Jody Dunn, a technical officer at the Scientific Research Council, demonstrates to students of the Alston High School how their biogas digester will work when it is completed. - Photo by Dwight Nelson

MAY PEN, Clarendon:

Alston High School in Clarendon is putting in place measures to combat rising energy costs.

The Institution, through its science club and agriculture department in collaboration with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which provides the funding to the tune of US$15,000 (J$1.06 million) and the Scientific Research Council (SRC), which provides the technical expertise, is in the final stages of constructing a biogas digester on its compound.

The biogas digester, which is constructed on the school's farm, will use waste from its piggery operation to produce biogas (methane) which will be used by the school to supplement liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) now used by the canteen and science laboratory. It will also be used to provide energy in the form of heat for birds at the brooding stage in the school's poultry unit, energy for cold storage and organic fertilisers for vegetable production.

Biogas septic tank

Jody Dunn, a technical officer at the SRC, told The Gleaner "we were asked by Alston High School to come and have a look to see how we could help them to supplement their energy cost since they used a lot of LPG and needed to cut back on the purchase of this utility".

"We came and had a look and we later designed a biogas septic tank and a sludge drying bed along with a maturation pond," explained Dunn.

The digester is 20 cubic metres and will need up to 100 pigs for effective operation.

"We welcome this joint project between UNESCO and SRC.We find that this project will be of immense benefit to the institution as we see where we will be able to become self-sufficient over time with cooking gas and organic fertilisers," said Cecil Peters, acting principal at Alston High School.

"This is a farming community and we think that the organic fertiliser we will get from this project will help to drive our vegetable production at this school and the students here embrace such a project because they can see directly how it will benefit them," he added.

Right move

Agriculture teacher at the institution, Ricardo Gardner, said the project was a step in the right direction because of the eventual self-sufficiency it would create.

"We always have the waste lying there growing weeds, but now we can make something useful of it," he said.

Dr Maria Smith, a representative from UNESCO, who oversees the project said she was happy with the enthusiasm of the students and the fact that the school's administration understood the importance of the project.

Although the project is near completion, the institution will have to wait another four months for the biogas digester to be filled with waste and for the fermentation process to produce gas.

In the meantime, the school is looking into other alternative forms of energy, like solar energy, to reduce the cost of lighting up the institution during the night.