Thanks Fred is great to hear a personal connection to this story.
Wes
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Brewing a Future
A southern African brewery spawns a chicken farm, a fish farm, a
mushroom plantation, a Spirulina plantation, an earthworm farm, jobs, and
hope
In natural systems, there is no such thing as waste. Everything that’s
excreted, exhaled, or exhausted from one organism is used by another.
Some of the most innovative industrial designers are following nature’s
model and turning waste into valuable by-products.
Waste is particularly unacceptable in poor regions of the world, where
food, water, and energy are scarce. Gunter Pauli, founder of the Zero
Emissions Research Institute, and George Chan, a civil engineer from
Mauritius, are working primarily in the Third World on designing
industrial processes that turn waste products into valuable inputs for
other processes – particularly those associated with meeting basic
needs.
As Paul Hawken says, "Waste is too expensive; it’s cheaper to do
the right thing."
There’s a new brewery in Namibia in southern Africa that sounds too
good to be true: "Good beer, no chemicals, no pollution, more sales,
and more jobs." When the chairman of Namibia Breweries heard from
George Chan, an engineer, that it is possible to brew beer and generate
no waste, he could not believe it. But as a veteran in the brewing
industry with 60 years of experience in the German tradition, Werner List
was willing to listen.
To his surprise, he found that Chan’s proposals were simple and made a
lot of sense. The Mauritius-born civil engineer was simply applying the
principles of nature: whatever is waste for one is food for someone else.
Namibia Breweries had decided to construct a sorghum brewery in Tsumeb, a
five-hour drive north of Windhoek, the capital city; the question was,
could the zero-emissions concept be applied in the desert? Funded by the
United Nations University, George Chan undertook a field visit in the
summer of 1995 and concluded that it was not only feasible, it was
necessary.
Less than 18 months later, on January 31, 1997, the first phase of the
project was inaugurated by Namibian President Sam Nujoma.
The system, engineered and built under the supervision of George Chan, is
the result of extensive research and design over the Internet. Teams of
scientists from all parts of the world worked together in cyberspace to
figure out how to make best use of the spent grain, the alkaline waste
water, and the CO2 gases that make up 98 percent of the waste from the
brewery. The solutions they developed turn all waste into products that
are particularly valuable in a country that lacks water, food, and
cash.
Traditionally, spent grain left over after the brewing process is given
away to farmers to use as cattle feed. However, cattle cannot digest the
fibers, and the result is a lot of gas. Cattle are the second largest
source of methane gas, one of the major causes of global warming. But
this lignin-cellulose component, which makes up 70 percent to 80 percent
of the spent grain, can be broken down by mushroom enzymes.
So, George Chan brought S.T. Chang, professor at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, to Namibia. This world expert on mushrooms trained the
Namibians in the cultivation of this high-priced product, which the
country traditionally imported. Each day, the brewery will produce four
tons of spent grain – enough to grow one ton of mushrooms. Professor
Chang is confident that Namibia will soon be exporting rather than
importing mushrooms.
The spent grain is up to 26 percent protein. Wasting protein is
unacceptable, particularly in Africa. So George Chan, in cooperation with
Namibia University, is initiating the cultivation of earthworms, which
are to be used as chicken feed. For a country that imports all chicken
feed and 80 percent of its chickens, this is a blessing.
Not a drop of water ...
When George Chan learned that Namibia Breweries had secured a
license to extract ground water, but planned to discharge 80 percent of
it, he designed a system that ensures not a single drop will be lost.
Normally, the law requires that the waste water, which is alkaline,
undergo an expensive chemical treatment process to make it pH neutral.
Instead, the alkaline water will be used for the cultivation of Spirulina
algae, which is up to 70 percent protein – exactly what is needed locally
to fight child malnutrition. Instead of wasting protein, the brewery
becomes a protein factory, and the waste water will generate additional
revenues instead of extra costs.
The residual water is then channeled to fish ponds where fish farming is
introduced. As in China and Vietnam, multiple species of fish and aquatic
plant life will mimic a natural ecosystem, keeping disease to a minimum
and maintaining the health of the ponds. By producing 15 tons of fish per
hectare per year, the brewery will also become a fish factory.
The two most needed ingredients for a fish farm are water and feed.
Namibia traditionally had neither. Now, it has abundant water for fish
farming and feed provided by the earthworm/chicken/mushroom waste
streams.
There is more; the chicken manure goes through a digester and produces
methane gas. The gas, which would otherwise be released into the
atmosphere, is used as a fuel, reducing demand on wood which, for 80
percent of the Tsumeb population, is the main source of energy.
The Namibian brewery will produce a total of 12 products in addition to
beer. This integrated biosystem will produce seven times more food, fuel,
and fertilizer than a conventional operation and four times as many
jobs.
The opening of the brewery in Tsumeb, Namibia, is not just a local
affair. Representatives from around Africa, and Asia, Australia, Europe,
and Latin America will attend a special training course to be held in
Windhoek. This course is aimed at unleashing entrepreneurship and
creativity, resulting in more jobs and a better use of natural resources.
Meanwhile, at the UN University, we have expanded our research on the
application of the zero- emissions concept to vegetable oils (palm,
coconut and olive), construction materials (cement, bamboo), paper,
fruits, sugar, seaweed, and sisal, with a particular emphasis on
techniques and products that can be used in the developing world.
The industrial model of the future
William McDonough, dean of the University of Virginia’s school
of architecture, has said, "Only industry is capable of producing
things no one wants."
Zero emissions is simply the continuation of the drive of industry toward
higher levels of productivity and away from waste. After zero defects
(total quality), zero accidents (total safety), zero inventory
(just-in-time), zero emissions means that all raw materials will be fully
used.
This model could well prove the economists and politicians wrong. They
believe that in order to increase the productivity of a company, you have
to reduce jobs.
We are showing that when you focus on the productivity of the raw
materials, you can generate more income, higher returns, and more jobs,
while at the same time eliminating pollution. This is the industrial
model of the future. s
Professor Keto Mshigeni, a respected botanist
and pro-vice chancellor of the University of Namibia, helped introduce
the zero-emission concept to Namibia.. Email:
kmshigeni@unam.na
Gunter Pauli is founder and director of the Zero
Emissions Research Institute (ZERI) at the UN University in Tokyo. He is
the former CEO of Ecover, a Belgian company that makes natural cleaning
products. His most recent book, Breakthroughs: What Business Can Offer
Society, ©1996, is published by Epsilon Press, Surrey, UK.