Analysis of Biogas Technology Adoption at Household Level and its Impact on Sustainable Livelihoods

Abstract

The incessant depletion of world energy resources and the global environmental deterioration are a good indicator of banishing the conventional energy extraction technologies in favor of renewable and sustainable options. Pakistan being an agrarian society is home to one of the largest proportion of population dependent on agricultural products and livestock to make ends meet. Fortuitously this also provides an abundant resource for biomass which can be utilized for generating biogas energy. In the era of renewable energy boom, the resource has poignantly not been fully utilized. Whatever portion of the biogas energy has been tapped is not proliferating across the country owing to the lack of knowledge about the impacts of this precious resource. This research endeavor attempted to investigate the impact the biogas technology is imposing on the households that have adopted it. A total of 162 households composed of both adopters and non adopters of the technology were surveyed in the Dera Ismail Khan District of Pakistan in addition to the meetings and discussions with the relevant stakeholders. Resultantly the factors vastly impacting the adoption of the biogas technology were uncovered. Accordingly the apprehensions and misconceptions of the households not employing the technology despite possessing the resources necessary also came to surface. It was found out that the technology had profound impacts on the environment, education, and the health of the adopting families. However the age, education level, and gender of the target population did not bear any correlation with the decision to adopt the technology itself. The major barrier to the adoption of the technology in the target area was the high upfront costs of the technology, and low awareness about the technology’s installation, and maintenance. Keywords— Biogas, Social impact, Livelihoods, rural development, Environment