kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010
Posts: 785
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 Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:42 pm Post subject: Whisky distilleries |
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Wood fuel almost certainly exceeds hydroelectric and wind as the largest source of renewable energy at present. Scotland's forests, which currently make up 60% of the UK resource base,[74] could provide up to 1 million tonnes of wood fuel per annum.[38] The biomass energy supply in Scotland could reach 450 MW or higher in coming years, (predominantly from wood), with power stations requiring 4,500–5,000 oven dry tonnes per annum per megawatt of generating capacity.[74] The energy company E.ON has constructed a 44 MW biomass power station at Lockerbie using locally sourced crops[75] while the smaller but not insignificant EPR Westfield power plant in Fife produces 9.8 MW of output using chicken litter as fuel.[76] The Forestry Commission are developing a Scottish Biomass Action Plan in conjunction with the Scottish Executive, and the latter is expected to provide a £7.5 million grant scheme to support biomass energy. There is growing demand for automatic wood pellet boilers which can be as convenient to use as conventional central heating systems, and which may be cheaper to run as well as being carbon neutral.[38]
There is also local potential for energy crops such as short-rotation willow or poplar coppice, miscanthus energy grass, agricultural wastes such as straw and manure, and forestry residues.[38][77] These crops could provide 0.8 GW of generating capacity.[2]
[edit] Micro systems
Whisky distilleries have a role to play in keeping Scots warm.
The Energy Savings Trust has estimated that micro-generation could provide a significantly increased proportion of the UK's electricity demand by 2050[14] although only a fraction of this would come from renewable sources.[78] The current Scottish output is negligible. In May 2006 the then Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm launched a Planning Advice Note aimed at promoting micro-renewables.[79] Small-scale 'wind2heat' projects, which use wind turbines to power electrical storage heaters directly,[80] have proven to be successful in remoter rural areas;[81] as have various other local schemes such as air source heat pumps.[82]
Whisky distilleries may have a locally important part to play. Caithness Heat and Power have announced plans to tackle fuel poverty in Wick by utilising a wood chip CHP scheme in partnership with the Old Pulteney Distillery.[83] On the island of Islay, a swimming pool is heated using waste heat from the Bowmore distillery.[84] In Edinburgh, Tynecastle High School, due to be completed in 2010, will be heated by waste heat from the neighbouring North British Distillery.[85] In 2009 the Diageo Cameron Bridge distillery announced plans for a £65 million facility to generate energy from the spent "wash" created in the manufacturing process, which will aim to replace 95% of the plan's existing fossil fuel use.[86]
There are also a growing number of Micro hydro systems on smaller watercourses, especially in more remote rural locationsPsychic
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