Independent energy supply for rural householdsThe rural areas in Sichuan Province are among the least developed in China. The Sichuan Household Biogas Programme of Activities (PoA) provides up to one million low-income households with biogas plants and efficient biogas stoves in order to improve people's lives and at the same time contribute to climate protection. The plants are filled with animal faeces that were previously disposed of in open slurry pits. The plants convert organic waste into clean, affordable biogas that can be used for cooking, heating or lighting instead of coal and firewood. After switching to biogas, each smallholder family saves around 2 tons of methane and carbon dioxide emissions per year.The small biogas plants are installed and maintained via a dense network of local service centres and many certified biogas technicians throughout Sichuan. The project was awarded the National Energy Globe Award 2014 as China's best carbon offset project.How do biogas projects help fight global warming?In biogas facilities, biomass ferments into biogas in sealed digesters. Biomass may consist of organic waste or dung from cows or other animals. In countries like India or Vietnam, families use the gas from small biogas plants for cooking. This reduces CO2 emissions that would be produced by cooking with wood or charcoal. Biogas plants also prevent methane from escaping into the atmosphere - as is the case when organic waste is stored in a mine. Instead, the resulting gas is fed directly from the closed container to the cooking units.