Energy crop miscanthus grass
Earlier this week, I had an interesting conversation with a post-doc at University of Toronto who is currently completing a life cycle analysis of anaerobic digestion, and studying biomass supply scenarios (to use at Ontario’s coal plants, which are due to close in 2014).
He was sure that using energy crops for biogas was a bad idea, “Anaerobic digestion should focus on wet waste streams like food, manure and sludge, not dry ones. From a greenhouse gas reduction standpoint, it’s better to use energy crops for direct combustion” But what about from an energy efficiency standpoint or a rural economic development standpoint?
A point of clarification first – I’m not just referring to corn. I think it’s safe to say that most people, when they hear energy crops, think of corn for ethanol and some might get ready for a food vs. fuel debate. A ton of great research has been done on this subject in recent years and the consensus seems to be that hardy grasses like switchgrass and miscanthus are the best energy crops (although algae is promising too).
The energy potential of grass fields across Ontario, grown using permaculture principles (‘just set it and forget it’ - no watering, no fertilizer, no reseeding every season) supplying local and centralized plants is pretty awesome. But I’m an advocate for small-scale, distributed generation. Less power is lost in transportation, and local economies get stronger. Instead of the cash flowing to Ontario Power Generation, it flows into the savings accounts of private citizens and rural municipalities.
Using energy crops, grown locally, at community owned biogas (anaerobic digestion) and biomass (direct combustion) plants is an amazing way to create jobs, wealth, and have a positive impact on the environment and local food production.
photo credit: puppetfox
