Biogas from wet waste, solar cookers, pellet stoves: LPG alternatives see uptick

“My phone has not stopped ringing since the LPG crisis began,” said Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe of Pune, founder of Vaayu Mitra, a decentralised, waste-to-energy biogas model. The set-up promotes the use of home-generated biogas from wet-waste, over the typical LPG supply that homes use for cooking.

The recent West Asia conflict led to an energy crisis in India when the Strait of Hormuz – where most of India’s imported LPG comes through – was closed. Hospitality industry, food processing companies and households in the country rushed to switch to alternatives, many switching back to traditional wood and cow-dung cake-fuelled open stoves, and induction stoves.

Soon after, long queues of people waiting in line for an LPG cylinder became a common sight in almost all cities of India with many paying as high as Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 for a Rs 950 LPG cylinder, many being sold in the black market.

Sahasrabuddhe has been LPG-free for the past seven years and his company has helped restaurants, cafeterias, canteens and families in Pune and nearby cities reduce their dependence on LPG. He has installed the biogas system for around 440 customers since 2015.

The 405 currently active systems of the total installed manage 1,119 tonnes of waste annually, and the biogas...

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