Cooking on 5 cows' dung for 15 years: Tk 4,000 a month saved on fuel, plus slurry sales

According to Dhaka Tribune, a resident of Krishnapur village in Bera upazila, Pabna, set up the village's first biogas plant 15 years ago. He now owns five cows, whose dung produces the gas that cooks for his family of eight. The plant needs cleaning only once every four to five years. He once used biogas for lighting too, but now has electricity and uses the gas only for cooking. He says the surplus gas could easily supply three more families. His wife said the family saves about Tk 4,000 a month on fuel, and that livestock owners can earn an extra Tk 2,000–2,500 a month by selling organic fertiliser made from the leftover slurry. In Boalia village of Sujanagar, in the same district, a family has cooked with gas from just two cows for 10 years; their plant cost about Tk 28,000 to build. Energy expert Professor M Shamsul Alam estimated that a small household plant may cost Tk 30,000 to Tk 50,000. The report also notes that plants need regular maintenance and a steady supply of organic waste, which is why some plants have gone inactive and some households favour LPG cylinders.