20-22 SB1009 Cover story 18/9/09 11:39 am Page 20
COVER STORY
Energy from waste
Organic waste has huge potential to produce sustainable energy for the
UK’s household and transport needs. But despite its climate credentials
– and government support – Britain is in danger of missing out on the
full benefit of biogas for a generation. David Strahan reports
SO WASTE
FUEL
W
hen David and Ruth of The Archers supply half our household gas consumption,
decided to set up an anaerobic or one fifth of total UK gas demand, while
digester to make biogas from farm Environmental Protection calculates biogas
waste, they quickly ran into trouble. Intended could replace 16% of our transport energy –
to produce electricity for the national grid and three times more than needed to run the entire
heat for their poly-tunnels, the project was public transport system.
defeated by boardroom bust-ups and Nimby Yet Britain may not reap the full benefit of
protests led by local battle-axe Linda Snell. biogas for a generation. One problem is that
But the would-be energy entrepreneurs of around a third of the 16-18 million tonnes of
Ambridge don’t know the half of it. The real- food waste we jettison annually is controlled by
life obstacles to anaerobic digestion (AD) are local authorities, and they are in a bind. Under
massively greater, the unintended conse- the EU Landfill Directive, councils face strict
quence of perverse British subsidies, EU deadlines in 2010 and 2013 to divert organic
deadlines and local authorities scrambling to waste from landfill to more sustainable means
sign long-term PFI waste contracts. As a of disposal. And these looming EU targets are
result, the potential of hundreds of thousands creating “a degree of crisis management”, says
of tonnes of organic waste to produce sustain- Steve Burdis, vice-chairman of the National
able energy and mitigate climate change could Association of Waste Development Officers.
be squandered for up to 25 years. Yet current British targets, subsidies, and
“This could be a huge missed opportunity procurement rules are driving councils and
that will cost our children dear” says Oliver their private sector waste contractors towards
Harwood, of the Country Land and Business a range of far less energy efficient options such
Association, whose farmer members could as incineration, and some that recover no
provide much of the feedstock for AD. “It energy at all, such as composting. The
really is the last minute of the last hour in a Government, which is a recent convert to
major crisis.” biogas, plans to introduce new incentives in
Unlike most biofuels, the climate creden- 2011, but by then it may be too late. To avoid
tials of biogas are uncontestable. The AD swingeing fines under the EU directive, coun-
process involves feeding organic wastes into a cils are rushing to seal PFI deals with waste
digestion plant that excludes oxygen, where disposal contractors that could effectively lock
microbes break it down to produce methane- in their choices for a quarter of a century.
rich biogas for energy, and a nutrient-laden According to Johnny Johnston, sustainable
‘digestate’ that can be used to make fertilizer gas manager for National Grid, “there is a
or compost. Because AD displaces fossil fuels concern that valuable waste streams for gener-
and carbon-intensive fertilizer, and because it ating biogas may be lost”.
exploits methane that might otherwise be AD has been used in the British water
released to the atmosphere, biogas is reckoned industry for over a century to treat sewage
to deliver negative greenhouse gas emissions sludge because the process kills pathogens,
of as much as 200% in some circumstances. with fertilizer and biogas seen as useful by-
The energy potential of biogas is also huge. products. But the energy content of the biogas
National Grid estimates that biogas could is still largely wasted. Some is simply flared
20 October 2009 ❘ Sustainable Business
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