Bio-gas balloons used to power homes

Nestled in a deep pocket of forest that lies off Thailand's electrical grid, villagers in Pa Deng have become early adopters and evangelists for an unusual alternative energy source: poop.

After successfully lighting up their homes with solar panels and stoves fueled by cow dung, the villagers are now clean energy crusaders in a gas-guzzling country that overwhelmingly relies on fossil fuels.

It was a friend from Myanmar who first told 44-year-old Wisut Janprapai that faeces could be used to power a cooking stove.