Harvesting Energy from the Sun

The sun is crucial as a source of energy for living things, including plants, animals, and humans. It is an abundant, free, and inexhaustible source of energy, except at the time of judgment. The word "sun" is mentioned 25 times in the Quran and is the name of one of the chapters mentioned by Allah in the Quran. This suggests that Allah intended to signal that there is something for humans to explore through the sun (Asy-Syams).

An American Muslim and environmental activist, Ibrahim Abdul Matin (2012), in his book Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet, refers to renewable energy as energy from heaven. According to him, energy from heaven originates from above, meaning it is not extracted from the earth and is renewable. "Extraction causes imbalance (causes climate change), while energy from above is like energy from heaven." 

By 2024, solar power production will reach 453 GW. With wind power generation added, the two sources will account for 97.5% of the total renewable energy, making them the dominant renewable energy source. With wind power production reaching 114 GW, or about a quarter (25%) of solar power, solar energy is crucial due to its competitive cost and rapid development. China is currently the world's leading producer of solar PV. 

China's ambition is to build a "solar great wall" designed to meet Beijing's energy needs. The multi-year project, expected to be completed by 2030, will be 400 kilometers (250 miles) long, 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide, and reach a maximum generating capacity of 100 gigawatts. Currently, the project is reported to have reached a capacity of 5.4 gigawatts. Since 2024, China has led the world in electricity production from solar panels. As of June 2024, China led the world in operating solar power generation capacity with 386,875 megawatts, representing about 51 percent of the global total, according to Global Energy Monitor's Global Solar Power Tracker. The United States ranked second with 79,364 megawatts (11 percent), followed by India with 53,114 megawatts (7 percent). 

Even Elon Musk has been saying it for years, and it's something solar energy pioneers already know: the sun has enough energy to meet all our energy needs. The problem lies not only in ensuring that people have the technology to harvest the sun through solar panels, but in cities and urban centers, one of the biggest issues is storage and what to do with excess energy when the sun is shining, which is why batteries for storing that energy are so important. Consumers and businesses, when possible, typically feed energy back into the grid, where they receive cash or credits for their contribution.

But harvesting solar energy is of course not only done with solar panels (solar PV). Trees or plants also harvest solar energy and convert it into other energy sources, namely biomass-based. Renewable energy sources derived from plants (bio-energy) are also in line with QS. Yaasin (36): 80. To produce these energy sources, whether such as wood, fruit, seeds or other parts of the plant, plants carry out photosynthesis. In addition to water and carbon dioxide (CO2), this photosynthesis process requires sunlight. 

Plants, through the process of photosynthesis, store energy from the sun in the form of biomass, and this is likened to a battery. This green battery of plants can be used as a very large energy source; for more details, read here. Unlike harvesting solar energy with solar panels (solar PV), which is highly dependent on the weather, resulting in intermittent electricity supply, or likewise with wind, which sometimes does not blow, biomass energy from plants will produce stable electricity. Once converted into biomass and harvested as an energy source, the energy will always be available. And to generate electricity from solar panels (solar PV) to overcome weather problems and prevent intermittent electricity supply, very large batteries are required, and currently not available. 

Indonesia is believed to be a tropical country, the biomass heaven. This needs to be translated into more concrete terms so that it can be understood, implemented, proven, and optimally utilized. Its potential is immense and should be used to support the well-being of its people. The simple diagram below illustrates the many possibilities in this tropical "biomass heaven." 

The availability of raw materials is a vital and absolute must for various biomass processing processes to be carried out and be sustainable. On the other hand, there is a huge potential for land that can be utilized for this purpose, amounting to tens of millions of hectares, namely critical land / marginal land, dry land and post-mining land (coal mines, tin mines, nickel mines, copper mines, gold mines and so on). In more detail, it is estimated that for critical / marginal land reaches 24.3 million hectares (Times Indonesia, 2017), while dry land reaches 122.1 million ha consisting of dry acid land covering 108.8 million ha and dry climate dry land covering 13.3 million ha and post-mining damaged land reaching 8 million hectares. Energy plantations or biomass plantations need to be created in these areas and can even be used for various food crops. In fact, currently there are plant species that can only be economically viable in these lands. 

The Quran, as a source of knowledge, teaches how to obtain renewable and sustainable energy that will save humanity and the earth. By delving into and studying the verses of the Quran in detail, we will uncover various important guidance for navigating life. This should motivate and inspire humans, especially Muslims, to conduct beneficial scientific research. Applying existing resources, in line with Quranic guidance, and developing and refining efforts to harvest solar energy must continue. Furthermore, the Quran provides a solid moral, ethical, and legal basis for the balanced and responsible development of science and technology. 

The Quran explicitly emphasizes the importance of knowledge. This is evident in the first verses revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which contain the command to read, and the story of Adam being taught the names of all things, signifying humanity's superiority through knowledge. The Quran encourages travel and observation, thus opening minds to scientific discoveries. The Quran provides guidelines to ensure that the knowledge developed is used for good and does not conflict with moral values. 

Biochar to Increase Biogas Production

Charcoal (biochar) is the raw material for the production of activated carbon. The production of activated charcoal itself goes through two main processes, namely carbonization (pyrolysis) and activation. The surface area of charcoal (biochar) is also smaller than that of activated carbon, but larger than the raw biomass. The carbonization process increases the surface area of the raw biomass. The ratio of surface area between raw biomass, charcoal and activated charcoal is approximately 25 m2 / gram, 200 m2 / gram, 2000 m2 / gram. The larger the surface area of the biomass material that is inserted into the biogas reactor, the greater the penetration of bacteria into the substrate so that the fermentation process that occurs is more perfect so that biogas production will increase. Biochar itself does not participate in fermentation because the main component is stable carbon, while hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin have been decomposed during the carbonization process.

Another example is the addition of biomass briquettes to the biogas reactor, briquetting processs with high pressure and heat also open pores or expand the surface of the biomass, so that biogas production also increases, for more details, read here. The addition of biomass briquettes to the biogas reactor will also increase the C / N ratio, even biochar and activated charcoal have high carbon (C) content.

Charcoal (biochar) has been widely used in the agricultural world to repair damaged soil / soil amendment and thus increase fertility. Good soil fertility will also increase agricultural production. The biochar becomes a home for soil microbes, so that organic materials or compost will break down more completely and be absorbed by plants more as plant nutrients. The charcoal (biochar) pores are the home for these microbes. The more pores, the more microbes will inhabit the biochar as their “house”. The same principle applies to the biogas unit. Another bonus of using biochar is that it absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, thereby contributing to lowering the greenhouse gases that cause climate change and global warming.

Research in Germany shows that adding 5% biochar to a biogas reactor increases methane production by 5% - based on the dry matter of biochar to the substrate. But when the amount of biochar became 10%, it turned out that no more methane was added. This shows that the optimum condition for adding biochar is the amount of 5%. The microbes in the biochar increase the volume of microbes in the reactor so that the production of biogas or especially methane also increases up to 5%. Biochar itself is not decomposed in the fermentation process. 

Meanwhile, the addition of biomass briquettes per 1 tonne of briquettes will increase biogas production by 400 Nm3. This is because in the biomass briquettes, both cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin have not been decomposed, thus adding to the substrate in the biogas reactor. Whereas in biochar, both cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin have been decomposed during the thermal carbonization process, so there is practically no additional substrate, but only microbial addition occurs in the biochar pores.

The important thing about the addition of biochar is that the compost or digestate produced is of better quality with the addition of the biochar. Biochar will make the compost which is produced as a slow release organic fertilizer. This further encourages biochar production, especially for palm oil companies that care about environmental issues and even strive for zero waste conditions.

Palm oil mills have the potential to apply biogas and biochar units. Solid wastes such as empty bunches and mesocarp fiber can be used for biochar production. Palm oil mills can even replace the furnace in the boiler with a gasifier or pyrolyser. This becomes more profitable because in addition to heat energy being used for production of steam which is used for power generation and sterilization of fresh fruit, biochar will also be produced. The biochar produced is then used to increase biogas production and improve the quality of the compost, as well as a fertilizer mixture in palm oil plantations. And even the potential use of biochar to save fertilizer on large palm oil plantations, for more details can be read here.