Farmers in most developing countries across the world face many problems, including mounting energy and waste management issues. While there are various anaerobic digestions systems available to help them manage their waste from plants and animals, they present another problem; the massive amount of water required for their function.

Many of these countries are also facing massive water shortages or even water scarcity, which causes its own problems, and negates the use of vast quantities of water for these purposes. An organisation in Uganda has discovered a method of creating a waste management system that utilises less water, while tackling other problems like deforestation and air quality at the same time.

Anaerobic digestion systems have historically enabled microorganisms to break down biodegradable material then producing biogas. Essentially, water and waste goes into the system and fertiliser and biogas, which turns into heat and electricity, come out.

While this is a great system, there is one huge problem; every kilogram of waste needs to be mixed with a kilogram of water. This means that, in a country where water is scarce and needs to be gathered manually, women and children might need to gather upwards of 80 litres of water per day just for the digester. Unfortunately this results in around 50% of the standard digesters being abandoned within a year.

Green Heat Uganda was founded in 2011 and uses digesters that use a gravity flow filtration system to separate the slurry into solid fertiliser that farmers can use for fertilising their crops while recycling used water back into the system for continued use. These digesters reduce the water usage by 85%, thereby saving in excess of 1.8 million litres of water to date. An added bonus is that these the biogas cuts down on wood and gas required for cooking and electricity.

The Green Heat innovative means that farmers need less labour and less precious resources while producing cleaner outputs and providing the means to a brighter future of renewable energy, food, and water security.

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