TRANSITION OPTIONS
Chris Attkins writes about a visit with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group to a farm in Ardrossan that produces milk sold door to door in bottles, through very modern ecological methods.
Written by Chris Attkins
Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Alan Hogarth is the Postman Pat of milk deliveries. In his bright green grass-covered float he aims to get the milk he produces at Sorbie Farm from Cow to Door in 24 (hours), much to the delight of Ardrossan residents on his route. Not only that, but he’s just installed a bottling plant to facilitate delivery in glass, favoured by customers and much better for the environment than plastic. His return to local distribution is driven by the ever-reducing margin from bulk milk sales and will eventually, he believes, provide a healthier return on his investment.
Alan is an entrepreneur, which is why FWAG (Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group) arranged for Ayrshire and Arran farmers and other interested parties to visit his farm. Here he has also installed an Anaerobic Digester, an urbane name for plant that extracts methane gas from cattle slurry. The slurry is stored in a huge metallic 'stomach', from where it is pumped through heated steel 'intestines' to release the gas, which is used to heat the farm and its cottages. Alan now plans to generate electricity from the excess gas he’s producing. The process actually improves the cattle waste, rendering it more suitable (and less smelly) for use as a natural fertiliser, reducing his costs of maintaining his grazing pasture.
With energy costs rocketing, the prospect of generating your own electricity is becoming ever more attractive. Malcolm Bronte-Stewart has the perfect site: a large open space in an exposed location at Middlepart Farm, Ardrossan. Here he has erected an 11kW Gaia wind turbine — an unusual Danish design utilising only two blades, which is more efficient and better suited to low wind speeds. In common with most similar installations, excess electricity is sold back to the national grid, helping to recoup his significant initial investment of £30,000. We visited on a relatively calm day, yet Malcolm’s windmill was generating around 2.7kW of power in almost complete silence.
Nick Quick runs the delightful four star Langside Farm B&B. In common with most old properties, his takes a lot of heating, so last year he installed a wood chip boiler, in the process reducing his energy costs from 6p to 3.5p per kWh. The German plant is beautifully engineered and highly automated to provide reliable heating and hot water. The only critical component is the fuel, which must have a low moisture content. So efficient is the boiler, it produces only a minute quantity of ash. Apparently it only requires one gallon of diesel to produce two-and-a-half tons of woodchips, so with an abundant supply of suitable timber on Arran, this is undoubtedly an eco-friendly way to heat your home.
You will find short video presentations of these alternative energy solutions at www.ArranOnline.com
Although aspiring to local self-sufficiency in alternative energy supply, this remains a long-term goal with a medium-term deficit. So it was with sceptical interest that we visited Hunterston B nuclear power station. I think it fair to report that we were surprised and impressed by what we saw. As one farmer remarked afterwards, “This is how Great British industry used to be.” Whatever your opinion of nuclear power, you could not fail to admire the attention to safety and security throughout the installation, nor the sheer scale of operation. It is also undeniably cost efficient, even allowing for waste disposal and eventual decommissioning. However, as you tour the facility and take in the myriad safety systems, flashing lights and warning signals, you also realise just how critical it is to maintain that safety and security.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
1 view 0 commentsFWAG Fact-finding day — Saturday 16th August
Alan Hogarth is the Postman Pat of milk deliveries. In his bright green grass-covered float he aims to get the milk he produces at Sorbie Farm from Cow to Door in 24 (hours), much to the delight of Ardrossan residents on his route. Not only that, but he’s just installed a bottling plant to facilitate delivery in glass, favoured by customers and much better for the environment than plastic. His return to local distribution is driven by the ever-reducing margin from bulk milk sales and will eventually, he believes, provide a healthier return on his investment.
Alan is an entrepreneur, which is why FWAG (Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group) arranged for Ayrshire and Arran farmers and other interested parties to visit his farm. Here he has also installed an Anaerobic Digester, an urbane name for plant that extracts methane gas from cattle slurry. The slurry is stored in a huge metallic 'stomach', from where it is pumped through heated steel 'intestines' to release the gas, which is used to heat the farm and its cottages. Alan now plans to generate electricity from the excess gas he’s producing. The process actually improves the cattle waste, rendering it more suitable (and less smelly) for use as a natural fertiliser, reducing his costs of maintaining his grazing pasture.
With energy costs rocketing, the prospect of generating your own electricity is becoming ever more attractive. Malcolm Bronte-Stewart has the perfect site: a large open space in an exposed location at Middlepart Farm, Ardrossan. Here he has erected an 11kW Gaia wind turbine — an unusual Danish design utilising only two blades, which is more efficient and better suited to low wind speeds. In common with most similar installations, excess electricity is sold back to the national grid, helping to recoup his significant initial investment of £30,000. We visited on a relatively calm day, yet Malcolm’s windmill was generating around 2.7kW of power in almost complete silence.
Nick Quick runs the delightful four star Langside Farm B&B. In common with most old properties, his takes a lot of heating, so last year he installed a wood chip boiler, in the process reducing his energy costs from 6p to 3.5p per kWh. The German plant is beautifully engineered and highly automated to provide reliable heating and hot water. The only critical component is the fuel, which must have a low moisture content. So efficient is the boiler, it produces only a minute quantity of ash. Apparently it only requires one gallon of diesel to produce two-and-a-half tons of woodchips, so with an abundant supply of suitable timber on Arran, this is undoubtedly an eco-friendly way to heat your home.
You will find short video presentations of these alternative energy solutions at www.ArranOnline.com
Although aspiring to local self-sufficiency in alternative energy supply, this remains a long-term goal with a medium-term deficit. So it was with sceptical interest that we visited Hunterston B nuclear power station. I think it fair to report that we were surprised and impressed by what we saw. As one farmer remarked afterwards, “This is how Great British industry used to be.” Whatever your opinion of nuclear power, you could not fail to admire the attention to safety and security throughout the installation, nor the sheer scale of operation. It is also undeniably cost efficient, even allowing for waste disposal and eventual decommissioning. However, as you tour the facility and take in the myriad safety systems, flashing lights and warning signals, you also realise just how critical it is to maintain that safety and security.
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