The chances are that sustainable approaches have been pretty high on your agenda for land management, forestry and agriculture. You may not have realised, however, that there are several sustainable energy options you might also be able to consider.

This gives you an insight into some of the approaches you may find of interest.

Energy crops and renewable fuels

The use of biomass is one of the most important aspects of renewables, because it can provide non-intermittent sources of energy and direct replacements for fossil fuels.

There is an ever wider range of crops that can be used for energy purposes. There are also many crops that can have dual purposes. This may be because part of the crop has one use, while the straw or other residue can be used for energy, or because they can be sold for either food or fuel.

Many forestry products and by-products are also suitable for renewable fuels, so those managing woodland should also consider this potential application.

At the REA we know more about energy than agriculture or forestry. See the Useful Links section for sources of further advice on growing energy crops or renewable fuels.

Energy production from farm waste

There are now exciting technologies which can kill three birds with one stone:

• Disposal of farm waste
• Generation of energy, and
• Production of fertiliser

The bio-digestion section of this website explains how residues and slurries can be treated to produce biogas and fertiliser. The biogas can them be used to produce both heat and power for you own use. Any surplus electricity can even be sold back into the grid.

Using land for renewables projects

Renewable energy generation also offers the potential for a secondary revenue generating use of farm land. Some wind farms for example have been built on sites, where the land can continue to be farmed.

If you want a view on whether this offers potential for your land, look for wind energy project developers in the Members section.

Using renewable transport options

You may also wish to consider the use of renewable fuels in your vehicles. There are several options:

• Biofuels can be blended in low concentrations (typically under 10%) into established transport fuels, both diesel and gasoline. This is becoming increasingly common; indeed you probably often use this without even realising.
• Higher blends of biofuels (e.g. an 85% blend of bioethanol in gasoline) can be used in specially adapted vehicles. Some of these are so-called flex-fuel vehicles which can also run on standard gasoline.
• Some vehicles can also be converted to operate on gas, including biogas produced from renewable sources (even potentially in your own anaerobic digester – see above).

More questions answered

See also the Frequently Asked Questions and other parts of this website.