Innovation – Develops and brings to market climate-relevant knowledge, products and services
Pan European, co-ordinated from the Netherlands
Utrecht Sustainability Institute
(USI), University of Utrecht
Developing a bio-economy
(USI), University of Utrecht
Cornelissen Consulting B.V. (CCS)
Imperial College London (ISL)
Fraunhofer IWES (IWES)
GDF SUEZ
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
Province of Utrecht (PoU)
Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR)
Turning agricultural waste gases into a useful resource such as biogas is a good way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas, Energising the Countryside (Biogas ETC) intends to make this economically viable at remote locations and for small-scale producers. The project develops a low-cost small-scale gas conversion device to be installed on farms. In the long-run Biogas, Energizing the Countryside (Biogas ETC) aims to accelerate Europe’s transition towards a decentralised supply of sustainable energy.
A major source of greenhouse gases is livestock manure. CH₄ (methane), the main constituent of biogas, is a particularly potent greenhouse gas so burning biogas as fuel has the dual benefits of avoiding methane emissions and avoiding the burning of gas from non-sustainable sources. However, the biogas conversion process is under-utilised due to the fact that part of the products can only be sold locally, and local demand is not always there. For small and remote farms, this means that investment in biogas conversion is simply not economically viable.