Maze grown for the production of biogas close to a house fitted with solar energy panels
According to research by the 'Institut für Lebensmittel- und Ressourcenökonomik' (Institute for Food and Resource Economics, ILR) at the University of Bonn, Germany, maize destined for the production of biogas holds great potential in Europe. Maize ('corn' in the US) is a feedstock that can be used for the production of ethanol and biogas. But the conversion into a liquid fuel is energy inefficient compared to anaerobically fermenting it into biomethane. Per hectare, corn yields an average of 20 Gigajoules (45Gj max.) per year if converted into ethanol; when the crop is converted into biogas, it yields an average of 55 Gj (125Gj max.), some two to three times more useable energy. Biogas has the advantage that it can be used both as an automotive fuel (in CNG vehicles) and as an energy source for stationary applications (such as in biogas fuel cells or natural gas power plants). After cleaning the biomethane, it can be fed into the natural gas grid (earlier post). In Europe, energy maize is being bred as a dedicated crop for biogas production, with a 'super' variant that yields a much larger amount of easily methanisable biomass than ordinary variants. Germany is also one of the world's top photovoltaics (PV) installers, with a solar PV capacity in 2009 of 8,877 megawatts (MW), and 6,200 GWh of electricity generated in 2009. Solar power now meets about percent of Germany's electricity demand, a share that some market analysts expect could reach 25 percent by 2050.
Size: 5127px × 3407px
Location: Herscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Photo credit: © Clynt Garnham Renewable Energy / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: agriculture, biogas, corn, crop, crops, eco-friendly, ecology, energy, environmentally, european, farming, feed-, friendly, fuels, german, germany, green, herscheid, household, maize, maze, micro-generation, microgeneration, north, photovoltaic, pv, renewable, rhine-westphalia, rooftop, solar, sustainable, tariffs, technology
