Alternative energy supply system to a rural village in Ethiopia

Abstract Background Most households in rural developing countries do not have access to modern energy supply. Household level biogas energy was considered as an option but failed due to lack of sufficient resources for its installation and operation. A community energy system can be an option, but most studies focused on off-grid electricity. This energy system cannot be a realistic option particularly for cooking demand. An efficient and suitable system matching local resources and demand expectation needs to be developed which this study focuses on assessing. Biogas and solar energy technologies are viable to establish such kind of a system since they can be converted to different forms of energy. Therefore, this study aims to determine efficient biogas and solar energy production and utilization options for small scale village energy application in rural Ethiopia. Methods The efficiencies of the production and utilization options are determined based on the system configurations involving resource, conversion, and utilization combination models. We used local resources, data, and relevant literature information for the system analysis. Results The analysis shows that most energy is needed in the form of heat for cooking and a smaller part in the form of electricity (about 10%). The community waste stream converted to biogas will be enough for cooking, but not enough biogas is left to produce enough electricity. Co-digesting altogether provides biogas that can meet only about 75% of the electricity demand. Concentrated solar cookers can be an alternative for cooking in areas where installation of biogas is not possible. About 2-m2 size solar concentrator is sufficient to meet each household’s cooking energy demand. The lighting and appliance energy demand can be met with photovoltaic (PV) energy produced with reasonably sized panels. However, the use of electrical energy for cooking produced with PV cannot be an economic option with the available technologies. Conclusions The community energy system involving anaerobic co-digestion (biogas) and/or solar energy technologies is viable to meet the demand when efficient production and conversion is made based on specific local resource supply and demand

Improving the energy system for a rural community in developing countries:Challenges and sustainable opportunities in using renewable energy resources in Ethiopia

Most people in rural developing countries do not have access to modern energy services for cooking, lighting and powering small appliances. The majority of them depends on traditional use of biomass energy for cooking. Heavy reliance on traditional use of biomass energy imposes huge environmental and health consequences. A lot of efforts have been made to provide modern energy to alleviate the problems. However, most of these are not successful to achieve the desired objectives due to constraints related to technical capacity of the people to use the technology, to economic capacity to afford the costs and to cultural barriers to accept the technology. This PhD project aims to investigate the availability of renewable energy resources and suitable technologies matching local demands and resources. Biomass and solar energy resources and technologies are emphasized and analyzed at both small and large scales. The results show that the available renewable energy potentials are huge; however, their electrical energy is only suitable to meet the lighting and small electric appliance demand. Biogas energy can be technically mature and suitable for the cooking demand, but about 80% of the households do not have sufficient bio-wastes to produce sufficient biogas for their demand. The available bio-wastes are promising to meet the cooking demand when considered at a village scale. However, its sustainability relies on the availability of resources close-by. Hence, biogas system integration can be a better option to achieve sustainable production at lower labor costs, which requires an enabling policy

Bio-Wastes as an Alternative Household Cooking Energy Source in Ethiopia

Up to the present day, wood has been used to supply the needs for cooking in rural Africa. Due to the ongoing deforestation, households need to change to other energy sources. To cover this need, a large amount of people are using residues from agriculture (straw, manure) instead. However, both straw and manure also have a function in agriculture for soil improvement. Using all the straw and manure will seriously affect the food production. In this paper we first determine the amount of energy that households need for cooking (about 7 GJ per year). Then we estimate the amount of residues that can be obtained from the agricultural system and the amount of energy for cooking that can be derived from this amount when different conversion techniques are used. The amount of residues needed is strongly affected by the technology used. The traditional three stone fires require at least two times as much resource than the more advanced technologies. Up to 4 ha of land or 15 cows are needed to provide enough straw and manure to cook on the traditional three stone fires. When more efficient techniques are used (briquetting, biogas) this can be reduced to 2 ha and six cows. Due to large variation in resource availability between households, about 80% of the households own less than 2 ha and 70% holds less than four cows. This means that even when modern, energy efficient techniques are used the largest share of the population is not able to generate enough energy for cooking from their own land and/or cattle. Most rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa may share similar resource holding characteristics for which the results from the current findings on Ethiopia can be relevant

Becoming ‘Swiss’: waste management integration among Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants in Zürich, Switzerland

For Swiss cities, connecting new migrants to basic services, like waste management, has emerged as an essential challenge toward their social and civic integration. Drawing on an ethnographic approach, this study investigates solid waste management integration within Zürich’s Ethiopian and Eritrean migrant communities. Our findings suggest that new arrivals learn quickly and are driven by a motivation to integrate and adapt to expected norms. However, learning is often characterized by trial and error and accompanied by expensive mistakes. Barriers include a lack of translated informational material and insufficient opportunity for asylum seekers to learn rules and norms on waste management. We recommend making standardized materials available and ensuring clear communication in a language that newly arriving migrants can understand. We also recommend targeted training on life skills, including waste management behaviors for asylum seekers at residential processing centers so that refugees can be trained on expected norms before transitioning into an independent living situation

Prevalence of Low Self-esteem and Mental Distress among Undergraduate Medical Students in Jimma University: A Cross- Sectional Study

BACKGROUND፡ Medical students often experience chronic stress. Self-esteem is one of the most important factors in the process of psychosocial growth and has remarkable effect on thoughts, feelings, values, and goals. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of low self-esteem (LSE) and mental distress among Medical Students of Jimma University.METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jimma University from June to July, 2018. Self-esteem was measured with Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Self-administered Short form with General Health Questionnaire was used to assess presence of mental distress.RESULT: Out of 422 students enrolled to the study, 279 (66.1%) were male, and 413 (97.9 %) were 18 to 25 years of age. The prevalence of LSE and mental distress were 19.0%, and 19.7 %, respectively. Students who had LSE had 5 times higher risk of having mental distress, AOR= 5.1 (95% CI, 2.9-8.9). Moreover, female students had higher risk of developing mental distress (AOR=1.9, 95% CI, 1.1-3.3). Students who had poor social support were 4.3 times at higher risk of developing LSE, AOR=4.3 (95% CI, 1.9-9.8). Those who reported to have poor academic performance were also more likely to have LSE AOR= 3.7 (95% CI, 1.3- 10.0).CONCLUSION: One in five medical students had LSE and it is strongly associated with metal distress. Female students were at higher risk of mental distress. Preventive, curative and rehabilitative mental health services should be available for medical students with particular attention to those with poorsocial support

Interaction effects of air pollutants on respiratory and cardiovascular emergency hospital admissions in the Netherlands

Several epidemiological studies were reported world wide on the association between ambient air pol-lution and acute health problems such as mortality or respiratory and cardiovascular emergency hospi-tal admissions. Differences in susceptibility among sub-groups of the population to the effects of am-bient air pollution exposure on health were also reported. However, the interaction effects of air pol-lutants on acute health problems remain unclear. Given the fact that, in real life, people are not ex-posed to single pollutants but to a mixture of pollutants, studying the interaction effects between pol-lutants on health is very relevant. Findings of animal and human experimental studies indicate the interaction effect of air pollutants especially on pulmonary toxicological responses. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiologic interaction effects of air pollutants on respiratory and car-diovascular emergency hospital admissions. The investigation was carried out on 1,020,575 respira-tory, asthma, COPD and cardiovascular emergency hospital admissions during the winter and summer seasons of the years 1992-1999 in The Netherlands. For the investigation we used a case-crossover study design. The case-crossover study design is similar to a case-control study whereby each person who had an event is matched with his/herself on a nearby time period where he or she did not have the event. Conditional logistic regression is used for single and multi-pollutant modelling. Our investiga-tion indicates more admissions during winter than summer. The level of concentration of PM10, BS, SO2 and NO2 was higher during winter while the level of concentration of O3 is higher during summer. We found positive associations between PM10, BS, SO2 and NO2 with respiratory and cardiovascular admissions during winter and between O3 and admissions during summer. The investigation for inter-action of pollutants indicates synergistic and antagonistic effects. The synergistic effect was mainly evident with O3 and SO2 on all cause-specific admissions. For respiratory admissions we found syner-gistic effects between O3 and SO2 during both winter (RR=1.032(95%CI, 1.015, 1.050)) and summer (RR=1.026(95%CI, 1.020, 1.031)) and for cardiovascular admissions a synergistic effect between O3 and SO2 was seen during the summer season (RR=1.010 (95%CI, 1.006, 1.014)). The synergistic ef-fects of BS and SO2 with O3 were more pronounced with asthma admissions during summer and for COPD admissions synergistic effects of NO2 and SO2 with O3 were observed during winter. The syn-ergistic effects of these pollutants are consistent with prior animal and human experimental studies although disease-specific findings are lacking in those studies. In contrast, antagonistic interaction effects were observed between PM10 and O3 on respiratory and cardiovascular admissions. Pollutants with smaller size and chemically reactive undergo positive interaction with O3 and therefore we rec-ommend the reconsideration of interaction effects of air pollutants in air pollution regulation and stan-dardization from a public health perspectives.

Universal Use of Face Masks and Related Challenges During COVID-19 in Developing Countries

BACKGROUND: Governments have imposed physical and social distancing measures together with hand hygiene to contain COVID-19. However, maintaining the recommended social distancing less likely applicable in developing countries where the majority of the people depend on daily income. Countries like Ethiopia imposed universal use of face masks as an additional measure. AIM: This study aims to review and present the advantage and challenges of imposing universal use of face masks in the community and to forward possible recommendations. METHODS: The study was synthesized using a narrative literature review approach involving COVID-19 databases, published literature on COVID-19, and relevant news. RESULTS: The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Ethiopia was reported on March 13, 2020. Consequently, the government has taken swift actions including social distancing and strict hygienic measures to contain its transmission. However, new cases have started to increase with local transmission. Hence, the country imposed additional measures including universal use of face masks at public places. The universal use of masks requires a sufficient supply of masks with affordable costs. Moreover, awareness of the proper use of face masks and its disposal is another challenge affecting its effectiveness against corona virus infection. CONCLUSION: Universal use of face masks can contribute to the containment of the virus in the community if adequately available and properly used and managed after use. Encouraging local production with clear guidance, demonstration, and awareness creation helps to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of face masks particularly among the vulnerable population