Other topics

Following the success of the Transition Towns Seminar held back in February South West Rural Update organised a Seminar focusing on how we will farm without fossil fuels. 

The day considered the options for local agriculture and food production after fossil fuels have run out and climate change is even more prevalent. 95% of our food is dependent on oil through energy-intensive agriculture and food supply chains, from fertiliser and fuel to distribution and retailing - resulting in food prices and availability being directly affected by oil prices. Climate change brings further uncertainty to difficult trading conditions for farmers. Varying temperature and rainfall bring new challenges, along with freak weather events and rising sea-levels.

Professor Chris Gaskell, Principal, Royal Agricultural College, chaired the event.

To upload the presentations from the event click on the links below;

Scientists in Wales are working on a research project that is looking to turn grass into a green transport fuel.

The ‘Grassohol’ research project aims to develop economically viable processes in which ethanol can be made from perennial ryegrass – the most commonly sown grass in the UK.

The research is being led by the Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University. It is partnering with two Welsh companies, Aber Instruments and the Wynnstay Group, and has received £154,000 funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, as part of a wider £1 million, three-year research programme.

Dr Joe Gallagher of IBERS, said that ryegrass had a high extractable sugar content and was ideally suited to UK climate and soil conditions. "Because of these combined properties, it offers greater potential as a feedstock for bio-ethanol production than many other energy crops. If a new profitable outlet is found for grass then farmers have the ability to grow more to meet that demand and technically the same land could be used for animal grazing, silage production and fuel production.”

Dr Gallagher said the the cultivation of ryegrass would not affect existing environmentally sensitive landscapes or biodiversity.

Wales has 1.04 million hectares – 62 per cent of which is permanent grassland – providing a readily available resource that can be harvested over a long season, with one hectare producing up to 4,500 litres of ethanol.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, said the research project had the potential to provide a highly innovative and cost effective green transport fuel. “If successful Grassohol has the potential to stimulate the rural economy and provide farmers with a viable form of diversification – it could result in new green jobs and will lay the foundation for developing ancillary technologies geared to bio-ethanol production and bio-refining."

The Government has launched draft guidance on how organisations should calculate and report their individual corporate carbon footprints, saying all businesses should start preparing for mandatory reporting now – including smaller enterprises.

The launch of the consultation process is the first step towards compliance with the terms of the Climate Change Act 2008, which requires the Government to publish guidance on the measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to assist with emissions reporting.

Although compliance with the final form of the guidance will be voluntary at first, the Climate Change Act says that by April 6 2012, the Government must introduce regulations requiring the mandatory reporting of GHG emissions or explain why this has not happened.

Commenting on the launch of the consultation period, Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn said small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also needed to start preparing for carbon reporting. “I hope this guidance will make the measuring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions easier for all organisations as a first step in helping them to manage and reduce their emissions," he said. "It is not just aimed at large, listed companies; smaller enterprises also have a part to play in tackling GHG emissions.”

The draft guidance produced by Department of Energy and Climate Change and Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs follows recommendations published by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) last month and proposes a single framework for GHG reporting, to be followed by all businesses, regardless of their size and sector.

It is the Government’s belief that if the UK is to tackle climate change effectively, all organisations must be able to calculate their own carbon footprints as a first step to reducing their emissions.

“That’s why it’s important we make this guidance as clear and straight-forward as possible so that those organisations taking action to reduce emissions – by rethinking their business, taking energy efficiency measures and investing in renewables – can clearly and credibly demonstrate this,” said Minister for Climate Change, Joan Ruddock.

Just as the CBI recommendations did, the Government’s draft guidance recommends the Greenhouse Gas Protocol reporting model, which is the internationally recognised standard for corporate accounting and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The CBI says it makes sense to use this as the model for mandatory emissions reporting in the UK, not only because it is the most widely used and globally recognised reporting standard for GHG reporting, but because it was developed in consultation with businesses, NGOs and governments and so “represents a truly multi-stakeholder consensus on GHG reporting”.

Although mandatory reporting will not be brought in until 2012 at the earliest, the Government argues that it makes sense for businesses to start following the guidance as soon as possible.

“Those organisations which grasp the opportunity now to develop robust reporting will be well placed to respond to the Government’s planned approach to mandatory reporting,” suggested Joan Ruddock.

The Government also argues that voluntary calculation of GHG emissions should help organisations benefit from lower costs by identifying inefficiencies in resource and energy use.

A spokesperson for the CBI said the organisation was still looking at the Government’s proposals and had not yet formulated a detailed response, but “from an initial glance, it appears they have got much of the basics right”.

The spokesperson added: “It is important businesses take the opportunity to make their voice heard on this consultation.”

Anyone wishing to comment on the draft guidance has until August 7 to do so. The final guidance is due to be published by October 1 at the latest.

Mandatory carbon reporting will be in addition to the Carbon Reduction Commitment, an emissions trading scheme launching in the UK next April affecting non-energy intensive businesses with energy bills of more than £500,000 a year.

A device that promises to “take the guesswork out of generating renewable energy” by measuring the amount of power generated by micro power generation equipment, before it is installed, was launched today.

The Power Predictor is the invention of green energy specialist Better Generation on the back of two years’ research and development.

As well as forecasting how long it will take homeowners and businesses to recover the costs of installing solar and wind energy micro power generation equipment, it also recommends the most cost-effective form of renewable energy for a particular site, as well as the most appropriate equipment manufacturers.

Unlike some other products designed to calculate the pay-back time on wind turbines and solar panels, Better Generation says Power Predictor does not rely exclusively on computer modeling, but is in part a physical device that is mounted where the renewable energy equipment is intended to be installed.

The crow-sized device is left for a minimum of 30 days to collect data from the site, which is then fed into the customer’s computer to produce a bespoke report on the amount of solar power and wind energy that could be generated from the site. Products can then be compared and pay-back times measured before a purchase is made.

“For most people, micro power generation is a step into the unknown,” said Toby Hammond, inventor of the Power Predictor and managing director of Better Generation. “No one should spend thousands of pounds on renewable energy equipment without knowing the pay-back time based on the amount of energy they could generate at their premises.”

Aston Farm in Exmoor National Park has tested the Power Predictor, collecting a month’s data from its chosen site (on top of a 10 metre mast in the middle of a field). The resulting power report concluded that the Gala Wind Turbine would best meet the farm’s needs, generating more than enough energy to cover its total energy demand. Better Generation says the installation of the wind turbine will not only reduce the farm’s carbon emissions, but cut its energy bills by £7,000.

In another test, the Power Predictor was used to show that mounting a wind turbine on a roof in an urban area with low wind speeds made little financial sense – in this case the power report suggested installing a Solar PV panel instead, generating predicted savings of £300 a year.

Better Generation believes that in the past, too many people have bought expensive equipment only to find it has not been as efficient as expected or that an alternative product should have been used. It hopes that the Power Predictor will get round this problem and act as an enabling technology to help encourage the take up of renewable energy on a mass scale, both in the UK and abroad.

The Power Predictor is available to homeowners priced £99.95. Trade prices are available to businesses on application.