeia”

means “power in action”.

It could be the energy

of our thoughts, our muscles

as well as… the energy

from machines.

Millions of years ago, to live, eat and move around humans

used their own energy and that of their animals. Men learned

how to make ﬁre. Then, using wind, their boats sailed,

and with wind and water their mills turned. Wood was used for heating

and cooking, and animal oil for lights. Humans used whatever they could

get their hands on to create energy.

FOssil Fuels

At the end of the 18th century, men went deeper underground to look

for resources. Coal replaced wood. Burnt in a furnace, it produces

steam that supplies energy to engines, lights and heating systems.

Then, when humans found the way to move electricity through wires,

slowly but surely fossil fuel energy powered our homes.

At the beginning of the 20th century, everything

started going faster with the use of gas and petroleum.

Like coal, they’re fossil fuels. Buried deep in the earth

and oceans, they took millions of years to form…

so they can’t be replaced in a lifetime. We say they

are “non renewable”. Fossil fuels are responsible for 80% of our carbon dioxide

emissions. Today we use energy for everything: to eat, move around, work, wash,

dress, to get cooler or warmer, or play on our phones and pads.

Although we are becoming aware that we are harming the climate, there

are more and more humans on earth using more and more energy. In 3 generations,

we’ve used up half of the world’s easily available fossil fuels. It will cost more and more

to get to them creating more pollution and one day there won’t be any left…

Another good reason to learn how to do things differently!

let’s start

FrOm the beginning

Human

and animal energy

comes from the carbon

contained in the things

they eat..

Biomass is the organic matter from plants (wood, ﬂowers, vegetables)

and animals (poo, grease, fur, etc). It renews itself rapidly. Biomass, like gas,

coal and petroleum, is made of carbon. When burnt it transforms

into energy. The advantage of biomass is that while growing, a plant absorbs carbon

from the atmosphere and soil which is released into the atmosphere when burnt.

In the end, the plant absorbs as much carbon as it emits. Therefore, using

biomass energy sustainably does not increase the quantity of green house gases

in the atmosphere.

Another advantage: plants produce the oxygen we breathe.

Last but not least, with biomass, one can also produce

agrofuels - also called biofuels: biodiesel, bioethanol

and gases.

Nature offers many

renewable energy

sources that can be used without polluting: solar,

wind, geothermal energies, rivers, oceans energies

and… biOmass, made from plants and organic waste.

Tuvalu has a dream: to become fossil fuel independent.

With the Alofa Tuvalu NGO, people in Tuvalu learned

how to create biofuels (biodiesel and bioethanol)

and biogas from coconut trees, plants and animal waste.

renewable energies

Wood is a renewable

resource as long as the number

of trees planted is greater than

the number of trees cut.

Biofuels are liquid or gaseous fuels produced from biomass.

Biodiesel can replace petroleum-based diesel. It’s produced from vegetable oil

(coconut, colza, soy, sunﬂower…) or from animal grease, transformed into biodiesel

by a chemical process called esteriﬁcation. Biodiesel can be used alone in engines

or mixed with diesel. A diesel engine car can also run on colza or coconut oil!

Bioethanol can be used for gasoline engines. It’s an alcohol made from plants

that contain sugar (beats, sugar canes, coconuts, wheat, corn etc). It can be mixed

with gasoline up to 85%. Bioethanol is the most used biofuel in the world.

Tuvalu has enough coconut trees to make local use of biofuels a practical

reality, if they replant from time to time. In some bigger countries, like the USA

or Brazil which actively grow agrofuels, it can become a problem

when there aren’t enough ﬁelds left to grow food. The solution?

- like in Tuvalu - food ﬁrst, fuel second! To help get around this problem,

some scientists are for example working on biofuels from algae.

the biOmass gases

Organic and animal waste has been used to produce gas for quite a long time.

There are at least two ways:

Gasiﬁcation consists of producing a mix

of gases by burning dry, ﬁbrous organic

wastes (wood, sawdust, coconut shells

etc) at a very high temperature, in a kind

of oven called a gasiﬁer. The gas can be used

in a stove for cooking or in a generator

to produce electricity.

Methanisation or digestion produces

methane, the same gas as our farts,

also called biOgas.

In Tuvalu, coconut biodiesel is ideal for electric generators.

Toddy - the alcohol derived from coconut tree sap - was transformed

into bioethanol and was successfully tested on motorbikes and small

ﬁshing boats.

biOdiesel and biOethanOl

With 1kg of biomass,

a LED bulb lights for 20 hours, a tv can work

for around 2 hours and a car can drive for 1 km...

without harming the climate...

In swamps, manure or inside the guts of animals

and humans, a gas called methane or biogas

is formed. It comes from the breaking down,

also called decomposition or methanisation,

of organic waste: wet wood, vegetable

and fruit scraps, grease, fur and hair or… poo.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but when

produced and stored in a digester, it doesn’t get released into the atmosphere

and also provides a renewable form of energy.

A biogas digester functions like our stomach.

During digestion, what we’ve eaten produces a gas (the fart… about 1 liter

per day) and a solid (the poo).

Bacteria, living in an oxygen free

environment, decompose the contents

of the digester and produce compost

and biogas. This process takes several

weeks, but if the digester is fed every

day, just like your stomach, it will produce

compost and gas every day after. Biogas

is used to cook on a stove or to produce

electricity. Compost is a natural fertilizer,

ideal for gardens and ﬁelds.

Biogas in the world... The ﬁrst biogas engines appeared

in 1870. And during World War II, the German army used

trucks that ran on biogas produced from farmyard manure.

Today, in China 20 million families run their personal digesters

from human poo! In Europe, biogas is used to light and heat city blocks

and to run cars and buses. In the UK and the US, dairy farms produce

their biogas from cow manure while, in France, it’s also being produced

with sauerkraut (pickled chopped cabbage) and sausage waste.

biOgas

In Tuvalu, Alofa Tuvalu installed 12 biogas digesters

on 3 of the 9 islands. The ﬁrst one was made of brick

and collects pig manure. The others, made of 2 plastic

containers, one inside the other, digest any

kind of organic waste and the biogas

is used to cook with every day.

Methanisation

BOOM!

We couldn’t invent

it even if we wanted to:

Caca (“poo” in Greek

and French) is the Roman

goddess of Fire!

“what can i dO with my Organic waste?”

• In cities, it’s hard to safely make biogas but I can:

- Compost my organic rubbish and feed the plants

- Ask if we can install a composter in my school and make a vegetable garden to put

the compost in

• In country areas I can:

- Check out existing biogas plants in my area

- Explain the process to my parents and talk to farmers that I know...

did yOu knOw?

Cows burps and farts are made of gases, and methane is one of them. Farm animals

create 14,5% of worldwide human-caused greenhouse gas releases that add

to climate change. Scientists say if we feed the cows with lindseed instead of corn or soy,

we could cut back the amount of methane that they produce by 20%. Hmmm, some

also say, that it might make the animals sick. Well, all considered… nothing’s better

for a cow than grazing in a meadow…

Free energy does take work! The digester

has to be filled daily with organic waste and water. And the gas produced must

be used regularly. To avoid having to empty the digester and start again: no salt,

no soap or any other detergent can enter the mix, as these stop

the digestive process.

BOOM!

Produced by

April 2014

Texts : Gilliane Le Gallic and Fanny Héros

Drawings : Kent

Layout : Elisabeth May

Editorial adviser: Philippe Decaux

Translation from French to English :

Gilliane Le Gallic, Christopher Horner, Linda Cohen,

Sarah Hemstock, Cat Moulogo, Gill Hickman

and her Ringwood school students (Jasmin, Sam,

Rebecca, Millie, Katy and Sam)

With the participation of Sikeli Raisuqe, Gilles Vaitilingom,

Kaio Tiira Taula, Eric Freycenon, Laurent Leguyader,

Monica Fossati, Fanny Vaucelle and Brigitte Cheilan

(teachers), Egon, Antonin, Louise, Alice, Jeanne...

Thanks to Michel Courillon, Yves Leers, Dominique

Campana, Denis Tappero, Florence Clément, FarraH

Diod, Norman Barth (US Embassy), Lee Faeva Moresi,

Leota Sio, Captain Iefata Paeniu, Sailoto and the whole

TMTI team, Garry Wiseman (UNDP), Teuela Manuela,

the Nanumea biogas project volunteers: Tumao, Steven,

Piaka, Failase, Puatei and Nanumea Kaupule.

Say “no to waste”

tO reduce my greenhOuse gas emissiOn,

deserve an a iF :

• Food: I buy local produce and choose seasonal fruits and vegetables. I eat less meat and avoid

industrialized frozen food. I put a cover on pots and pans when cooking (it heats 4 times faster

and uses 4 times less energy).

• Cooling and Heating: I turn off the AC and use natural ventilation whenever possible

and prefer a fan to AC (one of the most harmful appliances for the climate). In cold regions,

if I feel chilly, I put on a sweater. 19°C (66,2°F) is enough. I hunt down drafts coming under doors

or windows…and stop them.

• Waste: I respect the 7R rule: I Rethink the way I buy; I Refuse what I don’t need; I Reduce

my waste by choosing items with the least amount of packaging or… I chose Reﬁll; I have

my things and clothes Repaired; I Reuse and always have some bags on me when I go shopping; I sort

my waste so that paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastic can be Recycled. Globally, about

1,7 billion tons of waste are produced each year. Top 3 wasters are: the United States (800kg

a year per person), China and Japan. Best recycler is Austria with 63% of waste being recycled.

• Water: I turn off the tap when using the soap or brushing my teeth. I check for leaky taps.

I don’t ﬂush after only 1 pee. I take a quick shower (30 liters) rather than a bath (150l, 5 times

more) and save the cold water while it gets warm to use it to water the plants.

• Electricity: I turn off the lights when I leave a room and don’t leave electric or electronic

equipment on standby. I don’t put warm food in the fridge and make sure the fridge door

is properly closed.

• Transport: I walk or ride my bike rather than take a car, I take the train rather than the plane;

I ask my parents if the family car’s engine is well tuned and the tires properly inﬂated; I suggest

carpooling with friends to save a ride.

• Above all: I set the example; I give a presentation to my class on how to protect

the environment; I explain to my friends, especially to the ones who say that environmentally

conscious behavior isn’t worth the effort…

Remember:

what is Good for the planet

is also good for your wallet!!