Biogas technology offers a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for addressing energy needs, particularly in rural areas. Despite its potential benefits, the adoption of biogas technology in rural Limpopo, South Africa, remains limited. This paper critically examines the factors hindering its uptake. Using an exploratory approach (Qualitative study), data were gathered through interview guide, field surveys, literature reviews, and expert opinions. The analysis indicates that while biogas is a superior thermal option for household energy crises, several challenges need resolution. Key obstacles include ineffective strategies for promoting biogas in Limpopo. Understanding stakeholder perspectives—such as government bodies, local communities, and private enterprises—is crucial for developing strategies to increase biogas use. Necessary interventions include training, capacity-building, and educational awareness initiatives in rural areas to boost adoption. The financial sector's role in renewable energy is critical, especially as cleaner fuels gain attention. Despite its significant benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing household energy security, biogas technology's acceptance and use remain low.

This paper reports the results of the temperature profile of the unheated and unstirred continuous fermenting bio-slurry in a fixed-dome Deenbandhu 2000 model. The digester is a brick-built system of bulk size 6 m3. The digester was monitored for eight months, measuring internal bio-slurry temperature. A K-type nickel chromium-nickel temperature sensor with a sensitivity of approximately 41 µV and response time of 0.8s in liquids was positioned at the centre of the digester to measure the slurry temperature. The sensor was connected to the data logger and programmed to record temperature readings every second for the entire study period. The study results reported give a clear indication about the reaction of bio-slurry temperature in the digester at a local level, particularly for the eight months’ period, which covered all seasons. The calculated values of the daily average temperature reveal that the digester was operating within the range of psychrophilic 10.32 and mesophilic 28.80 , although it sometimes operated at 35 and above during certain hours in summer. This study is useful for anaerobic digestion processes for biogas production. The results obtained can be used as a basis to estimate the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of digesters to reach an optimum temperature of mesophilic digesters.

This article focuses on the development of a conceptual framework guiding the adoption of biogas technology in selected rural areas of the Limpopo province. The theoretical framing of the study emanated from the critical evaluation of models and work that privileged the technical design and optimisation of a biogas system over the adoption of the technology at the household level. Based on the empirical evidence, and using logistic regression analysis, the study highlighted that determinants of biogas technology adoption in communities are complex, context-dependent and spatially varied. Hence, the policy of biogas adoption should be tailored based on the principle of fit-for-purpose, instead of using existing unimodal approaches for all settings. Based on the findings, the study developed a robust conceptual framework that harnesses the relationships between the influencing variables that can enhance the adoption of biogas technology.

The encasing of wind turbines in a duct to enhance performance is not new. A ducted wind turbine produces more power than an unducted wind turbine of the same parameters. A number of approaches in studying the effects of diffusers and other wind concentrating devices have been done and have resulted in a number of prototypes produced but without any commercialization. The aim of this paper is to investigate the failure of commercialization of ducted turbines. A technical and economic analysis of a ducted turbine is also presented. The work shows that traditional economic methods used to evaluate ducted wind turbines are erroneous; they do not account for external effects of power generation and individual and community benefits derived from this technology. Failure to penetrate the market is due to negative publicity as a result of the erroneous evaluation undertaken and lack of appropriate engineering techniques to protect ducted wind energy systems in extreme wind conditions.