The Archers Reject Bio-Power
The world’s longest running radio soap, The Archers, has been tackling the fallacy of bio-power this week. A brief synopsis follows;
Monday: Adam proposes to Brian that they install an anaerobic digester on the farm which will produce methane and in turn generate electricity. The digester will be powered using specifically grown crops, mixed with animal poop. Apparently, farmers in Germany have been on to this for quite some time now and are making a packet out of it. And with a 40% government grant on offer towards the staggering cost of £1 million Brian thinks this a pretty good idea..
Tuesday: David and Ruth from Brookfield farm are approached to see if they could provide some of the animal poop. They are tempted by the idea of making a few bucks, but ask for a couple of days to think things over.
Wednesday: Adam discusses the idea with Pat & Tony from Bridge farm, but unfortunately for Adam somebody is thinking a little further ahead than next week. Pat & Tony firmly reject the idea and explain a few of the basic truths about BioFuels: Using land for fuel production means that less food is produced. Less food production = higher food prices. Higher food prices leads to all manner of further ills, including world hunger and deforestation to plug the food supply gap.
There, even The Archers can see that BioFuels are rubbish.
Will Adam be able to build the digester without the cooperation of Pat & Tony? You can listen to The Archers’ podcast every day from the BBC.
And if you want a good read on the BioFuels argument there has been a raging debate on The Daily Grist recently which is worth a look.
