I still think we are lagging behind on all sorts of renewables.
I found a very very informative paper from www.greengasgrids.eu which shows that there hasn't been a desire to roll out the potential for harvesting all the waste we produce.
I am adding this bit from yesterday. There is also a company called Ecotricity in the UK which seem to have pretty much got this approach. They are already using the grass from edges of fields to greater gas to the national grid and have a progestin that about 60% of our gas could be produced this way.
The object is to produce this gas and add it to the grid. This can be done on site in many places. Even a brewery is doing it in the UK.
I was looking this up to see if it was possible to buy bottled methane for cooking yet. So many third world countries make their own methane from waste for cooking. This is obviously simple low tech production but it serves the purpose.
We had dinner with friends last night and discussed Hinkley as it is in the news. We all said we hoped Theresa May would have the courage to pull the plug on this new Plant.
The renewables needed to generate this amount of energy, and more are already available, and turn waste products and a significant problem into a golden opportunity to create many more jobs throughout the country.
With Bio Methane co generation you can have gas and electricity. It will also support the farming industry, where crops can actually be grown for bio fuel production, and any wastage from food production utilised instead of being ploughed back into fields.
We so need a very joined up energy policy, which does not involve huge investments from China. We just don't know what global politics will look like in five years, let alone the 30-40 years we will have to be in partnership with huge foreign powers for.
China does also have a lot of Bio Methane experience, why not shift the emphasis from nuclear energy to a partnership on renewables?
Musing along these lines I was wondering about using Salvinia Molesta and other invasive weeds for bio methane production. Some waterways in Europe are becoming infected with this Brazilian weed. Under the right conditions it can engulf a waterway in a matter of a few weeks, and it produces methane and greenhouse gasses all by itself. I am not sure I would want to be farming the stuff, but at least it's a good way to dispose of it.
I was also thinking that there are miles of roads that we trim the grass and weeds from a few times every summer, and these too could be used for gas production.
The whole key to this as a project is small localised production that suits each location and the type of feed the bio digester would get.