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Solid Waste Disposal and Land Pollution
News Release from: IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers) | Subject: Power from dung
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 December 2006
Cow manure to power Christmas lights
this winter
Energy from cow manure will be used to generate some of the electricity needed to power Christmas lights across the UK this winter, according to the Institution of Chemical Engineers
In addition to energy from coal, gas, nuclear and wind sources, energy from cow manure will be used to generate some of the electricity needed to power Christmas lights across the UK this winter, according to the Institution of Chemical Engineers Over 7.5 million Christmas trees are sold across the UK each year
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 2 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Over the 30-day festive season, Christmas trees require 67,500 MegaWatts of electricity to light them - enough to heat about 30 million cups of mulled wine or power the population of Lapland for three minutes.
IChemE estimates that about one per cent of this will come from waste sources such as manure, biomass and methane landfill gas.
Energy from alternative sources such as animal waste is attracting increasing interest as the world seeks to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
This winter approximately 20 per cent of the UK electricity will come from nuclear power, 40 per cent from gas, 30 per cent from coal and the rest from other sources such as wind, wave and hydro-electric.
"The energy debate typically centres on nuclear, wind and gas," said Andrew Furlong, the IChemE director of policy: "But, it's important to remember that to meet our future energy needs, we will need a variety of different sources.
Chemical engineers, in collaboration with other scientists, are working tirelessly to ensure that all possible methods are explored.
The Government plans to obtain 20 per cent of our energy needs from renewables by 2020.
Some people think this is bullshit - and if biomass really takes off, they might just be right".For information: Summerleaze runs the UK's only dung fired power station.
It processes 146,000 tonnes per annum of cattle, pig and poultry manure plus organic food waste.
The manure is collected from 30 local farms within a 5-6 miles radius of the plant and has an installed capacity of 2.1MW.
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