Meeting of

West Dorset Partnership Climate Change Steering Group

Stratton House, Dorchester, 17 January 2012

Another interesting meeting. Two main topics:

1. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) project at Poundbury.

      Peter James, Project Manager, described the large-scale AD installation, now nearing completion at Rainbarrow Farm (between the A35 and Martinstown). It will ferment agricultural materials (maize and grass silage, manure, slurry, and potato pulp) to produce gas (biomethane) that will be: (i) fed into the national gas grid; (ii) used on site to generate electric power, partly to run the AD unit and partly fed into the electricity grid. Input materials (c.100 t/day) will be drawn largely from 4000 acres of adjacent farmland. Waste from the digester – digestate – will be recycled as fertiliser to the fields.

      This presentation led to a lively discussion, the major issue being the acceptability of utilising good agricultural land for the production of energy rather than food crops … in a food-hungry world. At an international level, the diversion of agricultural resources in this way is already a major controversy, even scandal; but it may be justifiable locally. Peter James’ claim, that the maize – the main feedstock – is just a necessary break crop in a succession of wheat crops and therefore does not reduce food production, is hardly valid. But the major plant nutrients in the feedstock are returned to the soil (reducing fertiliser needs) and the power produced is ‘green’ (less the C costs of capital installation and land and unit management). Such a large AD installation is almost unique in the UK at the present time and may, perhaps, best be regarded as a pilot or demonstration. In my view, once operational, it should be monitored very carefully, in respect of inputs and outputs, to produce a full balance sheet of costs and returns – economic, agricultural and environmental. No indication was given that this will be done. But to do so, without preconceived ideas and prejudices, is important, because an AD project like this offers an example of an increasing problem, that different environmental concerns can be conflicting; and we need hard data to establish the best compromises between them. [Monitoring this AD could be a good project for a local energy group – might even be possible to extract funding support from Duchy of Cornwall?]

2. Community resilience to climate change.

      Theo Langdon, of the Beaminster & Villages Local Area Partnership, expressed his concerns about the risks to individuals and communities of supply failure across a wide spectrum of essential services – power, water, flood protection, sewerage, fuel, food and electronic communications – from random events, connected or unconnected to climate change phenomena; and society’s general lack of organisation for coping. He is trying to raise awareness and believes each community should have a group and/or local individual devoted to enhancing preparedness for emergencies that may stem, unpredictability, from one-off disasters, natural or otherwise. There are parallels here with the ‘transition’ concept, which Theo is aware of; but, nevertheless, he is looking for support from councils, community organisations and concerned individuals to move things along at village level. (I understand his thinking to be more towards sudden emergencies than long-term changes considered by the transition movement.)

Mike Jones at jonesodowd@aol.com

22 January 2012