2018 ISEET Annual Conference, 17 th - 19 th July, 2018, Federal University of technology, Akure, Nigeria.
1
Department of Meteorology & Climate Science, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
* Email: aabalogun@futa.edu.ng
; ahmed.balogun@googlemail.com
Abstract
The assessment of performance, energy consumption, and carbon footprint of both motorized and donkey powered vehicles was experimented in this study at FUTA
(Beside Vc’s Lodge). This project work was sorted to address the lack of research relating to donkey powered vehicles in the south-western part of Nigeria. A literature review relating to both the motorized vehicles and donkey powered vehicles in developed and developing countries was undertaken. Factors considered in this comparative study include energy consumption, performance, carbon footprint and carbon equivalent CO
2 e. The information and data was gathered via field observation, where a Nissan Almera car (2004 model), Bajaj Boxer 100 motorcycle, and two different donkeys pulling a two passengers’ cart were each driven for six different trips where both the car and the motorcycle were driven at FUTA campus speed limit of 40km/h (11.11m/s) and time taken was recorded and analysed accordingly. Results were also gotten by plotting the data on histograms and pie chart. The two motorized vehicles outperformed the donkey powered vehicles when focusing on performance, but on energy consumption, both motorized vehicles use fossil fuel and therefore emitted CO
2
to the environment. Consequently a conclusion relating to the measure of performance, energy consumption and carbon footprint of both motorized and donkey powered vehicles was definitely arrived upon. Furthermore, this research has also highlighted the potential advantages and disadvantages of both modes of transportation and need for further studies into the sustainability of donkey powered vehicles.
Keywords: Climate change, Adaptation, Organic fertilizers, Leaf Amaranth
In many countries, working donkeys are used for transport and traction, and they contribute directly and indirectly to household livelihoods and benefit communities as a whole.
Working donkeys may be of direct or indirect use in commercial activities such as taxi services, construction, tourism and transportation of goods and people. See Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. Donkeys are domestic animals that are presently underutilized.
Fig. 1. Donkey cart ride at a park
Fig. 2. Donkey cart adding colour to a wedding
In view of the present government policy to diversify the Nigerian economy away from oil with emphasis on agriculture, solid minerals and tourism, the donkey is positioned to play an important role in farm traction, transportation and entertainment.

2018 ISEET Annual Conference, 17 th - 19 th July, 2018, Federal University of technology, Akure, Nigeria.
At the same time mitigating greenhouse gas emission and adapting to climate change.
As donkeys are predominantly from arid environment, there is a need to understand their performance and needs in humid tropical environments that they are recently being introduced.
1.1
Aim and Objectives
AIM
The aim of this project work is to evaluate the performance, energy consumption and carbon footprint of both motorized and donkey powered vehicles
OBJECTIVES
The specific objectives of this study are to: i) create awareness about the potentials of donkey powered vehicles for local transportation and climate change adaptation and mitigation; ii) compare the performance of motorized vehicles and donkey powered cart over short distances and iii) determine the amount of greenhouse gas emission and carbon footprint of motorized vehicles over short distances.
The study was conducted on a 1.256 km slip road leading to the University research farm on the campus of the Federal University of Technology,
Akure. The capital of Ondo state, Nigeria. FUTA lies between latitude 7˚29’N and longitude 5˚14’E.
The data used in this study were acquired during a
24 trip traverse of the 1.256 km slip road covering a total distance of 2539 meters. Given a campus speed limit of 40km/hr (approximately 11.11m/s) by a Car (Nissan Almera 2004 Model), we compared this with a motorcycle (Bajaj Boxer 100) and two male donkeys, each pulling a two passengers cart.
See Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Vehicles compared- From left, Nissan Almera,
Bajaj Boxer 100 and donkey cart.
The Speed of the car and the motorcycle were monitored with the inbuilt speedometer while; the time taken by both the motorised and donkey powered cart to cover the distance was recorded using a digital stopwatch.
Speed = Distance/Time
The Fuel consumed for each trips by the motorized vehicles was calculated using a ratio of 54 km per
Litre of Fuel (54,000 meters per Liter) for the
Motorcycle (Bajaj Boxer 100) while, the Car (Nissan
Almeria) was at a ratio of 100 km per 8.5 Liters of
Fuel (100,000 meters per 8.5 Liters), as specified by www.bajajauto.com and www.nissan-global.com respectively.
The CO
2
equivalent emitted for each trip was also estimated using the U. S. Environmental Protection
Agency estimate at 1 Gallon of Fuel to emit 8.887kg of CO
2
(3.78541 Litres of petrol to emit 8.887kg of
CO
2
).
Here we present the results of the study. the speed, time taken to complete trips, fuel consumed and the estimated CO
2
emissions by the motorized vehicles, and the donkey powered vehicle.
Figure 4. below shows the time taken by the vehicles to cover a distance of 1.256 km for six (6) consecutive trips, the motorized vehicles were consistent/ Both the car and the motorcycle outperformed the donkeys but there’s a slight difference between the car and the motorcycle.
The motor cycle covered the distance in 200s, while the car did it in 250s. The donkeys on the other hand were spending more time to cover the distance as the trips increase. The brown donkey covered the distance in about 700s for the first three trips, And between 1000 – 1100s for the last 3 trips.
Fig. 4. Time taken for the vehicles to cover a distance of
1.256 Km in each of six (6) trips.
Figures 2, 3 and 4 shows the effect of organic fertilizers on the length, width and number of leaves per plant for all treatments. It was also observed that the plants in
Treatment A and B performed better than all other treatments,

2018 ISEET Annual Conference, 17 th - 19 th July, 2018, Federal University of technology, Akure, Nigeria.
Fig. 5. Speed of Vehicle for each of the six (6) trips
The 11:1:2 ratio of the main plant nutrients (NPK) in urine is not ideal for growing most plants, especially in the early stages of their growth. The balanced array of nutrients present in eco-humus is however compared to urine (Morgan, 2004).
Fig 7. Fuel consumption by the vehicles
The chart above shows that the Donkey powered vehicles use no fuel for its transportation, whereas the motorized vehicles do, with the motorcycle using an average of 0.117331805 liters of fuel for the
6 trips while the car uses an average 0.220025865 liters of fuel for the 6 trips. With a country like Nigeria currently faced with high fuel price resulting from the removal of subsidy, the donkey powered vehicles could be used as an alternative, since it uses no fuel but rather gets its own power from the donkey pulling the cart which gets its own energy in form of chemical energy from the feed. The Bajaj boxer motorcycle has a relatively low fuel consumption compared to the car, and this can be attributed to the fuel economy design of the motorcycle’s engine.
Fig 6. Average speed of the vehicles
Fig 7. Donkey sweating after the 4 th trip
This submission by Morgan supports the better performance of treatment A and B compared to others as displayed in Figures 2, 3 and 4.
It can be deducted from the graph above that the donkeys having consumed no fuel, thus emits no
CO2, making it an environmental friendly mode of transportation while on the other hand, the motorized vehicles emits a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere with the car emitting an average of

2018 ISEET Annual Conference, 17 th - 19 th July, 2018, Federal University of technology, Akure, Nigeria.
0.12913892kg of CO2 and the motorcycle emitting
0.068865097kg of CO2. The emission of this vehicles are directly related to the rate at which they consume fuel, with the donkeys consuming no fuel as stated earlier and the motorcycle consuming less fuel per kilometer compared to the car. It can also be deducted from the graph that using the donkey powered vehicle could help reduce the release of
CO2 (a very powerful greenhouse gas with atmospheric residence time of 100 years), because within a distance of just 2538.888889 meters, a possible estimate of 0.1kg of CO2 (100g of CO2) could be prevented from escaping into the atmosphere. Having an approximate 0.1kg of CO2 released into the atmosphere just from a distance of approximate 2.54km with the probability of spending nothing less a century in the atmosphere, every slight mode of reducing the emission should be looked into.
This paper discusses climate change mitigation and adaptation potentials of organic and sustainable agricultural systems by presenting preliminary findings of the effect of organic manure on leaf amaranth.
Both the car and the motorcycle outperformed the donkeys in speed with an average of 11 m/s an 13 m/s respectively
The white donkey slightly outperformed the brown donkey with 3.02 m/s and 3.05 m/s respectively.
Fatigue was also observed to set in for the donkeys after the third trip and their speed dropped from a maximum of 4.0 m/s to 3.0 m/s.
The car had consumed the highest amount of fuel
(petrol /energy) followed by the motorcycle whereas the donkey cart had consumed none making the donkey powered vehicle a viable alternative green transport option over short distances, conserving energy consumption.
The rate of consumption of energy (fuel) is directly proportional to the carbon dioxide emission. That is for every 0.220504507 liter of fuel consumed by the car 0.129419847kg of CO2 was emitted into the environment and for every 0.120275185 liter of fuel consumed by the motorcycle 0.070592644kg of
CO2 was emitted to the environment.
Therefore contributing to world’s readily existing problem of global warming and climate change challenges at large.
This study is part of the Federal University of
Technology, Akure TETFUND RESEARCH GRANTS
INTERVENTION 2014- VCPU/TETFUND/155
Facilitating the Adoption of Donkey-Power for Local
Transport and Climate Change Adaptation and
Mitigation in Akure, NIGERIA
PI
Prof. Ahmed. A. Balogun
CO-PIs
Prof. L.A.S. Agbetoye, Engr. Dr. Awopetu Yinka,
Prof. J. O. Okunlola AND Dr. I. B. Osho
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