Apr 5 2010
According to a latest World Health Organization report about 1.6.million people die every year due to indoor air pollution induced by the use of wood, crop waste, coal or dung as fuels for cooking.
Justin Henriques, a graduate research fellow at the National Science Foundation in the University of Virginia, who is also Least of These International (LOTI)’s co-executive director, seems to have a remedy for the problem. He is planning to put forth his findings about his invention the biogas digester system during the IEEE Green Technologies Conference. The conference will be held at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, during April 15-16.
In a Radio show called Promise of Tomorrow, Henriques talked on how the 1930s biogas digester was upgraded to transform animal waste into methane gas enough to sustain the gas requirement of a household consisting of eight members. He clarified that his system can be constructed easily and is more compact in size than those used earlier. Henriques further added that his pre-packaged system is easy to install, uses normally available materials and costs less.
During an earlier demonstration at Western Kenya, Henriques and his LOTI team have utilized a combination of cow dung and water as fuel. He also added that most of the disease causing germs that causes illness are killed by anaerobic fermentation.
The IEEE conference will analyse the upcoming technologies that are available for renewable energy, fuel substitutes, and optional power sources for vehicles and also energy-efficient technologies that conserve energy.
Representatives from the University of Texas at Arlington, the University Of Tokyo, Texas A&M University-Campus Christi, Southern Illinois University, Birla Institute of Technology, India; University of Southern California; and the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago will be participating in the conference.
Source: http://www.ieeeusa.org