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Biogas, Germany and the EU

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I have been a promoter of Biogas for many years. I see it as the ultimate in renewable energy sources because it is clean and can be produced in an unlimited quantity only limited by the feed stock – human and animal waste, crop waste, food industry waste, slaughter-house waste, kitchen waste and many other sources of plant waste.

Before 2000 I did a rough calculation that if all the various forms of waste were to be used for the production of methane, Biogas, that in the U.S. we could replace all natural gas, or very nearly – it really depends on how much is wasted to produce hydrogen or fertilizer. Biogas should be used as a back up for heating spaces and water and as a back up for electricity generation when other renewable energy sources are not meeting current needs.

I just came across a report published January 2008 that mentions a report commissioned by the German Green Party. In this report it states that biogas can replace all imported natural gas for the whole EU. That is right, biogas can replace natural gas.

At the time they were working on getting regulations changed in order to feed in the biogas produced in distributed plants around the country. Only one issue that needed to be addressed, the Biogas that was being produced was of a higher quality than the natural gas they were using. So, the law had to be changed to allow for a higher quality gas to be injected into the natural gas network for distributed use.

I have alway believed that Biogas, along with other renewable energy sources, is the future. One thing that you will never hear is how cheap it is to produce. A home installation would cost around $500 and the unit would last two or more decades and if the best materials are used then there is no reason a unit couldn’t last two or more generations. The cost per month would be so cheap there would be no reason to pay for Biogas ever.

The future of renewables needs to include Biogas for us, anyone, to be renewable. Biogas, need I say more?


Filed under: biogas, climate change, electricity, energy, fossil fuels, hydrogen, methane, renewable, sustainability Tagged: biogas, climate, environment, feed stock, methane, methane production, natural gas, renewable energy, renewable energy sources, science, slaughter house waste

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