Biogas - Not Biofuel
You have probably heard a lot in the news lately about biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Our process is fundamentally different from that used by biofuel companies. There are key differences between us and biofuel companies, which may be of interest to you:
- We use by-products from food processing and agriculture, not products that could be used as food for people, like corn.
- Our process is energy positive, unlike other renewable fuels which are energy negative and sometimes require more energy for production than they generate for use.
The chart below shows how biogas stacks up to biodiesel, ethanol and traditional forms of energy, taking into account the full life cycle of each form of production, i.e. from the construction, operation and even dismantling of the plant. With this graph, a smaller bar means a smaller carbon footprint (kg CO2-eq. per passenger kilometre). You’ll notice that the generation of energy from biogas actually reduces environmental impacts since the process destroys methane that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
Sources:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2976
http://www.news-service.admin.ch/NSBSubscriber/message/attachments/8514.pdf
