Green Energy Republic

River Cottage and Good Energy

This blog was originally posted on the River Cottage website.

Posted on Feb 12, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Last year River Cottage joined forces with Good Energy, the UK’s 100% renewable electricity supplier, to help us generate our own renewable power and cut energy consumption at RCHQ. Since then, the results of our energy audit have come in and we’ve started the journey towards making Park Farm a zero carbon site. Here are some of the steps we’ve taken so far…
 
With the help of the Good Energy Shop team we’ve swapped old-style light bulbs for low energy alternatives, including new LED spotlights. We’ve fitted a timer to our immersion heater so it’s only on when it needs to be and we’re using our log burner more instead, calculating exactly how many locally-sourced logs we’ll need in a day so there’s no wastage.
 
A typical Good Energy customer uses about 10% less electricity than the national average, and the experts from Good Energy will be visiting Park Farm to give us some everyday energy-efficiency advice too. From how to use our new boiler to the most efficient way to fill our freezers and cold rooms, we’ll be making these simple, practical solutions part of our daily lives.
 
We’ve got lots more exciting improvements planned, so keep an eye out for our regular energy updates.
 
If you want to help support River Cottage and over 1,000 pioneering independent renewable generators like them, sign up to Good Energy here.

 

Speaking sustainably at River Cottage

by Jodie Gray

River Cottage HQ in Devon doubled as Good Energy HQ for two days last weekend as we headed south as the sustainability partner for River Cottage’s Autumn Fair.

The team from Good Energy, led by our resident microgeneration guru Hugo, set out to spread the word about the work we’re doing with River Cottage to improve sustainability and energy efficiency at their HQ. The farm’s a real hive of activity with its huge range of courses, visitor days and special events. All that activity needs energy, and RC wants to make sure it’s as sustainable as possible.

After weeks of planning, arranging, booking and organising, we set off for RCHQ on Friday afternoon from our office in Chippenham down to the rolling hills of Devon. After a couple of essential stops (for hay bales, tools and, erm, ice cream) we arrived at Park Farm, River Cottage’s idyllic sprawling smallholding.

We set up base in the producers’ tent, next to some deliciously tempting honey and chocolate stalls, and installed four ‘sustainability spots’ around the site. These spots – wind, water, wood and sun – provided specific information on RCHQ’s sustainability projects; from the newly-installed wind turbine to their reed bed system for treating sewage.

Once everything was looking good, we headed to a local campsite to pitch our tents. We raced against the clock to hammer in the last tent pegs just as the sun set, then it was off to the pub for locally-caught fish and chips, before crashing out.

We awoke bright and early and while the girls raced the rest of the campsite to the showers, the boys put the obligatory morning coffee on to brew. After bacon and egg sarnies (local, outdoor-reared and free range) we set off back to RCHQ for the big event.

Visitors started pouring in as soon as the gates opened, and their first port of call was our wind sustainability spot. Manned by Good Energy Shop manager Katie and Toby from Freesource Energy – one of our fantastic microgen installers – it was crowded with families keen to find out about the new wind turbine and how Good Energy was involved. Further down the hill they reached the sun spot, and as they strolled towards the River Cottage kitchens they were met by our MD Barney, asking “Why is wood good?” on the wood spot and Head of PR Sophy on the water spot.

Hugo and Stewart from Satellite Architects addressed a standing-room only  audience about some of the eco-measures at River Cottage and offered lots of advice to people signing up to the 10:10 campaign about how to cut their carbon emissions.

The Good Energy was clearly spreading, as loads of people came to chat to us in the producers’ tent and find out more about how they could get our 100% renewable electricity; and more about generating their own. The next generation of sustainability experts got involved too, as the kids rushed around to collect a card from each sustainability spot and collect a tasty little reward.

On Sunday evening, as the last of the visitors were leaving, we enjoyed a well-earned cider with Hugh before packing up our van and heading home.

The Autumn Fair was a really brilliant event – Hugh and the River Cottage team at RCHQ made us really feel part of the action. The crowd was great too – it was great to get out there spread the word to people who didn’t know about Good Energy before, and also to catch up with some of our customers who stopped by to say hi.

Hope to see you next year!

To find out more about going sustainable and generating your own energy, visit www.generateyourown.co.uk

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Chapter 2: Cooking on sustainable gas

   By Hugo House, Good Energy

At Good Energy, we've begun our project to assess and improve sustainability at River Cottage. We'll be doing a detailed evaluation of their consumption of energy and resources, but we've already identified one key area for improvement, and that's the way they cook. RC use LPG - Liquefied Petroleum Gas - to fuel their cookers. LPG is an excellent cooking fuel, but it is a fossil fuel and burning it is contributing to climate change.

So, is there a fuel that's as manageable and responsive as gas that doesn't harm our environment? Of course, 100% renewable electricity is a zero-carbon fuel that can provide the necessary heat, but even the best induction hobs don't offer the flexibility that professional chefs require. It has to be gas, so is it possible to source ‘green' gas?

The natural gas that we extract from the North Sea is methane, CH₄. Burning it in air creates two new compounds: water vapour (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). It began to form millions of years ago when organic life in our seas died and began decomposing on the seabed with the help of bacteria. When organic matter (like small sea creatures) decomposes without any oxygen present (like on the sea bed) the process that occurs is called Anaerobic Digestion. Its byproducts are carbon dioxide and methane, which were stored beneath the seabed until mankind started extracting them in the twentieth century.

Nature's process of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) can be replicated artificially. More than 4000 AD systems operate in Germany and interest is growing fast in the UK. Using ‘feedstocks' of food waste, animal slurry or energy crops (like maize), or a combination of these, bacteria inside the AD digesters go to work, breaking down the feedstock to create biogas. This biogas is burned and the energy used to drive a turbine to generate electricity. The residual heat is often put to use drying grain or heating greenhouses for example.

When biogas is burned to create energy, it returns the same amount of CO₂ to the atmosphere as if the feedstock had decomposed naturally. This means that properly managed biogeneration doesn't disturb the carbon balance and doesn't contribute to climate change. The AD process creates another byproduct - the digestate - a highly nutritious, pasteurised, organic fertilizer that can be applied to farmland. So far so good ... as AD can use waste food, it can help to divert some of the 20 million tonnes of food waste produced annually in the UK from landfill.

So AD has the potential to be a win/win solution! The next step is surely to identify an AD system, get some biogas from them, and see if the chefs at River Cottage can cook on it...

Luckily, of the small number of AD plants in the UK, a few are quite near River Cottage. We spoke to the farmer, told him our plan which raised a smile and then we started to talk logistics. Unfortunately we got snagged on a problem.

The biogas created by AD is a mix of about 60% methane, 40% CO₂ and some traces of other gases like hydrogen sulphide. This burns just fine at the generation end of an AD system but if you want a flammable gas suitable for cooking on, it won't work. You need to ‘scrub' biogas so that you are left with pure biomethane. As you might have guessed, scrubbing gasses isn't a question of getting on your hands and knees with a bucket of water; it involves a bit more chemistry.

So unfortunately this promising path we were exploring has reached a dead end. We need to find a supply of biogas that's been cleaned up and turned into biomethane. Next we need to find a safe method of getting it pressurized or liquefied and into a transportable canister. Anyway as one door closes, another is opening. I may have found our purist... or scrubber! Watch this space....

Chapter 1 – Our introduction to River Cottage HQ

By Hugo House, Good Energy’s microgeneration guru

With our partnership freshly agreed with River Cottage, the Good Energy team – Katie, Sophy and I -- went down to River Cottage HQ to see how we can help River Cottage improve its sustainability. We were met by Stewart Dodd, the River Cottage architect who’s helped turn the derelict farm into the living, breathing hive of activity that you find at RCHQ today. Stewart’s already done some fantastic work on making RCHQ more sustainable, and we’ll be working together to build on that in the future. You can read Satellite Architects’ blogs on sustainable architecture practice here.

First up we talked about the newly installed 6kW Proven wind turbine that stands at the entrance to RCHQ.  It’s a cracking spot for a wind turbine: near the top of a 100m hill with nothing between the turbine and the sea on its southwest side. A great wind speed of between six and seven metres per second, excellent for a small-scale wind turbine, which should earn RC around £1,500 a year on Good Energy’s HomeGen scheme that pays small scale generators for all the electricity they produce.

Walking down the hill to the farm, Stewart pointed out the artesian well that produces 7000 litres a day of fresh drinking water that bubbles naturally to the surface. A solar-powered pump carries the water to a storage tank up the hill to provide the necessary water pressure.

In the courtyard Stewart showed us the biomass boiler that provides much of the heating and hot water for RCHQ. The boiler is hooked up to the kitchen’s hot water system and the central heating system for the farmhouse and the Threshing barn – their events venue. The boiler uses about 40 tonnes of dried split logs that RC sources from Forestry Commission woodland less than half a mile away – a great use of a ‘Carbon Neutral’ local resource (wood absorbs as much C02 when it grows as is released when it’s burned).

While head chef Gill and his team were busy in the kitchens cooking up fresh mackerel for our lunch, Stewart led us into the Threshing barn to tell us about the high levels of insulation underfloor and in the roof that help to improve the thermal performance of the building. The original solid stone walls lose heat pretty fast so it helps to pack in as much insulation where it can be used.

And then, back outside in the sunshine, Stuart showed us RCs green water treatment system. All the waste water at River Cottage – the ‘grey’ water from the kitchens and the ‘brown’ water from the loos is channeled through a reed bed system. These hardy plants feed on all the impurities in the waste water, which supports their growth and once processed, the water is crystal clear and fit to pass back into the water table.

So, River Cottage is off-grid for their water supply, supported by a sustainable well-supplied source. Much of their heating is provided by local wood, a sustainable carbon neutral fuel. Their waste water is processed in the most natural way possible and delivered back to the environment as clean as it started. They’re generating their own green electricity and any extra they need they buy from us, 100% RENEWABLE!   

We were beginning to scratch our heads as to how we could help. While they’ve made some very impressive steps to cut their carbon footprint, there’s still room for further improvement. As always, the first step is to reduce your energy consumption. Some of RC’s fridges look like they might be sucking up quite a lot of energy and their offices are a temporary building that is heated by electricity (not a good fuel for heating) and the insulation can be improved quite considerably.

And the most important element at River Cottage – The Cooking – relies on propane gas – a fossil fuel.

So, where can we help? Well, we reckon you should always start with measurement. Once you know how much energy you’re using and how you’re using it, you can begin to look at how you can reduce your energy consumption and what other sources of energy you can consider switching to, including generating your own energy.

Once we’ve measured RC’s energy use, we’ll think about solutions to help them use less. Some new fridges will be a good idea and lots of simple but effective energy-saving measures too. And then, what about the energy they could generate? Will solar power work well at RC? Is another wind turbine a good idea? What about the cooking gas they use? Can we help them find a fuel the chefs will be happy with that’s also sustainable?

We’ll keep you posted.

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