detik.com, East Sumba – Living in remote areas with a minimum presence of infrastructures do not leave the inhabitants of Kamanggih Village, East Sumba, losing their creativities. Even the population are able to utilize things which normally considered worthless become highly beneficial.

Presently, the population of Kamanggih Village fulfill their energy needs for cooking by using the gas produced by manures. For them, there is no need to buy LPG with its volatile price.

Agustina, an inhabitant of Kamanggih Village, manages her livestock manures to produce the biogas. The biogas produced is then channeled to the kitchen in the house. All she needs to do then is simply light up the gas stove, and the blue fire is there.

“I have been using biogas to cook, without spending any extra money. Moreover, there are no such things as LPG tanks, the location is too far. Free biogas and you are free to cook anytime without having to worry of running out of gas,” explained Agustina which is fondly known as Ina during the visit of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Sudirman Said to her home, Wednesday (April 8, 2015).

Ina expressed, that she used to cook using the firewood. The village population then received a briefing from Hivos (an international Non-Governmental Organization from the Netherland) to take advantage of the manure.

“Everyday we will need only to add a pail of manure to the reservoir tank. Human faeces are also usable, but it is a bit complicated as biogas may not be contaminated by soap. When there are elements of soaps or detergents, the gas formation from the faeces may be disrupted. Right now there are 30 households in this area which have utilized the biogas for their cooking needs. Each household generate its own biogas needs,” Ina uttered.

In East Sumba, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources through the Directorate of New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation in collaboration with Hivos, SNV, the Embassy of Norway, and Yayasan Rumah Energi manage the BIRU (Domestic Biogas) program.

BIRU is a gas procurement program for domestic cooking purposes with raw materials originating from manures, in which the remaining fermented biogas are bio slurry which may be further utilized as a high quality organic fertilizer.

“The background of the program is the condition of the community which have not utilized the manure production to the maximum level. Manures have been left as waste product without economic and ecological values, thus led to poor sanitation. However, by utilizing the biogas, the community may use the biogas generated not only for cooking purposes but also for lighting purposes. On average, each household may save Rp 50,000/week by using this biogas,” uttered Rida Mulyana, the Director General of EBTKE, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. (rrd/hds)