The county of Jian Yang has been selected by the Sichuan Rural Energy Office to be part of a clean energy deployment pilot programme, together with other districts, among the poorest of the Sichuan province.
Zeng Yuying and her family took the opportunity of the beginning of the programme and the construction of their new house to build a biogas digester. Since the installation and initial training, the family has been using the digester at its best capacity, saving enough money to cover the cost of the digester in a year and supporting the repayment of their house mortgage.
- Digester installed in 2011.
- Saving around 120EUR every year
Zeng Yuying and her family live in a village in the district of Jian Yang county, in the eastern part of the Sichuan province. The household comprises the Zeng Yuying, her husband, an eighteen year-old son, a five-year-old daughter and the mother of Zeng’s husband. The daughter is going to kindergarten, while the son is working in Jian Yang city and coming home every day. The family keeps its production & livestock for its own consumption, including cereals, vegetables, fruits and chickens. They do also have one sow.
The family annual income is around 1,500 EUR. Both parents are doing morning, afternoon or evening shifts for the commune, repairing roads and public facilities. As an additional income, they sell their sow’s piglets once to twice a year.
Before the construction of the digester, the family was using a traditional stove powered by firewood.