VELLORE: ‘Hope House’, a local NGO, catering to children in need of care and protection, has come up with a ‘smart’ energy solution worth emulating. The recent decision of the corporation in asking commercial institutions such as hotels, marriage halls and other businesses to manage their own garbage spurred the local NGO to install a biogas plant producing methane gas from vegetable and food waste.
Ruby Nakka, director of the house said that it is a win-win situation for us as well as the nearby hotel which donates the garbage. A donor has borne the cost of `1.4 lakh for the plant that will produce around 4 cubic feet of gas every day. The plant takes up a mere 3-foot diameter space. Ruby installed the plant with the help of a Kerala-based company.
The biogas plant feeds on 15 kg of vegetables and 40 litres of liquid waste every day using hand-washed water, kitchen-water etc for the plant. The gas is enough to meet the cooking needs of the NGO.
“This partnering with the hotel has helped the hotel also avoiding environmental problems in the neighbourhood with garbage thrown out,” Ruby noted. Before the biogas plant was installed, Hope House would use up seven LPG cylinders a month for 27 inmates and guests.
Now one cylinder a month is bought and that too as a backup measure, with the entire kitchen activities being met with biogas.
“We save around `2,700 per month which we are planning to spend on groceries and other essentials,” he said adding, “it is the right time for hotels and other commercial establishments to tie up with nearby households, NGOs and others to eliminate dependency on LPG as well as on the civic body and make use of garbage smartly, “ adding that this is a ‘smart’ solution that needs to be emulated.