On-farm anaerobic digestion uptake barriers and required incentives: A case study of the UK East Midlands region

Ackrill, Rob; Abdo, Hafez

Abstract

On-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) can deliver renewable energy, improved management of farm wastes and the production of fertilizer, offering cost-savings, environmental improvements and potentially also revenue generation. The research reported here provides an in-depth exploration, in the UK's East Midlands region, of the factors behind the limited uptake of on-farm AD, compared with other on-farm renewable energy sources, and what stakeholders would like to see to change this. Data collection has been undertaken in three stages – a questionnaire sent to farmers, 18 interviews with stakeholders from the industry and policy sides of the AD debate, and a stakeholder workshop. The many barriers identified were grouped into political & institutional, AD awareness, and economic & technical. A range of incentives and policy responses are identified to increase on-farm AD uptake, notably coordinated information gathering and dissemination, streamlined planning processes, improved access to finance, and stable policies.

Citation

Ackrill, R., & Abdo, H. (2020). On-farm anaerobic digestion uptake barriers and required incentives: A case study of the UK East Midlands region. Journal of Cleaner Production, 264, Article 121727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121727

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 13, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 19, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 10, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 20, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production
• Print ISSN: 0959-6526
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 264
• Article Number: 121727
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121727
• Keywords: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; Strategy and Management; Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; General Environmental Science
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4318387
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652620317741