If you want inspiration and hope, read about the projects receiving Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. In Rwanda, a prison of 10,000 inmates awaiting trial on the genocide campaign that occured there can produce over 13,000 gallons of sewage per day, and use vast amounts of energy. The Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management (KIST) designed biogas plants that convert the sewage to fuel and produce safe and useful fetilizer, which are now in use in about half of the 30 prisons in Rwanda. From the Ashden Awards:
Travel west from the Rwandan capital, across the peaceful patchwork of this tiny country's hills and valleys, and you'll see little sign of the horrendous genocide which ripped this land apart a mere decade ago.
One exception is the large, fortress-like brick buildings rising here and there from the hilltops, many of them newly-built: they're prisons, home to the 120,000 genocide suspects currently awaiting trial.
Wired News reported that "Once the methane is produced, the remaining waste is used as an odor-free fertilizer for the gardens at the prison...while [the] waste smells bad initially, the biogas that is produced has no
foul odor." As the Warden of a prison in Cyangugu said: "Look at all these bananas! This fertiliser really is the best!"
Check out the Ashden Trust's Awards site to see some other amazing projects, and KIST for more on other Rwandan projects.
