Waste to electricity a win-win situation, says EPA
That's according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which yesterday launched an innovative organic farm and food waste processing system that can generate environmentally friendly electricity.
"This is a win-win solution for many of the agricultural, energy and environmental challenges currently facing Ireland," EPA economist Dr John Curtis said.
The system, based on anaerobic digestion, is a natural process of decomposition and decay which turns organic matter like farm slurry and food waste into gases that can generate electricity.
The cost of building processing plants that could convert these organic wastes into electricity would cost around €4 million for an average Irish town and would have these benefits:
Ireland would become less dependent on electricity from fossil fuels like coal and oil which would reduce our carbon dioxide emissions this is vital if we are to comply with the Kyoto Protocol targets.
Groundwater protection would be improved because animal slurries that are processed by anaerobic digestion are less polluting.
Farmers who will be forced to invest €1 billion to comply with the new EU Nitrates Directive to build additional slurry storage capacity could get a major return for their investment.
Ireland could meet its EU Renewable Energy Directive target to increase electricity produced from this source by 13.2% by the end of the decade it is currently around 4%. Denmark has built many of these anaerobic digestion waste processing plants that can supply electricity to varying sizes of towns.
"These plants also produce a large amount of heat that could be used for local swimming pools or public buildings," Dr Curtis said.
The Kyoto Protocol has set stringent targets for Ireland to reduce the burning of our fossil fuels by 2008. So far we are burning 25% more than is allowed and are facing fines of over 1bn unless we cut this figure drastically by the deadline.
This new organic waste system would be a great solution to tackling our Kyoto Protocol targets because it would reduce the amount of coal and oil that is burnt to generate electricity here, Dr Curtis said.
The EPA has just submitted a paper to the Departments of the Environment and Agriculture proposing the system be used to provide more environmentally friendly electricity to the national grid.
Spokesmen for both departments said the proposal is under consideration.
