“Energy cannot be created when it is absent, nor destroyed when it exists; it can only transform from one form to another.” (First Law of Thermodynamics)
The most natural and historic example of convertible energy is the revolutionary horse carriage, the beginning of transport. 5,500 years ago an unknown inventor of the wheel proved, by bringing horse and wheel together, that pure and clean energy can be transformed.
The Period of Betrayal of Nature
For centuries, humanity was a commodity producer, producing only enough for itself and its family and making a living by selling what remained. While energy was pure, clean and transformable in people's lives at that time, the industrial revolution changed everything. We chose to want more instead of being content with less. Mass production, growing in parallel with population, pushed us towards raw-material problems, environmental pollution and a consumption that upsets the whole balance of nature. The ecosystem, damaged by human hands, started the process of humankind's betrayal of air, water and soil…
And…
We have learned — under the most cliché but most accurate headline, “GLOBAL WARMING” — that no betrayal goes unanswered. Through news from all over the world we have witnessed together the upheaval of nature's balance. Global warming and climate change are not an impending threat; they are a growing danger we already live in. We must review everything from our lifestyle to our energy production methods and make the most of the last chance nature may give us.
Sustainable Development
Since we no longer travel by horse-drawn carriage or live in adobe houses, we have no choice but to use the most accurate and sustainable methods available today. Alongside widespread renewable solutions such as solar, wind and geothermal, electricity and heat obtained by converting agricultural, animal and domestic waste into biogas are rapidly entering our lives as renewable/convertible energy. The highly efficient organic fertilizers produced in the process create a separate economic added value of their own.
Biogas' Contribution to a Sustainable World
Among renewable energy investments, biogas unfortunately has not received enough attention and has remained at a smaller production capacity than other renewables. Biogas plants should not be seen merely as facilities that convert agricultural and domestic waste into electricity and heat. Although they vary by location, capacity factors compare as follows: 30–35% for wind, 40–45% for hydro, 15–20% for solar and 80–85% for biogas. Simply put, to generate in a year the electricity of a 2 MW biogas plant you would need a 6 MW wind farm, a 4–5 MW hydro plant or a 12–13 MW solar plant. Biogas plants also produce heat and organic fertilizer as by-products.
Reducing Carbon Emissions in Biogas Projects
Like other renewable sources, biogas plants eliminate the CO₂ emissions of fossil-fuel-based generation. They also control the release of CH₄ (methane) produced by the decomposition of organic waste left in nature. Methane can trap 28 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, so its effect on climate change is far greater. Seen from this angle, biogas plants are not only a renewable source of electricity but the best method for converting agricultural, livestock and domestic waste without harming the environment.
Hereby
We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children, and we work to hand it to them in the best possible condition. As RENESCO ENERGY, we are Türkiye's pioneer in biogas and the most ambitious group in sustainable energy production. For a clean world we can return only a few starfish to the sea… Let's, together, bring many starfish back to the sea on this adventure.