We are now using our natural gas (carbonaceous fuel) resources up at a huge rate. These were formed from the fossilized remains of plants and animals in a process that took millions of years.

Such resources do not “grow back” in a time scale that is meaningful for humans. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that was created eons ago by the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials. It is often found in association with oil and coal. It will deplete without an adequate replacement other than biogas, so we had better get on with it and improve our ability to produce biogas and sngas (from gasification) – its only real replacement other than converting other carbonaceous fuels into gas fuels!

Cooking is best with with clean-burning gas, rather than smoky wood. Introducing gas cooking improves respiratory health and reduces the pressure on local fuelwood. In contrast, cooking on open fires emits gases that endanger people’s health and contributes unnecessarily to global warming.

The German government saw the potential for biogas a number of years ago and intoduced incentives to encourage biogas and biofuel production. German technology companies has a head start over the US, and the UK. Based on thier experience, acquired over a number of years in partnership with their German customers, they have built a formidable record in biogas digestion.

The US should welcome these experts inot the US. They do say that they want to share their expertise in other markets.

According to reports availabe on the internet they already have numerous projects and installations completed in Russia, Thailand, England, France, Spain and Turkey, and this they consider to be just the beginning.

It is stated in a recent report available on the worldwide web, that biogas even offers the possibility of stepping towards energy security for rural and even peri-urban communities in some areas. However, the converse is certainly true, and there is no energy security for any nation now in depending on imports of natural gas, whereas literally home-grown biogas is right on our doorstep, and as secure a supply as can be imagined.

As part of an integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion can also reduce the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere. Anaerobic digestion is a renewable energy source because the process produces a methane and carbon dioxide rich biogas suitable for energy production helping replace fossil fuels. Also, the nutrient-rich solids left after digestion can be used as fertiliser.

Scientific interest in the gasses produced by the natural decomposition of organic matter goes back a long way. Biogas was first reported in the seventeenth century by Robert Boyle and Stephen Hale, who noted that flammable gas was released by disturbing the sediment of streams and lakes. In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy determined that methane was present in the gasses produced by cattle manure.

It has been reported on the web that the first anaerobic digester was built by a leper colony in Bombay, India in 1859. In 1895 the technology was developed in Exeter, England, where a septic tank was used to generate gas for street lighting. Also, web sources report that in England, in 1904, the first dual purpose tank for both sedimentation and sludge treatment was installed in Hampton. In 1907, in Germany, a patent was issued for the Imhoff tank, an early form of digester.

The biogas digester (anaerobic digestion plant -AD plant ) also, of course, has a big part to play in farming. An AD plant captures naturally occurring gas from manure and converts it into electricity. One recently publisher US News item declares that with their new AD system, they are generating up to 300,000 kilowatt-hours per year fo their farm. That is an value in power of about $40,000 a year!

The farming industry is developing a variety of AD Plant systems using differnet technologies. Placing a tarpaulin over manure ponds can provide a very basic biogas digester. Doing it eliminates the release of methane (a natural byproduct of manure) into the air. The amount that can be removed is small in overall emissions terms but could be significant. According to the 2003 U.S. Department of Energy Report on Greenhouse Gases, agricultural sources, primarily animal waste, account for approximately three percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The same source reports that a dairy cow can generate 120 lbs. of waste each day, totaling about 40,000 lbs. per year. Furthermore, using a digester wastes nothing as the solids separated from the waste are composted and reused as fertilizer, providing additional, and highly sustainable benefits.