Dry dung fuel is animal, and in some places human, feces that has been dried so it can be burned as fuel, one of the oldest traditional biomass fuels and still in wide use today. In India dung is shaped by hand into cakes, called upla or kanda, and burned in a traditional hearth called a chulha in place of firewood; a single hand-sized cake yields roughly 2,100 kilojoules of energy. Dung is also collected and fermented to produce biogas, a methane-rich fuel used across rural India, Pakistan and elsewhere to generate electricity and heat. More than two billion people worldwide burn dried animal dung for household energy, mostly in low-income households where it is available at no cost, despite the air pollution the practice causes.
Facts
Source Class First Commercial YearDried dung has been gathered and burned domestically across South Asia and elsewhere for many centuries with no dated commercial market behind it. The first documented packaged commercial sale was through Amazon India, where multiple sellers began listing cow dung cakes in October 2015. Connections
Associated With
Animal dung is classified among the traditional biomass fuels (with firewood, charcoal and agricultural residues) in IEA clean-cooking-access reporting.
Energy Access, Concepts IEA's clean-cooking-access tracking (SDG7) names dung among the traditional biomass fuels driving the global energy-access gap, projecting 2.52 billion people still cooking with biomass by 2030.
Firewood, Energy Sources Dung and firewood are both traditional solid biomass cooking fuels named together in IEA reporting on the roughly 2.3 billion people cooking over open fires or basic stoves.
Open Questions
Source Wikipedia: Dry dung fuel
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Dry dung fuel
WikipediaDry dung fuel article, lede definition
Dry dung fuel (or dry manure fuel) is feces, generally of domestic animals, that have been dried in order to be burned as a fuel source.
- Open Questions: When did commercial trade in dried dung as a fuel begin?
In Group: Wood and Dung Fuels, Lead
Dry dung fuel (or dry manure fuel) is feces, generally of domestic animals, that have been dried in order to be burned as a fuel source.
View the Source 2. CBS News: Why Cow Dung Patties Are Selling Like Hot Cakes Online in India
CBS NewsWhy cow dung patties are selling like hot cakes online in India, quote from Amazon India spokeswoman Madhavi KocharQuote, Why cow dung patties are selling like hot cakes online in India, quote from Amazon India spokeswoman Madhavi Kochar
Cow dung cakes have been listed by multiple sellers on our platform since October and we have received several customer orders
Open Questions (1 open question)
When did commercial trade in dried dung as a fuel begin?
Dry dung fuel has been used since prehistoric times across independent cultures, with no traceable first commercial transaction distinguishing organized trade from household gathering.
What would resolve this A documented history of organized dung-fuel markets, as opposed to household gathering, would resolve this.
Economic history, archaeologyWikipedia: Dry dung fuel
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