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Food Waste to Generate Electricity

But while our leaders wrangle over quotas for greenhouse emissions over banquets at lavish summits, there are remarkable individuals who are doing their small bit to prevent our planet from peril.

Take Nigerian civil engineer, Dr Joseph Adelegan for instance.

He firmly believes that the world’s future fuel demands can be met through renewable energy.

And he is using increasingly innovative methods to achieve these results.

Three years ago Adelegan won plaudits for his “Cows to Kilowatts” project, which used effluents and waste products from abattoirs to produce cooking gas.

The project was a winner of the prestigious 2005 Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (SEED) International Awards.

It is still going strong and being used to provide cooking fuel for nearly 6000 homes in Ibadan, southern Nigeria. Adelegan tells CNN there are now plans to roll it out across most of Africa, including Zimbabwe, Kenya and Egypt.

This time he’s back with another groundbreaking idea to use waste from the cassava plant, a staple food of Nigeria, to generate electricity.

His project “Power to the Poor: Off-Grid Lighting from Cassava Waste in Nigeria,” was awarded a $250,000 grant in May from the World Bank after being named one of the best projects in Africa.

According to Adelegan, Nigeria produces over 20 percent of the world’s output of cassava, it is a $5 billion industry and provides the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food.

However, waste from cassava refining is a major public health problem in Nigeria, causing water pollution and emitting noxious greenhouse gases.

Through innovative biogas technology, zero emission bioreactors at specially constructed plants treat the cassava waste and produce biogas which drives microturbines for low cost, safe and reliable off-grid efficient lighting to thousands of rural homes.

Using this method, Adelegan says he hopes to generate 200kw daily, which will provide basic electricity for more than 2000 households initially.

He told CNN: “There will be four lighting points in their homes. We’re thinking in terms of basic lighting, they will be able to use their TV, cassette player, that sort of thing, but it will not be able to power a refrigerator.

“These people currently rely on kerosene lamps that are very bad for emissions and pollution. We also plan to provide them with low wattage lamps that use just 5kw to bring down usage.”

Through his not-for-profit organization– Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research)– Adelegan has achieved the impressive feat of galvanizing the notoriously bureaucratic Nigerian government into action.

The scheme will cost $310,000 and will become profitable in little over three years, Adelegan says.

“This can never replace fossil fuels because of the huge demand we have for them, but we can help to reduce greenhouse emissions by creating alternative sources of energy,” he said.