India NEEDS Biogas | Here’s Why

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:03][music] >> Yes, we are all going through it. From your favorite restaurants taking dishes off the menu [music] to cylinders getting costlier, all because India imports 65% [music] of its cooking gas from West Asia. And one conflict, one [music] disruption in the supply chain, and it hits your kitchen directly. But what if the solution to this problem is sitting in your [music] dustbin? I'm Lavanya, and in this episode of The Climate Brief, let's understand the true meaning of trash to treasure with biogas. [music] Spoiler alert, it's a lot better than you can imagine.

[00:00:51]Let's start with understanding how biogas works. We are surrounded by organic waste, animal manure, [music] crop residue, leftover food, vegetable peels, and huge amounts of waste from restaurants and factories. All of this is put into a sealed container called a digester with no oxygen inside. This allows microorganisms to break the organic matter down via a process called anaerobic digestion. And this produces two things. First, biogas, made up of methane, 50 to 75% and carbon [music] dioxide, 20 to 50%. Second is a byproduct called digestate, a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer. So, in simple terms, waste goes in, cooking gas and fertilizer come out. At the most [music] basic level, it fuels your stove at home or powers a restaurant kitchen. At a larger scale, it can run city buses and trucks as a clean transport fuel.

[00:01:50]And once purified and compressed, it can be blended directly into [music] piped gas networks that already run into millions of homes and commercial buildings across India. But here is where we need to pause because it's easy to think it's as simple [music] as this.

[00:02:06]Biogas, unlike solar, is not really designed to work at the level of a single household because a family of four simply does not generate enough kitchen [music] waste on a daily basis to make a biogas system viable in the long run. So, while it might look very interesting, [music] it's not something that can be done on an individual level for most of us.

[00:02:27]Which is why it can majorly operate at two levels. [music] Decentralized community-led biogas plants. All you need is a small-scale [music] digester.

[00:02:37]Gas produced here is piped directly at low pressure from the local digester to nearby households or small commercial kitchens. It doesn't require any further treatment at all. And large-scale or city-level systems. In this case, the raw biogas is purified by removing carbon dioxide and other impurities.

[00:02:58]What you get [music] is compressed biogas or CBG, which is very similar to CNG. This can then be used to run buses, trucks, industrial processes, or even be injected into city gas pipelines that supply gas to our homes. All of this sounds great in theory, but does this work in real life?

[00:03:22]Let's take a quick trip to Indore, which has one [music] of Asia's largest municipal waste biogas plants and produces over 17,000 kg of gas every [music] single day. Every morning, segregated wet waste from across the city is collected [music] and sent to this plant, where it's converted to biogas. Fun fact, around 50% of the gas generated [music] is used for over 400 city buses.

[00:03:49]Now, here's what's striking.

[00:03:51]>> [music] >> If a city like Indore, which has a population of over 3.5 million and generates close to 1,100 metric tons of wet waste, can do this, imagine Delhi with a population of over 30 million [music] generating nearly 11,862 tons of municipal solid waste every single day.

[00:04:12]What can it do?

[00:04:14]The question is [music] whether we build the infrastructure to use it. But did you know that India already has over 5 million [music] small-scale biogas digesters? These systems are usually set up at a community level, where waste from a few hundred households [music] or farms is pooled together and processed in a single plant. Take the example of the Akhauni village in Uttar Pradesh.

[00:04:37]The biogas plant processes close to 3,000 kg of cow dung every day and supplies piped cooking gas to over 125 households. Families usually pay only around 300 to 400 [music] rupees for gas per month, almost half of what they pay to purchase one cylinder, around 900 rupees. Then, there is [music] Akshayakalpa Organic.

[00:05:01]More than 1,700 farmers within their network have installed a biogas unit with an initial [music] cost of just 15,000 rupees. On an average, these farmers have biogas plants that generate 50 cubic [music] meters of gas a day, producing gas that is equivalent to two domestic LPG cylinders. But the benefits get even [music] better. The digested slurry is used as organic manure, improving soil health of the farm. Each farmer saves from 20,000 rupees to 25,000 [music] rupees annually by not purchasing LPG cylinders. And then [music] there are startups like Carbon Masters based out of Bengaluru that are building waste collection [music] and aggregation systems across 300 plus apartment complexes, hotels, and [music] markets, producing biogas, helping with supply to hotels, restaurants, and industries as a substitute for LPG [music] and CNG. I'm sure you've seen the iconic Empire Hotel in Koramangala. They get all of their gas from a biomethane plant set up by Carbon Masters.

[00:06:10]See, I know what you're thinking. Okay, Lavanya, but things work okay now. Why should biogas matter to India?

[00:06:16]The most obvious reason is energy security and decentralization. A large part of the gas we [music] use today, whether it's LPG, CNG, or piped gas, comes from imports. And this is tied to global markets, fluctuating prices, and geopolitical tensions. Biogas breaks that dependence completely as it's generated locally using [music] resources we already have closer to where it is consumed. Naturally, biogas is also cost-effective. Replacing just 20% of natural gas consumption with domestically produced biogas could save India close to 29 billion dollars in import bills over just the next few years. [music] And at a household or community level, you don't have to rely on cylinders, and you lower your monthly costs and protect [music] yourself from LPG price hikes.

[00:07:08]Here's a big picture win of this system.

[00:07:10]Fuel that comes from 10,000 km away comes on board massive ships that use up tons of fuel.

[00:07:18]With biogas, we eliminate this cost and reduce the carbon footprints of all our fuels.

[00:07:24]And here's something you probably haven't thought about, how you can turn waste to value. Every year India produces 500 million tons of agricultural residue, 62 million tons of municipal solid waste, and 3 million tons of cattle dung every single day.

[00:07:42]When we choose not to process this waste, [music] we are not only leaving something very valuable on the table, we are actually harming the climate. Every ton of organic waste that rots in [music] a landfill releases methane into the atmosphere and makes our carbon emissions and air quality much worse.

[00:08:00]Biogas is using the very waste that's poisoning the atmosphere to make it the fuel that powers our stoves and buses.

[00:08:08]The potential is great. India has the ability to produce close to 62 million tons of biogas annually, but at present, we are tapping less than 1% of that. So, where are we now? The government is pushing for biogas as an alternate source of energy. The Gobar Dhan scheme under the Swachh Bharat Mission targets conversion of cattle dung and organic waste into biogas and compost. And recently, it has mandated CBG blending to ensure that biogas be blended into the existing CNG and PNG city gas network. So, what can you do?

[00:08:44]If you live in an apartment, start with your resident welfare association. Most large residential complexes already generate [music] enough wet waste every day to make a community biogas setup viable. Moreover, companies like Hasiru Dala Innovations work with bulk generators to collect, process, and convert [music] wet waste into gas that can be supplied back to common areas. But here's the thing, none of this works [music] without one key step that starts with you. Segregate your wet waste because this habit will make you part of the solution. We hope this has helped you understand biogas a little better.

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