SICHUAN'S HOME-SCALE BIOGAS DIGESTERS

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Depending on the size of the digester, the gas produced can be used in a number of ways, which include burning it in lamps for light and in stoves for the preparation of meals. But the product of communal methane plants is often used to feed gasoline or diesel engines which have been inexpensively converted to burn methane . . . either in conjunction with, or as a replacement for, conventional liquid fuels. (In the case of gasoline powerplants, a feed pipe equipped with an adjustable valve is tapped into the carburetor body .. . on diesel engines, a similar arrangement supplies the intake manifold with biogas, which is ignited in the cylinder by a small amount of diesel oil.) Such powerplants usually drive generators which furnish electricity for lights and machinery.

If the example set by the Chinese can be duplicated in other nations-including, perhaps, our own-there seems to be little reason why at least some of the world's poor can't enjoy more freedom from disease, better soil, and partial energy self-sufficiency . . . at almost no cost!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Those interested in detailed information on Chinese methane technology will be pleased to learn that Mother's Bookshelf has copies of A Chinese Biogas Manual . . . which is an English translation of the appropriate how-to material. The book is available for $9.95 plus 95d shipping and handling from Mother's Bookshelf, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, North Carolina 28791.

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