Duchy College, part of The Cornwall College Group (TCCG), has been awarded almost £ 1.3 million from The National Lottery Community Fund to run The Farm Net Zero project, which aims to help the farming community move towards net-zero carbon emissions.
SOURCE: NFU- Achieving Net Zero by 2040
Source: Climate news network, July 17th 2016 Paul Brown
Research in England shows that solar farms reduce local temperature and provide shade enabling crops in hot and desert climates to flourish.
By soaking up the sun to make electricity, solar farms also alter the local environment - changing the temperature and the diversity of plant species.
Mike Woollacott, Greenwatt Technology
Transport is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Around a quarter of domestic carbon and other GHG emissions in the UK come from transport. Current studies on the links between transport and the environment are almost entirely focussed on urban systems and neglect to look at the environmental, social and economic transport issues and opportunities from a rural perspective.
If you have installed a heat system that is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme there are various rules and record keeping requirements that you need to adhere to in order to comply with the scheme.
The Farm Energy Centre has produced a guide which explains these ongoing RHI obligations and what you need to do in terms of record keeping.
Download the summary document here.
Recently appointed FCCT director Andrew Rigg has just taken carbon saving a step further on his farm in Hampshire. An all-electric car, a Nissan Leaf Acenta has arrived in the yard. With a supply of electricity from his 20kW ground-mounted solar panels, Andrew has not only zero emission driving, but also zero cost…..
A new document was released last week which describes good practice and opportunities to manage small livestock enterprises and ground mounted solar panels concurrently. The "Agricultural Good Practice guidance for Solar Farm" has been developed by a number of UK solar farm developers and organisations concerned with agriculture as well as the NFU.
So just to finish this month’s theme off looking at attitudes, we are shifting the focus slightly away from climate change in general and looking at something which has received a lot of media attention recently, the recovery of shale gas by fracking.
A third of UK energy demand is met by gas. In 2012 around a quarter of gas used in the UK was used to produce electricity, about a fifth by industry and around 40% to cook food and heat buildings.
A couple of weeks ago I attended an event, hosted by a project called Rokwood, looking at the potential for growing short rotation coppice to generate renewable energy. Biomass is an increasingly important energy source for Europe in terms of meeting targets for renewable energy generation. Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) are ideal for woody biomass production and management systems because they are renewable energy feedstocks for biofuels, bioenergy and bioproducts. They can be strategically placed in the landscape to conserve soil and water, recycle nutrients and sequester carbon.