There are many crab apple trees in full bloom in the green house of Zhamdu, a Tibetan farmer in Xigaze Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region. But the primary function of the 40-square-meter greenhouse is to provide a warm environment to allow the animal dung to give off methane gas, which Zhamdu's family uses for cooking.

"Methane gas generated here is piped into our kitchen (where it is burned on a stove) and it takes just a few minutes for a kettle of water to boil," said Zhamdu, 52, as he pointed to a white plastic tube inside his greenhouse.

Though methane gas has long been used in many other rural areas in China, it was technically difficult to get the animal waste to a high enough temperature high up on the plateau before greenhouses were built to solve the problem.

"Thank goodness I don't have to burn the dung patties anymore to make a fire," said his wife Yangzhoin. The thick acrid smoke from burning dung, she said, used to stings her eyes and cover the walls with dirty.

A side benefit to the project are the family's early ripening crab apple trees.

The greenhouses can generate enough methane to last five hours a day and the average life span of the generating facilities is between 15 and 20 years.

It cost 4,000 yuan (500 U.S. dollars) to build the special greenhouse, but Zhamdu's family paid only 500 yuan (62.5 U.S. dollars) the rest came from the local government.

The local government of Xigaze Prefecture in central Tibet has spent 2 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) in research and development program to help more than 360 rural families get the methane generating greenhouses.

"It cuts fuel costs by an average 2,000 yuan (250 U.S. dollars) a year for each family," he said, "And we aim to make methane gas available to 1,000 rural families in the coming five years." said

Li Shengrong, a local official in charge of scientific and technological renovation.

Energy has long been a roadblock to development in Tibet even though the region boasts rich solar energy, wind power and hydropower resources.