Connecting with industry experts at the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association conference
Tom Maider, our Energy and Projects Engineer recently attended the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) conference at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. The conference focused on how Scotland can meet energy requirements in a sustainable and affordable way. There was a big focus on the political challenges, like creating jobs and how political changes could impact AD like regulations, funding, and how much AD is valued.
Talks from Emma Harper MSP, and Gillian Martin MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, discussed the importance and wanting of AD in the agriculture sector. Agriculture sector makes up approximately 11% of the UK’s emissions. AD also produces a biofertilizer which would save Scotland the equivalent of one million short haul return flights’ worth of carbon emissions from importing synthetic fertilizers.
The conference then moved from looking at political challenges to the practical side of delivering AD across Scotland. Industry experts from different sectors, such as farming and whiskey, held an open forum for attendees to ask questions and raise issues they notice that they think should be addressed in the AD sector.
Moved on to a safety talk from Jason Taylor, Technical Manager from SGS. This focused on inspection, verification, and monitoring. This described the essentials of protecting people, preserving company assets and maximising performance through gas monitoring.
The next focus was project development & innovation, looking at practical routes for developing AD in Scotland. Looking at the circular economy and how in many cases, waste can now be turned into profit. Seems to be a hope that lot of smaller AD sites could pop up around the country to make businesses and farms more self-sufficient. Biogas produced from the process can provide ‘home-grown’ energy, reducing reliance on elsewhere and can stop such uncertainty and fluctuations in prices like we’ve experienced with worldwide issues like Russia invading Ukraine, and more recently the conflict with the USA, Israel, and Iran.
ADBA also described and provided attendees with their Green Has Manifesto ‘Powering Prosperity: Scotland’s Biogas Opportunity’, providing a framework for action for the Scottish Government could take for the AD sector to succeed. The manifesto states following this framework could meet 25% of Scotland’s gas supply, reduce the need for synthetic biofertilizer by half leading to over £40 million being kept in the Scottish Economy.
Attending the conference allowed Tom to discuss with other sector experts and discuss the barriers, both political and practical, of anaerobic digestion in Scotland.
Find out more about the Green Gas Manifesto:
Green Gas Manifesto | ADBA | Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association
