ANDALUCÍA The agriculture business in Andalucía, second only to tourism in terms of revenue, is increasingly turning to the use of alternativre energies. One of these, perhaps the most useful agriculturally, is what is being called biomass but bares a strong, if much larger, resemblance to the compost heap at the end of the garden. It is considerably more significant, though, inasmuch as it uses the remains of such large scale production as tomato and vegetable plantations, olive oil processing (orujo, and otherwise highly poisonous, and the olive stones) and wood, turning it all into pellets for use in boilers and other heat-making processes. Curiously, it is hotels and restaurants -the tourist industry- that buys most of the pellets. For instance the Escuela de Hostelería y Turismo La Laguna de Baeza, in Jaén, recently installed a biomass boiler that heats the water as well as the school itself, which turns into large savings.>
In La Iruela, also in Jaén, the Sierra de Cazorla Hotel & Spa, is the first such establishment to use olive stone pellets to supply the entire complex with heat and electricity. Jaén contains the largest olive growing industry in Spain, if not in Europe, so the importance of using what until now had been a waste product with considerable what-do-we-do-with-it? problems, is evident.
Every hectare of olive plantation produces 2,500 kilos of residue during the pruning season. This can produce up to 1,770 litres of ethanol per year, which represents about 15% of the total petrol consumption in the country, a possible market value of sonme €2 billion euros.
But that is not all. Biogas is another alternative energy that could become important for agriculture. The Oleocampo Group, of Torredelcampo, Jaén, has developed a biogas production system based on the use of orujo, a poisonous substance that is left over in the production of olive oil. The group is the first in Andalucía to explorethe possibilities of this process, and is feeling very pleased with the results so far.
The Junta de Andalucía's Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, has approved incentives (i.e. grants and/or subsidies) for the development of 'biodigestion' (their word) processes that involve the use of animal excrements, with a view to using up more than 65,000 square meters of it per year in the production of electricity. Not surprisingly, the grants go to large scale animal farms where biogas emanations are an increasing environmental problem, not to mention the actual excrement that produces it, which all too often is simply drained off into rivers, streams and aquifers.
In La Iruela, also in Jaén, the Sierra de Cazorla Hotel & Spa, is the first such establishment to use olive stone pellets to supply the entire complex with heat and electricity. Jaén contains the largest olive growing industry in Spain, if not in Europe, so the importance of using what until now had been a waste product with considerable what-do-we-do-with-it? problems, is evident.
Every hectare of olive plantation produces 2,500 kilos of residue during the pruning season. This can produce up to 1,770 litres of ethanol per year, which represents about 15% of the total petrol consumption in the country, a possible market value of sonme €2 billion euros.
But that is not all. Biogas is another alternative energy that could become important for agriculture. The Oleocampo Group, of Torredelcampo, Jaén, has developed a biogas production system based on the use of orujo, a poisonous substance that is left over in the production of olive oil. The group is the first in Andalucía to explorethe possibilities of this process, and is feeling very pleased with the results so far.
The Junta de Andalucía's Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, has approved incentives (i.e. grants and/or subsidies) for the development of 'biodigestion' (their word) processes that involve the use of animal excrements, with a view to using up more than 65,000 square meters of it per year in the production of electricity. Not surprisingly, the grants go to large scale animal farms where biogas emanations are an increasing environmental problem, not to mention the actual excrement that produces it, which all too often is simply drained off into rivers, streams and aquifers.
No comments:
Post a Comment