As of today, the acknowledgment of the identity and freedom of self-determination are the two major challenges of the indigenous people. In Indonesia, there are about 50-70 millions indigenous people relying on the sustainability of natural resources. However, the phenomenon of climat changes are then present and poses its own pressure for the survivability and self-determination of those indigenous people.

The source of new and renewable energy is an alternative to the source of ecologically friendly energy. As described in the publication of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in 2016, New and Renewable Energy do not pollute the environment as they do not contribute to climate changes and global warming as the energy generated is acquired through sustainable natural process such as sunlight, wind, water, biofuel (generated through processing of organic matters), and geothermal.

Excerpted from the publication of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in 2016, Indonesia is an archipelagic country blessed with abundant natural resources which may be utilised as the source of energy for the people’s sustainability. The nature’s potentials can be further developed into new and renewable energy to fulfill the needs of national energy throughout Indonesia.

I first came to know aboutBiogas Rumah (BIRU) at a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) exposition at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I had only arrived in Yogyakarta a week earlier, and was excited at the 5 month development-orientated study program that I had ahead of me as part of ACICIS (The Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies).

In such European countries as the Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Finland biogas and biomass utilisation as the primary source of energy are nothing new. As quoted from the ec.europa.eu page, biogas and biomass contribution are as much as 65% of the renewable source of energy category in 2014.

A signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Perum Jasa Tirta (PJT) II and Rumah Energi with regard to the pilot project of effective technology development (biogas) to reduce and deal with the pollution of animal manures in Cisangkuy River, West Java had been signed on February 7, 2017. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed by Djoko Saputro, the CEO of PJT II Jakarta, and Lina Moeis, Executive Director of Rumah Energi at the Representative Office of Perum Jasa Tirta II (PJT II) in Jakarta.