The potential of biogas technology in fuelwood saving and carbon emission reduction in Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia

The rapid rate of deforestation, combined with Ethiopia's rapid population growth, has resulted in increased energy scarcity, high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and climate change. Biogas technology has recently been described as one of the most promising solutions to the problems of deforestation, energy supply, and climate change. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the potential of biogas technology in fuelwood saving and carbon emission reduction in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select a sample of 192 households (HH) (68 biogas adopters and 124 non-adopters). To conduct the Kitchen efficiency test, 25 test subjects were chosen at random from each category. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent-sample t-test. The energy source for cooking and heating were fuelwood, biogas, animal dung, agricultural residue, and charcoal were the most common energy source for domestic use, accounting for 46.9%, 35.4%, 9.4 %, 5.2 %, and 3.1%, respectively. Kerosene lamps, battery cells, and tiny solar panels were utilized by 35 %, 32.4 %, and 18 % of respondents, respectively, for lighting. The most widely used woody plants for domestic energy usage were Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus saligna, according to the findings. The digester size of 6m³ was used in 93 (56.5%) of the 165 biogas plants, while 8m³ and 10m³ digesters were used in 69 (43.5%) and 3 (1.8%) of the plants, respectively. Hence, the annual fuelwood savings from using biogas technology per household was calculated to be 1856.78 kg per year, with an annual Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction capacity of 2.75 tons per biogas plant. Consequently, it was projected that all functional biogas plants (111) would save around 305.25 tons of CO₂e per year. Generally, Biogas has been proven to be a viable technique for reducing reliance on forest resources and mitigating climate change in general. As a result, the country's energy sector should encourage families to embrace biogas technology to enhance fuelwood availability and reduce carbon emissions.