Arla, the UK’s biggest dairy cooperative, is calling on the UK Government to help farmers utilise renewable energy sources like biogas, supporting the UK’s energy independence.
Last week it erected a replica Victorian Sewer Lamp near Parliament Square in Westminster, London, to draw attention to the untapped potential of biogas derived from cow excrement and food waste as a renewable energy source.
"Tapping into biogas was once a staple of Victorian Britain after Birmingham engineer, Joseph Edmund Webb, patented a sewer gas destructor lamp fuelled by emissions from London’s sewers. Today we can once again harness the power of poo to help solve the UK’s energy security crisis with a nationwide strategy for anaerobic digestion of farm and food waste," Arla said.
Arla is calling for a national anaerobic digestion (AD) strategy that incorporates larger community-based facilities generating biogases that can be fed into the gas grid or used in transport, and small-scale digesters creating energy for use on farm.
The company is also championing better and more affordable grid connections to facilitate "an anaerobic digestion revolution" and, at the same time, help more farmers install solar power and other renewables.
Arla said its C.A.R.E programme, an industry-leading set of welfare and sustainability standards, requires all farmers to have a Green Energy Plan for increasing the use of renewable sources on their farm.
James Pirie, vice president of logistics at Arla, said: “Dairy farmers have the potential to play a major role in the future of the UK’s energy security, using natural resources to provide more energy independence.
"With better infrastructure and network support, Britain’s livestock sector, including Arla farmers, have the potential to turn nearly 91 million tonnes of manure and slurry and 10 million tonnes of food waste into 8 billion cubic metres of biomethane, enough to power 6.4 million homes.
"If we put the right policy changes in place and give our farmers the support they need, we can unlock the potential for even more farms to scale their use of renewable energy sources and ensure a more secure energy system for the future.”
