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Farm & Forest
Renewables

Biogas

9 August 2019

The Wensleydale Creamery makes one of England’s best-loved varieties of cheese, but it also produces waste. Now, the bi-products are being put to use creating biogas – the latest evidence of the growing role of cheese in green energy production.

European Sting »

Farm & Forest
Renewables

Grass Power

3 August 2019

There is enough grass in Britain to power every household if it were turned into renewable gas, according to Dale Vince, the founder of green energy company Ecotricity, The Stroud-based businessman said that Ecotricity plans to build its first grass-powered energy plant in Hampshire by the end of this year in a move to eliminate the demand for industrial farming waste. The project, which will cost Ecotricity £15m, is primed to be the first major investment by a UK company into this type of energy. “It is relatively new, we can basically make gas and put it into the gas grid in the same way that we can with electricity from renewables,” Mr Vince said.

Telegraph »

Farm & Forest

Anaerobic Digestion

4 July 2019

Biogas could be used to slash global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 13%. That’s the verdict from the World Biogas Association (WBA), which claims the fuel has a great potential to address a wide range of environmental and economic challenges around the world. It suggests biogas, which is a mixture of gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen, could be used to help cut global greenhouse gas emissions from 3,290 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents to 4,360 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. This would be achieved by substituting coal, oil and gas in international energy mixes, as well as avoiding emissions through the better management of organic wastes and reducing the need for fossil fertiliser manufacture, crop burning and deforestation. The report highlights that currently, only 2% of available feedstocks undergo anaerobic digestion and are turned into biogas – these wastes include food, sewage, agricultural slurry and leftover crops.

Energy Live News »

Farm & Forest

Energy Source Hidden in Plain Sight

15 June 2019

Grass cuttings from verges that have been allowed to grow into wildflower meadows will be cut at the end of summer and sold to the National Grid to create energy in the first scheme of its kind. Lincolnshire County Council is letting its grass verges grow wild over summer in order to encourage pollinators such as butterflies and bees instead of mowing them. At the end of the summer, the grass will be shorn and the long cuttings sent to be used as biofuel. The money made from the scheme will be put back into maintaining the verges for next year. While verges are often ignored, they provide important habitats for wildlife and also have potential to be used for peat-fee compost and green fuel. Mark, the project manager at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust says “It’s just as if our biggest nature reserve has been hidden in plain sight.

Telegraph »

Farm & Forest
Renewable Heat

Green Gas for Bristol

18 April 2018

Residents of Bristol could soon be cooking their evening meal using energy produced from poo, thanks to a new partnership announced yesterday between local utility Bristol Energy and anaerobic digestion experts GENeco. GENeco, the company behind the UK’s first bio-bus powered by sewage and liquid organic waste, is now supplying Bristol Energy with biomethane from sewage waste collected from the homes of a million people in the local area. GENeco now treats 75,000,000m3 of sewage waste every year, enough to power more than 8,000 homes with green gas. Customers who sign up to Bristol Energy’s My Green Plus tariff will receive 15 per cent green gas and 100 per cent green electricity, compared to a national average of 0.1 per cent. As well as using sewage to create green gas, GENeco also collects food waste as feedstock. Last October GENeco launched the first vehicle in the UK to both collect and run on commercial food waste. The Bio-Bee truck collects food waste and takes it to GENeco’s anaerobic digestion plant, where the waste is processed to remove any plastic and then turned into low carbon biogas.

Business Green »

Farm & Forest
Renewables
Taking Action

Buses to run on poo

19 May 2017

A new fleet of buses that run on biomethane have been unveiled by Nottingham City Transport (NCT). The £17m double-decker bus fleet will be powered by a biogas produced by sewage and waste. NCT engineering director, Gary Mason, said: ‘We are hugely proud of our new biogas buses. This is the largest order for gas double decks in the world and is the culmination of our extensive research into alternative fuels. ‘When [biomethane] is used, emissions are 84% lower than their diesel counterparts, thereby making them – from ‘well to wheel’ – the greenest buses on the road.’ The Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) said the Government should provide more support for low-carbon transport fuels such as biomethane. ADBA chief executive, Charlotte Morton, said: ‘Scania’s new Bio-Gas buses are a great example of the effectiveness of biomethane as a low-carbon, low-cost transport fuel that can help to reduce the scandalous levels of air pollution we see in towns and cities across the UK, costing thousands of lives each year.

Local Government »

Farm & Forest
Renewable Heat

Green Gas

10 January 2017

Barrow Green Gas (BGG) has ‘launched’ biomethane into the UK national gas network for a record 33 biomethane producers – more than any other gas shipper in Great Britain – as new regulatory environmental reporting alongside financial reporting requirements impacts large corporate. Every month more green gas comes available via BGG as new biomethane producers connect to the grid and existing ones produce increasing amounts. Tim Davis, Managing Director, BGG, said: “2016 is the year where we have seen green gas really take off with increasing numbers of producers injecting green gas into the existing gas grid. This year we saw our gas being supplied to some of the UK’s leading renewable energy suppliers, with Good Energy and Green Energy UK offering green gas to customers. We are also supplying CNG Fuels with green gas as a transport fuel that is being used by Waitrose, John Lewis, Argos and Brit European – a great alternative to diesel.” The UK has the fastest growing green gas market in the world and dedicated biomethane shipper, BGG, is the largest shipper of biomethane. In addition, BGG markets green gas certificates (GGCs), the value of which is now considerably increased for companies when reporting their emissions.

Scottish Energy News »

Farm & Forest

Green Gas Doubles

8 December 2016

The number of anaerobic digestion (AD) plants delivering green gas to the grid has doubled in the past year to almost 90 sites, according to the latest figures from the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA). The industry group’s annual Market Report revealed that in addition to a surge in the number of facilities injecting biomethane into the grid the total number of AD plants in the UK has risen from 424 to 540 in the past year. The group said AD technologies have already reduced UK greenhouse gas emissions by nearly one per cent annually. The investment in new capacity has been achieved despite changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive and wider policy environment, which some within the industry have accused of hampering the expansion of the sector. Charlotte Morton, chief executive of ADBA, said the growth of the sector, in particular in terms of the number of grid connections, demonstrated that “green gas has gone mainstream” over the past two years. “Biomethane [is] now heating around 170,000 homes in the UK without the householder needing to do anything differently themselves,” she said. “Biomethane to grid is a real success story for the Renewable Heat Incentive, and we look forward to the government setting out its plans for the next phase of the support scheme.” The report comes just days after National Grid Gas Distribution announced it has secured £4.8m of funding from Ofgem to support a pilot project designed to boost the use of green gas across the grid. The three-year pilot study aims to update the way gas bills are calculated, to take into account more of the green, lower carbon alternatives to natural gas that are increasingly coming online.

Business Green »

Farm & Forest

Small Anaerobic Digesters

22 November 2016

A Spanish small-wind turbine manufacturer has launched a new integrated biogas solution for agricultural, utility and industrial users throughout the UK. Known as the Norvento-BioPlant, the system enables small and medium sized companies and landowners to sustainably manage organic waste and turn it into renewable gas, electricity or both, allowing them to take a step towards energy independence. Norvento’s BioPlant is a medium sized system for the agricultural and landfill waste sectors that will benefit from the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) sweet spots, which range between 150kWh for electricity and 600kWh for heat.

Scottish Energy News »

Farm & Forest
Renewables

Green Gas Mill Launched

18 November 2016

The grass is always greener than the gas on the other side, according to a British businessman who claims grasslands could provide enough gas to heat all of the UK’s homes. Dale Vince, the chairman of renewable energy company Ecotricity, is investing £10m in the first of a generation of what he calls ‘green gas mills’ that he says could compete against gas from fracking. The company said its Hampshire plant at Sparsholt College, which has planning permission and is slated to be operational in 2018, will take grass harvested from nearby fields and break it down in an anaerobic digester. Grass at the plant would be turned into biomethane within 45 days and then injected into the national network, providing the heating needs of more than 4,000 homes. A report by Ecotricity on Thursday said there are around 6m hectares of suitable grassland in the UK, not including arable land for crops. It argued this would be enough to match the amount of gas the National Grid forecasts homes will consume by 2035, but doing so would require the building of around 5,000 mills akin to the Hampshire one. Vince admitted that getting to that point would be a huge challenge, given no other country had done it before and it was a new approach in the UK. “It would be a massive undertaking but it would be permanent. Grass keeps growing, it doesn’t run out, unlike gas from fracking. Most of the value would be in the hands of farmers who, post-Brexit, may be in need of it,” he told the Guardian. The company is planning four other mills in addition to the one at Sparsholt College – in Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, Wiltshire. Ecotricity is lobbying the government to secure subsidies for the plants, via the renewable heat incentive, which currently excludes support for grass.

Guardian »

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Latest News

  • Nottingham’s Net Zero Ambition

    Nottingham City Council has been named the overall winner in the Guardian’s Public Service Awards. He Council announced in January that it intended to become the UK’s first carbon-neutral city by 2028. It has already met its 2020 target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 26% four years early; more than 40% of all journeys in Nottingham are made on public transport and solar panels have been installed on more than 4,000 council houses. Energy consumption of council buildings has been cut by 39% and it is on track to generate 20% of its energy from low-carbon sources by next year. And last year the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded that the city’s air pollution had fallen so much that a Clean Air Zone was not needed. Making the carbon neutral commitment was only possible, says Sally Longford, the Labour council’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for energy and environment, because of the work that had gone before. “We got a lot of stick over the years. People thought we were anti-car, because we introduced various schemes to try and reduce car usage and congestion.” But it has paid off. “When I was talking to the officers about how far we could push this they were confident we could go further than other councils because of all the work we’d already done.” One policy in particular, its workplace parking levy (WPL), was a “gamechanger” according to Longford. Introduced in 2012, the WPL is aimed at employers providing 11 or more commuter parking spaces, with an annual rate of £415 per space. It is still the only such scheme in the UK and has not only tackled congestion and pollution but netted the council £61m for improving and “greening” public transport. That money has helped with the redevelopment of Nottingham station, an expansion of the tram network that runs on green electricity from the council’s own energy company, and the council’s fleet of 58 electric buses that has reduced carbon emissions by more than 1,050 tonnes. “We have a positive attitude to these things because they pay for themselves,” says Longford. “We’re putting solar panels on anything that doesn’t move, really, because it saves us money in the long run and helps support other work we’re doing.” The energy and transport teams have won funding from central government, Europe and other sources, and the savings the energy team generates means it actually makes a profit for the council that can be used to cross-subsidise crucial departments such as children’s services.

  • Net Zero Bristol by 2030

    Bristol City Council – controlled by Labour – was the first council in the country to declare a climate emergency in November 2018. That motion was unanimously passed and now acts as the foundations for the City’s transformative commitment to become carbon-neutral by 2030. In 2015, Bristol became the UK’s first European Green Capital. And, having already recorded a 71% reduction in carbon emissions from its direct activities against a 2005 baseline – surpassing a target to reduce emissions by 65% by 2020 – it now has the lowest carbon footprint of any UK city. The City’s Energy, Transport and Green New Deal Lead Kye Dudd stresses the importance of the unitary authority continuing to lead the climate movement in a way that he hopes will create something of a domino effect of climate action among businesses, citizens and policymakers alike. “We need to extend our influence into the business sphere and to bring other people with us.” The Council recently partnered with Manchester-based blockchain technology company EnergiMine to reward council employees who partake in sustainable actions by using the EnergiToken (ETK) platform. ETK uses blockchain to incentivise actions that promote energy reduction, clean transport use and social cause initiatives. Employees can now earn tokens to spend on rewards – or donate the equivalent value to a registered charity – by acting in an environmentally sustainable way. Great progress has also been made outside of the Council’s own operations – particularly in the area of renewable energy. More than £50m has been invested in low-carbon and renewable energy projects in the region since 2012, and to great effect: Bristol sourced 21GWh of energy generation from solar, wind and biomass in 2018 – enough to power 24,000 homes for a month. Through the Council’s City Leap Strategy it hopes to attract a further £1bn of global investment in the city. Local partners already supporting the project include the University of Bristol, University of the West of England, Western Power Distribution, Bristol is Open, Invest Bristol and Bath, Bristol Green Capital Partnership and Bristol Energy. The signs are already looking positive: since its launch last year, the City Leap initiative has already garnered interested from almost 200 local organisations, international firms, investors and energy and infrastructure businesses. Dudd notes that district heat networks and community renewable energy projects are two areas where smaller local businesses can get involved. A 5MW community-owned solar project, has installed roof-mounted solar panels on public buildings. And a new network of underground pipes that will deliver affordable, low-carbon heat and energy across the city – is already benefitting more than 1,000 social housing properties and is continuing to expand. The Council voted in October to make Bristol the first UK city to ban public use of diesel cars from its streets to combat air pollution. While still requiring government approval, that scheme is set to start from 2021. Bristol’s Eastville Park is the first of four planned charging hub for the region, each hosting four to eight rapid-charge connections that can charge an EV up to 80% from 30 minutes’ charging. In total, four local authorities will install 120 new or replacement charge point connections across over the next year. The majority of the charge points will be supplied with 100% renewable energy provided by Bristol Energy.

  • Sunderland goes for Ground Source Heat Pumps

    Residents in 364 homes across seven tower blocks in Sunderland are seeing their gas boilers replaced with heat from ground source heat pumps. There will be a ground source heat pump for each flat which will also be connected to a district heating system consisting of ambient shared ground loop arrays. An underground aquifer will provide the heat source for the tower blocks, accessed via open loop boreholes drilled to depths of 60m. The ambient system prevents heat losses, overcoming overheating in the tower block communal areas, and boosts the system efficiency. The independent heat pumps mean that tenants can shop around for their electricity deal, whilst reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 420 tonnes or nearly 70% per year and improving local air quality. Gentoo Group is delivering the ‘Core 364’ project with the support of Engie and ground source heat pump specialists, Kensa Contracting. Work started in October, with all systems expected to be replaced by late Summer 2020. Gentoo’s chief executive officer, Nigel Wilson, said: “This heating system will provide heat and hot water at a much reduced cost, using natural heat from the ground. For more info see the presentati0on made by Kensa to the APSE Energy Summit in October https://www.apse.org.uk/apse/assets/File/Day%202%20-%20Session%205_2%20-%20Matthew%20Black.pdf

  • Solar Plus Storage for Cheshire Social Housing

    Cheshire West & Chester Council has announced plans to install solar panels with battery storage technology across two large estates. It has appointed Aberla Renewables, part of the Aberla Group, for the installations which include heating solutions that cover 180 council-owned homes. The team has started surveying properties and the project, which consists of solar panels with a total capacity of 250kW, is expected to be completed next year. The £500,000 project is part of the Low Carbon Housing Support Programme and has been jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

  • Local Energy Network for Cornwall

    Hundreds of homes and businesses in Cornwall have started selling electricity to their local energy network and the national energy system in a pioneering move. The trial is the first time that traditional energy users – such as homes, hotels and businesses – have acted as suppliers in a microcosm of a full energy system. The trial harnessed together 100 Cornish homes, fitted with batteries and solar panels, to act as a mini virtual power plant for the local energy network, Western Power Distribution, and the UK’s energy system operator, National Grid. During sunny spells when homes generate more than enough electricity from solar panels they can store the power to use later, or supply the energy system with clean extra power. The homes took part in the trial alongside 150 local businesses, which were prepared to adjust how much energy they used depending on the balance of energy supply and demand on the grid. If wind and solar power output dropped the companies could choose to use less electricity in exchange for a payment from National Grid, or if the local grid had more electricity than it needed the companies could ramp up their energy demand. National Grid already offers to pay firms that own utility-scale batteries to provide a similar service, but the trial is the first time that companies can take part in the same “local energy market” as the network operator. The market was designed by energy giant Centrica and modelled on the same system used to balance energy markets across Europe. The energy companies believe the trial could help create a nationwide chain of flexible smart grids built around clean energy.

Cumbrian Energy Plans

Cumbria Renewable Energy and Capacity Deployment Study  A report by sustainable economic and social development consultants, SQW for Cumbria County Council published in August 2011 giving a detailed assessment of the renewable resources available.

The Scope for Renewable Energy in Cumbria  is a report published by the precursor body to Britain’s Energy Coast - Cumbria Vision in 2009. This envisioned the creation of almost 8,000 by 2050 from developing renewable energy.

The West Cumbria Economic Blueprint is the plan put forward in June 2012 by Britain’s Energy Coast, a public/private partnership made up of local authorities and nuclear groups in the area.

A Sustainable Energy Agency for Cumbria: Business Plan and  Annexes and Supporting Information - commissioned by Cumbria Vision and the North West Development Agency in 2009. A detailed plan for an Energy Agency to promote low-carbon distributed energy and energy efficiency. Cumbria has a huge renewable potential, and a number of leading renewable energy companies including Sundog, Gilkes and Energy4All. Despite this, it is not as effective as other areas in accessing funding and support for sustainable energy. Unfortunately the idea of the Agency was never taken forward.

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