Defra’s very own AD website, billed as “England’s Official Information Portal on Anaerobic Digestion”, is at http://www.biogas-info.co.uk/
The site includes many features, such as an AD calculator, biogas map, report archive, FAQs, information on AD networks, and a glossary.
The AD cost calculator, produced by The Andersons Centre on behalf of the NNFCC, allows the user to “assess the economics of AD facilities”.
The results are comprehensive and include the capital costs, profits and the land required to use the digestate. Also calculated are the cost per kWh electricity, the cost per m3 of biogas, the cost per m3 of feedstock and the percentage return on capital. A sensitivity table ranks the variables that have the greatest impact on business profitability.
Before using the calculator, you are advised to see the associated report A Detailed Economic Assessment of Anaerobic Digestion Technology and its Suitability to UK Farming and Waste Systems, which explains the terms used in the calculator.
The website also features a useful interactive map (that looks similar to UKWIN’s) and links to various reports (see, for example, http://delicious.com/AnaerobicDigestionUK/report+food )
According to the site, advantages of AD include:
- It turns waste into a resource. Instead of sending waste to landfill, we can use it to produce energy and fertiliser.
- It produces fuel. Biogas can be used instead of fossil fuels.
- It produces fertiliser. Fertilisers are made from fossil fuels. The digestate from can replace some synthetic fertilisers.
- It reduces our carbon footprint. The methane produced during AD is burned as fuel, and therefore releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Because it comes from biomass, this does not contribute to climate change. However, if the same waste was left to degrade in a landfill site, the methane produced could escape into the atmosphere: methane has a global warming potential 23 times larger than that of CO2. Therefore, harvesting and using methane from biomass can help to prevent climate change.
- It can benefit many different people. AD potentially benefits the local community, the environment, industry, farmers and energy entrepreneurs and government.
