China plugs rural poo power

CHINA WATCH

It is a very “smelly” green energy, and it can only be found in the rural areas in China –  methane.

The methane pits in the rural China change human and animal poo poo into “treasure”– the gas generated in the pits is piped out for cooking, heating and even for lighting.

According to a white paper entitled Environmental Protection in China (1996-2005), by the end of 2005, there were more than 17 million households using methane, and the yearly output of methane reached 6.5 billion cubic meters.

Now the government is making effort to promote it, according to Xinhua news.

“The Chinese government will fund 2.6 million more rural households to build methane pits, which provide clean energy and protect local environment, in 2007, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

An eight-cubic-meter methane pit can provide 80 percent of the energy used by a four-member family in cooking annually. The 18 million methane pits produce energy equivalent to 10.9 million tons of coal and save 3.96 million hectares of forest.”