A plan to use “green” gas to heat council-owned buildings in Bristol has been scuppered over concerns about fuel crops. The majority of biogas comes from crops grown specifically for that purpose, with the rest coming from food waste.
Experts say green gas contributes to climate change much less than fossil fuels, because carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants as they grow, before being then emitted when the gas is burned. But growing the fuel crops causes a range of environmental problems.
Bristol City Council is planning to expand its use of green gas, which currently forms about 10 per cent of its gas usage. However the environment policy committee decided on Thursday, September 26, that the council should try and avoid green gas from fuel crops — which could be expensive.
Labour Councillor Ellie King, vice-chair of the committee, said: “Using food waste and organic matter is a good thing, repurposing waste products that would have emitted gas anyway. But if we look at fuel crops being a potential source of this, then that’s completely unacceptable.
“Fuel crops are a monoculture crop, they’re intensively grown, they deplete nutrients in the soil, and they’re bad for biodiversity. They can also compete for very precious agricultural land, raising significant questions about food security. It’s not good for food security or biodiversity.”
She added that the council’s gas demand would equal about 127 football fields of crops in East Anglia. Council staff will now do some market research and find out how expensive green gas would be if it were solely produced from food waste, rather than fuel crops. It’s unclear how much extra the premium would cost, and whether the council could afford to pay the higher fees.
Cllr King said this should have happened before the report came to the committee, so that councillors could make an informed decision. Initially, the plan was for staff to carry out the research and then go back to herself and Green Cllr Martin Fodor, the committee chair, if gas from food waste was considered to be too expensive.
Instead, staff will go back to the entire committee, if gas from food waste costs too much, so they can decide what to do next. Amending the plan took around an hour, including a 25-minute adjournment, one of several “growing pains” of the new committee model.
Last year, the council bought 45 gigawatt-hours of gas, equivalent to the demand of 3,845 houses. Purchasing green gas comes with a premium, currently around £46,000 extra a year. The council spends a total of £2.8 million on gas annually.
Using natural gas to heat buildings is one of the largest sources of the council’s greenhouse gas emissions, with the equivalent 7,388 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted last year. City Hall in particular uses a lot of gas to heat, despite the building being reportedly about half empty.