Biomass energy

The "wonderplant" bamboo is a shallow promise. It's growth might be enourmos but accompanied by too many problems concerning maintenance( a poison snake's paradise) and harvest, in the end unable too fulfill the criteria for a profitable production.

We are often asked about the possibility to produce energy from renewable sources.  Certainly there are many options, but the matter is more complicated than it might appear. The first question arising is who will buy the energy? Many projects that are possible from a technical point of view are out of consideration because they are overall too expensive, impossible to export and fail due to a lack of the necessary qualified personal to take care of such a facility and its safety issues. One good example is biogas. A commercial production would use up too many of the ressources already needed for the planting and production of edible goods. A prominent example is Jatropha. Reportedly 2.500 liters of organic fuel could be produced with one hectar. One liter of this fuel cost 0.50 Euro at the gas station, so we are talking about 1.250 Euro of raw profit per year. But such a project would also need thousands of seedlings to be plantged, maintained and fertilized for 2 years before the first profits can be made. How can small farmers keep their financial stability during those 2 years without any earning? Who would buy their harvest in the end, and at what price? Every rice or maize field produces a harvest after only 3-4 months. This means we won't support any projects that cause farmers to fall into a trap of dependency or even to be driven off their land. Our most important goal is to raise their income continuously and to support the local economy.

The production of bio energy makes sensel only if you use it for yourself and produce it with your own farming waste.  A good example are the bakeries and drying facilities which are fueled by rice husks as a byproduct of the rice harvest. We have already had some promising experiments producing charcoal and charcoal powder. This offers some possibilities for sure but the expensive technical investments are not to be underestimated. Still this remains one of our top priorities. Most interesting would be a facility which turns excess heat into freezing. The demand for ice and cooling is enourmous, for example for fishermen, butcheries and to conserve farming goods. Such a project is unfortunately nowhere near the limits of our technical and financial potential. But certainly we are willing to give our support to investors for a project of such a kind. Solar- or windpower are unapplicable here because the weather is usually rainy and cloudy without any wind blowing, except for the occasional monster typhoon which would smash any investment of this kind into pieces. The Philippines may have a renewable energy source law, but there are simply not the proper weather or climate conditions existing. Besides, two major factors of energy production in the Philippines are already geothermal plants using the heat of volcanoes and in the mountains hydroelectric power plants.

Okra is one interesting plant. The seeds of the overly ripe fruit provide a high quality oil, the remnants of the pressing procedure and the leaves provide animal feeding of high protein content. Stems and husks can be used as burning material. Okra grows nearly without any maintenance or fertilizer and is well applicable in an intercropped culture together with eggplant, tomatoes, or papaya.

How you can help: 1. Donations enforce the success of our projects on a wide scale. Even small donations mean a lot of help for us. 2. Up-to-date pictures and progress reports, feel free to comment here on our projects ! We gladly receive any helpful ideas and informations. It is crucial to the success of our many small projects!