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Ecology can be a profitable business. Matthew Magee and James Smart investigate three cases of people making the best use of oil, air and water.
Chip fat to diesel
Argent Energy
Deep fry your way to a sustainable future: it is an appealing idea. that eating chips could save the environment. Thanks to one Scottish factory. it is becoming true. Argent linergy has just opened a £15m factory near .Vlotherwell that turns chip fat into biodiesel. a fuel on which you can run any diesel vehicle.
‘The process is fairly simple. People would be familiar with it from chemistry class. but it is on a very large scale.‘ says Argent linergy‘s Maria l.imonci. That scale is too small to make a difference to the environment just yet. but companies such as Argent are hoping to feed a bigger proportion of biodiesel into the system. ‘With lTK diesel consumption at 1.8m litres a month. biodiesel represents only 0192 of total. so there is scope for much more.’ she says.
Most renewable energy activity focuses on electricity supply and using natural resources to supply the national grid. But electricity only represents a third of our power consumption. so
wind and wave farms can only ever be part of
the solution. Replacing fossil fuels in vehicles is a crucial part of the wider power debate. and biodiesel is a vital part of that process. Recognising this. the lil,’ has set targets of 2‘}? of all fuel to be biodiesel by the end of this year. rising to 5.75% by 2010. Biodiesel production is around a decade old. but Argent‘s
process has one major advantage over other
production methods: it uses waste materials as the basis for its fuel. whereas existing factories use virgin oil. Some critics argue that as rntrch
fossil diesel is used up in the farming of virgin crops as is produced in the biodiesel process.
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Using waste cooking oil and tallow makes more environmental sense than using virgin oil. especially since that process produces another. separate fuel oil as a by-product. a fuel Argent linergy itself uses. 'The factory actually mostly runs on that by-product fuel.’ says Limonci. ‘Another by-product is potassium sulphate. which can be used as a fertiliser? (MM) ir‘n'ii‘.(lljgt'nlr'llt’ljg):('UHI
Wind in mind
Renewable Devices You can see wind turbines on hills across the l’K. Now you can also see them on life schools. BT petrol stations and three houses in Berwickshire. lf lidinburgh firm Renewable Devices has its way. you could be seeing them even closer to home. Like on your roof.
The lirm was set up by (‘harlie Silverton and Dave Anderson in 2002. ‘We were working in a company making large scale wave machines and wind turbines.‘ explains Silverton. 'But we really wanted to make the technology accessible. There‘s a great strip of the world that's perfect for solar power. What we‘ve got here is a lot of wind — two-thirds of liurope's wind is in Scotland itself.”
Renewable Devices began with two separate wings: the consultancy. which solved such everyday problems as how to use the heat from the penguin enclosure to warm the hippos at
lidinburgh 7.00. used to fund the other half of
the company. which devotes itself to turbines. Now the turbines — aided by grants from the Scottish lixecutive and a distribution deal with Scottish & Southern linergy —< are paying their own way. They are almost silent. stand on 5m masts. and will supply around a third of the
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average household's energy requirements. Currently only larger commercial models are available. with the one kilowatt residential versions expected to be available from January. at a price of around £1500. So far not one planning application has been turned down. Silverton and Anderson are keen to spread the gospel and drive prices even lower. ‘lt's what it‘s all about.. explains Silverton. (JS) ii'ii'tr‘.I‘r'llr'tr‘(l/)/(’(/(’\‘i('(’.\‘.('(mI
Wave of energy
European Marine Energy Centre Modern wind turbines were largely invented and perfected in Scotland. yet those white propellers you see on the horizon are almost certainly Danish. How did Scotland lose the lucrative L‘Sbn a year trade in building wind turbines'.’ Lack of public sector support for emerging businesses. say engineers.
It‘s a mistake that the Scottish lixecutive is keen not to repeat. which is why it has part funded a {5.5111 wave power testing centre in ()rkney. a sea lab for wave turbines that it hopes will keep Scottish companies ahead of the next renewable energy trend.
The liuropean Marine linergy (‘entre (li.\lli(‘) contains four test berths at 50m depth. Companies can rent a test berth from l-ZMI'I‘ in order to operate their wave turbines in test conditions. analysing their performance while delivering electricity to the national grid.
The public support to build this infrastructure is. say engineers. crucial. and could mean the difference between having and not having a wave technology industry in ten years” time.
'l‘ypically companies will conduct their own tests at one seventh scale. then build a full scale model which they will take to ()rkney. (‘urrently only one company. lidinburgh‘s ()cean Power Delivery. has an actual machine in test. but li.\lli(‘ director Andrew Hill expects more this year.
‘(‘ompanies tend to underestimate how long it will actually take to get these things to the full scale trial stage.‘ he says. 'There will be more coming in next year and the year after. We are in discussions with companies in liurope and America as well as the l'K.‘ (.\l.\l) rr‘ir'irzr'mc'rzmjwrk