IDRF partner since: 2001
- Focus Area: Education, Women Empowerment and Eco-friendly Development
- Location: Hapur, Uttar Pradesh
- Project Title: Biogas plant at IDRF Tribal Girls’ Hostel
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Details: IDRF got in touch with Dr. Emmanuel D’Silva (a World Bank retiree) and his business partner Narendra Jindal who have set up more than 70 biogas units across India on a pro bono basis. IDRF helped Shiksha Bharati to set up two, new biogas units: a-20 cubic meter digester close to the gaushala run on cow dung and an-8 cubic meter unit run on human waste from the girls’ toilets. The biogas generated from the units meets most of the kitchen fuel needs of the girls’ hostel.
The Shiksha Bharati management is happy with the new biogas unit that employs the latest technology. Unlike traditional dome-shaped cow-dung biogas plants made of bricks and cement, this one is made of synthetic material that looks like a balloon and rolls on the ground. The technology is sourced from Mexico but fabricated in India. The new unit saves about four cylinders of LPG gas per month in winters and five cylinders in summers.
The biogas unit has already generated considerable interest locally. The state’s Minister for Panchayats came on a visit to see the biogas plant and showed his appreciation for IDRF’s eco- friendly vision. The project might inspire other semi-rural schools that have student hostels, gardens or cattle sheds to have biogas units too. IDRF is looking ahead to support the spread of this technology to education/health institutions in other states of India as well.
The two-unit biogas plant installed at IDRF-tribal girls’ hostel
The biogas plant meets the fuel needs in the kitchen at the girls’ hostel
