Milroy Lanza is a reputed house constructor in the Chilaw locality. Delegating an army of twenty construction workers daily, Lanza has earned his reputation for constructing buildings and houses in the area. A member of the North Western Province Constructors Association, Lanza was one of the participants at the biogas awareness creation workshop for constructors conducted through the EU--‐funded SWITCH Asia initiative on “Up--‐scaling Biogas Technology for Sustainable Development and Mitigating Climate Change in Sri Lanka”.
- Type of stakeholder: Domestic
- Type of unit: Chinese
- Size of unit: 8m3
- Waste type: Human and kitchen
- Constructor: St Mary Constructors (By Milroy Lanza himself)
- Slurry use: Home garden
- Total investment: LKR 80,000.00
Having vested an interested following the workshop, Lanza decided that he should first build a biogas unit at his household, use it to test its feasibility and success and then promote it as an upselling tool to his future clients. Lanza himself constructed the biogas unit in his household.
The 8m3 Chinese type biogas unit finds it amidst many other green and sustainable energy tools. Lanza’s backyard houses a solar panel, compost bin and a makeshift rainwater harvesting system. The newly added biogas unit is connected to two toilets (as the house was under construction at the time of installation) and is also used to dispose kitchen waste.
On an average the Lanza family cooks for four household members and occasionally four--‐ten construction workers that resulted in the replacement of 12.5kg LPG cylinders every month. Now however, the women of the house inform us that a good deal of cooking is done using the gas generated from the unit.*
Lanza believes that there is tremendous potential biogas to develop in the country, especially in hotels where wastewater treatment is popular cause of concern. He is determined to try out and test the biogas unit installed in his household for a few months and once he is convinced by the technology is keen on promoting it to his new clients as well.
Note:* The unit was newly installed at the time information for the case study was gathered
