Image: Rober Couse-Baker/Flickr
Energy comes in many forms. From solar to wind, there are an abundance of energy technologies available today. But one village in Indonesia is using on very different, very unique product to power their homes: Tofu.
The remote Kalisari village in Indonesia has a vibrant tofu producing industry (over 150 tofu businesses, to be exact). To produce this tofu, a lot of water is required. To make just over two pounds of tofu, some nine gallons of water is required. That water, inevitably, transforms into wastewater and it typically tossed into a nearby drainage system.
But the village has found a way to make that waste reusable in the form of energy. By treating the wastewater with a specific type of bacteria, biogas can be produced. The clean, renewable energy can be pumped directly into households.
This from IFL Science:
The village started with just one tank, and they now have five. This alone can provide clean energy to stoves and cookers for more than 100 households. Inspired by the project, officials from surrounding villages and towns are visiting Kalisari village in the hopes of implementing similar schemes, with backing from the Indonesian government’s technology agency. There is also hopes that the tofu-powered biogas could be used to power lights in the village.
The new energy not only reduces Indonesia’s huge amount of greenhouse gases emitted each year, it also provides more stable energy to an area that only sporadically receives gas tanks.
