[ti:Making Power From Coconut Shells, Mango Pits] [ar:Jim Tedder] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [00:04.87]Seth DeBolt is a plant scientist [00:08.62]at the University of Kentucky in the United States. [00:12.20]He and other scientists wanted to find a source of fuel [00:17.59]that poor people in rural areas of developing countries [00:21.57]could use to make electricity. [00:24.75]The United Nations Development Program says [00:28.39]a billion and a half people have no electricity. [00:31.89]A billion others have an undependable supply. [00:36.01]Professor DeBolt went on a study trip to rural Indonesia. [00:41.62]He saw that, everywhere he went, [00:44.35]there was very little waste in the use of agricultural products. [00:49.86]Everything that farmers grew was used for something. [00:53.73]Even the remains of fruit [00:56.15]that people did not eat were fed to chickens. [00:59.88]Little waste meant there was little that could be used for fuel. [01:05.47]Growing a separate fuel crop [01:09.01]would take land away from food crops. [01:11.80]That was something Professor DeBolt did not want to do. [01:16.67]SETH DeBOLT: "The people at most risk with respect [01:19.13]to energy poverty, typically they're the same people [01:22.01]who have food insecurity issues as it is. [01:24.86]And then any change in availability [01:26.86]would be most detrimental to that group of people." [01:30.75]But he found two items that were in plentiful supply [01:34.66]and would not create competition between food and fuel. [01:39.68]Coconut shells and mango pits are generally thrown out. [01:45.46]Yet Professor DeBolt says [01:48.15]they have a lot of energy stored in them. [01:52.43]He says they have an "excellent" heating value [01:55.19]which he compares to coal of low to moderate grade. [01:59.82]The same is true for the pit of an olive, [02:03.79]peach or cherry, or the shell of an almond or walnut. [02:09.01]All someone needs is a way to release that energy. [02:13.22]Seth DeBolt says a company in India, Husk Power Systems, [02:19.11]is using small generators in villages [02:22.48]to make electricity from rice hulls. [02:25.77]The process used is called gasification. [02:29.91]Heating plant matter in a low-oxygen chamber releases gases. [02:35.89]These can be burned in an engine [02:39.13]that turns a power-generating turbine. [02:42.55]Professor DeBolt says he and his team [02:46.46]see possibilities for coconut and mango power. [02:50.83]SETH DeBOLT: "Hey, well these crops are growing here [02:52.74]and these are the areas where there is potential [02:55.68]for energy poverty to be alleviated at least in part [02:59.17]by these small-scale production systems." [03:01.64]The researchers have just published a study [03:04.48]in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [03:08.65]They say these systems could provide [03:12.64]as much as thirteen percent of the energy needs [03:16.22]of a country like Indonesia. [03:18.74]Other tropical countries with large crops of coconuts, [03:23.49]mangoes and similar fruit could benefit, as well. [03:27.88]But Professor DeBolt says this is not a perfect solution. [03:33.83]There are technical questions, like how to safely [03:38.41]deal with the hazardous waste that gasification can produce. [03:43.62]And there needs to be money to get these projects started. [03:48.46]And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [03:54.31]I'm Jim Tedder.