Enabling a new rural biogas business model…
Koushik, Piyush and Himanshu founded Sustain Earth with a completely different take on the well-known "gobar-gas" or bio-digester model that was the subject of much press in the 1970's.
They spent time re-working the technology for robustness and cost and in addition, re-thought the business model. From the previous idea where the farmer or a group of farmers paid for the digester, this team has shifted to a pay-as-you-go model where the customer pays for the gas rather than for the digester. In this model, Sustain Earth has an additional revenue source through the processing and sale of the bio-slurry that is an output of the bio-digestion process. A portion of the revenue is shared back with the farmer.
Since revenue is now dependent on how much gas the farmer uses, it becomes critical to have a simple, reliable, low cost capability to measure gas consumption that can be used to build the business model on.
After discussions with the Jaaga team, a simple idea evolved. Instead of trying to measure the physical volume of gas with flow sensors, or to measure the total energy content of the fuel being supplied, the team came up with a proxy measurement that could be calibrated to the amount of gas delivered to the customer. This idea utilizes the fact that a small AC pump is used to transmit gas from the digester to the burner. The pump runs with a constant flow-rate, so by measuring the time for which the pump is running we get an indirect measurement of the volume of gas transferred from the digester to the stove. With some calibration, if required, this can be translated into an actual volume, though billing in minutes of gas supplied is an easily understandable metric.
Implementation was simple, using an ESP8266 module to hold the timer code and provide a simple web interface.
A perfect example of a new startup using Jaaga Sustain's framework and virtual CXO services to explore a new business model and find a cost effective technology solution.
