By Riccardo De Amici (7 September 2017) – A couple of years ago, international sustainable technology expert Dr. T.H. Culhane gifted to the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Europe a metal mould to build a nano-scale, 10 cubic metre biogas digester. The moulds were gifted to the network with the aim to kick-start a project where a team would move these moulds from one ecovillage to another, to be used by sustainable communities to become self-sufficient for their biogas and fertilizer use.
This green and empowering technology arrived in Tamera ecovillage, Portugal, where a training on how to run a biogas digester was done. Robert Hall, who attended the course, later moved the moulds to Surderbyn ecovillage, in Sweden. There they were used successfully to establish the first closed loop biogas production of its kind in Europe.
Home-scale biogas production is a simple yet very efficient way to reduce any community’s carbon footprint whilst closing the nutrients cycle and adopting a circular economy.
The process involves building a biogas digester, to which water and food waste (or other organic by-product ) is fed, to obtain a production of methane gas and liquid fertilizer.
Thus, this technology is not only simple to run, but it facilitates both the cooking and the farming aspects of our livelihood, besides helping with our solid waste management.
This past July, a team of 10 volunteers from all around Europe was living in Suderbyn, in order to co-organize the annual GEN conference in Angsbacka. During this period, a group of them took bio-metanization to heart, and volunteered to create a team to move the moving biogas mould project forward. During the conference at Angsbacka, this young team of volunteers gave three workshops showing the moulds, how they are assembled, and how the biogas production would work. All of this whilst surveying the interest in the European network about which communities would have been interested to use this gift in their own living context.
Now, this team has compiled a list of communities interested to receive this technology, and is working to structure itself with the aim to start moving these moulds around Europe as soon as possible, from community to community, slowly moving south. Also, we are in the process of building our own website, to spread all the documentation, tutorials and information about how to run a similar production of biogas, beside following the projects’ developments.
Recently we came to an agreement that ECOLISE members ought to have the same opportunities to use this technology, and to be part of the project.
Hence, we are inviting readers to contact us in case you or your local community are interested to host this technology and to receive training about how to run it.
You are also welcome to contact us if you are curious to know more about the project, the team or the technology in general.
We are still looking for committed people to help us organize the logistics for the projects, and for donors to help us achieve our aims.
We believe that, by helping one community at the time, we can show to our neighbours that grassroots movements can indeed cooperate and show society how to move forward, in a more simple, sustainable and ethical way. We are looking forward to your feedback, comments and energy to help us create a more sustainable and inclusive world for the next generations to come.
To contact the team, send an email to .
Here below are the GEN Europe bank details, for any donation please specify ‘Biogas Project’:
Bank account
Postbank Berlin, bank code 10010010,
Account no. 7681105
IBAN: DE 11100100100007681105
BIC: PBNKDEFF100