Benefits of Biogas
Biogas Provides Multiple Value-Added Benefits to Society as a Whole
Agricultural
Anaerobic digestion of livestock manure and organic food residuals provides security to the agricultural/ food sector. Several benefits include:
– financial diversification and risk mitigation through energy sales
– implementing strong nutrient management practices
– supporting local processing of agricultural production
– reducing commercial fertilizer requirements and costs
Economic
The green economy benefits of biogas are considerable and include:
– local job creation in technical, manufacturing and construction/trades
– economic development generating billions of dollars of investment in rural communities
– creation of useful by-products from wastes, acting as a significant economic multiplier
Energy
As a source of renewable energy, biogas has unique characteristics and offers many energy end uses. Biogas can
– generate reliable, flexible power 24/7
– manage intermittent renewable power supply through means of storage and flexible power
– improve/support local infrastructure and power quality
– upgrade to renewable natural gas (RNG) for injection into the natural gas grid, delivering ‘green’ renewable energy through existing infrastructure
– be compressed for use as transportation fuel, or direct replacement of fossil-sourced natural gas in household heating, or industrial, commercial and institutional processes
Environmental
The environmental benefits of biogas are numerous.
– capture and use of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times worse than CO2
– convert high energy waste streams into fuel, diverting them from landfill
– control weed seed germination, reducing herbicide use
– remove odour-causing compounds
As taken from the Biogas Association website.