Rwanda’s Nsinda prison is now running on renewable energy via the waste of nearly 8,000 inmates and cow manure. Many of the prisoners are mostly jailed for their part in the 1994 genocide. Once powered by firewood, the jail is part of an initiative that will eventually reach Rwandan homes.
The country has installed biogas plants in all 14 of its prisons and plans to solely run on biogas by 2013. “Before using biogas, we were using $1.7 million to buy firewood each year. After using biogas, we have reduced that amount by 85%.” Emmanuel Ndori, director of biogas production in Rwanda’s prisons, told Reuters.
Firewood is currently being used to provide about 25% of the prisons’ power needs, but will eventually be phased out. At the Nsinda prison, inmates underwent training to operate the biogas digester units.
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