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sustainable energy from cassava roots to empower students and people in the countryside.
as a country of shaky, but steady growth, Indonesia's advances often hide festering, invisible flaws under its veneer of progress.
flaws that are cast aside almost as easily as the people they affect so deeply.
flaws, that, unless accounted for, can prove to be their undoing.
Indonesia faces immense electricity supply and distribution challenges... it is estimated that some 30 million people have no access to electricity – the bulk of this unelectrified population resides in rural areas.
"Supporting Indonesia’s Renewable Energy Development in Remote and Rural Areas through Innovative Funding"
-- UNDP Report, 2018
our issues with energy throw into sharp relief the cracks in our foundations -
cracks that can be sealed not by ignorance, but through action.
action surmised best, by the UN itself.
We all know that renewable energy is limitless and will last forever... it will help provide solutions to the climate challenge, and to poverty, food security and many other challenges.
Ban Ki-moon
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Former United Nations Secretary General, served 2007-2016 --
the issue of clean and affordable energy that Indonesia faces can be tackled head on, with the guidance of the SDGs:
the Sustainable Development Goals.
or in our case, a single, specific goal - one that tackles this issue firsthand.
SDG 7
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AFFORDABLE & CLEAN ENERGY
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ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
"
Corrupted by
Coal
For decades, Indonesia has been relying on fossil fuels and coal for its primary electricity supply. And though it helped grow the early seeds of Indonesia's further development, the time has come for change.
Intro
ducing
Bio Fuel
Amidst Indonesia's heavy reliance on fossil fuels to power its lights, bioethanol stands as an agent of change towards the environmental betterment of our energy sources.
Sourced from organic cassava roots, this renewable fuel can greatly reduce the unnecessary carbon footprint involved in the continued usage of common fossil fuels
Cassava
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Cassava are perhaps some of the toughest plants out there.
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They can tolerate many different kinds of soils - they can even stand the poorest ones. And in harsh climates, cassava can still survive.
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In extremely cold temperatures, and even in droughts, cassava undergo long periods of hibernation.
They remain dormant until the weather becomes warm and the soil fresh with water - and when conditions are right, they immediately grow again; as if nothing had happened.
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And what’s more, cassava are perennial plants.
Whereas many plants only last months before harvest, cassava can last for years!
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The Cassava Root - one of many, but still unique all the same
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Harvest times can last from 6 to 24 months after planting. And also, unlike other plants, cassava aren’t usually cultivated from seeds.
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No… cassava are cultivated simply by cutting off a portion of the stem and planting it on the ground.
It’s that easy. (disclaimer: it might not be that easy for the farmers, but it’s easier compared to other plants).
And in Indonesia, cassava is simply abundant - each year, about 15-17 million tonnes of cassava are produced.
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They’re practically everywhere.
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In rural areas, developing cassava is cheaper and easier than using alternative sources of energy like solar power, wind power and hydro power.
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And, as a source of ethanol, there are many ways people living in rural areas can turn cassava into electricity.
hydrolysis
starch >> sugar
The End Result: BioEthanol
As a fuel, ethanol has been a longstanding alternative to more traditional fuels like gasoline, diesel, petrol, and others.
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In fact, the original T mobile developed by Henry Ford ran on an ethanol-gasoline blend.
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Yet, ethanol remained in the background of the fuel industry for many decades - but today, ethanol has been becoming increasingly important as an alternative to its traditional counterparts.
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Its flexibility, carbon-neutrality, and sustainability is driving its presence in not only the global market - but in Indonesia too.
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Flexibility
As a flexible fuel, ethanol is perhaps the easiest alternative fuel to integrate into our machines - and into generators for producing electricity - as low level ethanol blends (E10 being the most widely produced) can be used in normal gasoline generators without the need for special equipment. It’s possible to use higher-level blends (in other words, almost pure ethanol) in normal generators - drastically reducing equipment costs.
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It also helps that ethanol has a much higher octane number than gasoline - making it a far more superior breed of efficiency compared to its traditional counterparts.
Carbon-neutrality
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Furthermore, ethanol has proven itself - time and again - as a fuel low in carbon emissions. Unlike traditional fuels - refined in energy-intensive and environmentally harmful processes from petroleum under the ground - ethanol’s carbon emissions are balanced by the oxygen produced by the plants that it comes from.
It’s carbon-neutral, and it’s already been used as a way to ‘oxygenate’ traditional fuels for cleaner, greener results.
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Sustainability
Last but not least, the cassava-based nature of our bioethanol means that it is a completely renewable source of energy, and readily available across most of Indonesia's many islands.