The energy crisis leads to devising alternative solutions to fossil fuels. and theBosco Gerolo farmin Rivergaro, in the province of Piacenza, has made it possible to obtain from cow breeding not only the milk and cheeses that are sold directly to consumers but also a quality biogas for methane cars.
The sewage and manure produced by the cows in the barn, he explains Coldiretti, are mixed with residues from the processing of cereals for animal feed, from straw to corn stalks, and left to ferment in a plant that looks like a sort of large pressure cooker. The gas produced is then transferred to an upgrading plant where it is completely purified and stored in large cylinders which feed the distributor, capable of filling up 100 cars a day while the waste is used to fertilize the land. The first zero km petrol station – Coldiretti reveals – is enjoying resounding success with dozens of motorists queuing up to fill up “zero km”, which is much more convenient.
With the increases in electricity and gas, the promotion of alternative energy networks would represent a decisive contribution to the green transition but also to counter the increase in costs for families and businesses. In this sense, agriculture plays a strategic role. Starting, for example, from the use of waste from crops and livestock – underlines Coldiretti – it is possible to arrive at the construction of plants for the distribution of biomethane at a national level to feed public transport fleets such as buses, trucks and ships as well as same cars as citizens. In this way it will be possible to generate a virtuous cycle of resource management, cutting waste, reducing polluting emissions, creating new jobs and developing scientific research on green fuels.
But an important help could also come from clean and eco-sustainable photovoltaics without subtracting land from crops but using only the roofs of stables, as well as farms, warehouses, barns, processing laboratories and agricultural structures but exceeding the limit of self-consumption as a barrier to subsidized investments.