Why Biogas Hasn’t Caught Fire

The rush to energy production from biogas – methane from waste, and, in particular, manure – has slowed to a trickle, with large-scale anaerobic digesters remaining the primary source of production in North America.
Why haven’t home-based, or, at least, small farm-based systems flourished? The answer is simple, and yet complex. The simple answer is that the focus in any alternative energy initiatives across the continent has been on large-scale systems capable of supplementing, if not replacing conventional sources of energy production.
Biodiesel, for example, has the capacity to be produced in garage-sized facilities, yet most of the soybean and canola fed systems produce many millions of litres per year, with some generating 300-400 million litres. State and provincial regulations require onerous reporting processes, to document the scale of production, and smaller operators find this red tape not worth the effort for small production facilities.
Solar energy had been predicted to be cost-competitive with coal and hydro-powered electricity by 2010, yet still remains at prohibitively high capital cost levels, with a mere 15-20 year lifespan for the infrastructure. So, massive systems are being built in Nevada and Arizona, while backyard systems languish.
Wind power has seen a tornado of activity, but it is the large wind farms that predominate, while 1.5kw systems remain at a cost of $900-2,000 per unit. The average home would require 6-10 of these units to ensure a steady supply of energy, as well as a comprehensive array of deep-cycle batteries, inverters, charge protectors, and so on.
Biogas, then is in good company, with systems that are fed by 700-2,000 head of livestock in order to be economically viable.
That is not to suggest that small systems are not viable. Indeed, in Africa and eastern Asia, single units are producing enough biogas for cooking and lighting for a family of six, at a cost of under $100 per unit! Tests on a variety of prototypes in Canada have found that good results can be obtained by environmentally secure systems that cost only a few hundred dollars.
But that is where the more complex reason for the failure of small-scale biogas systems come into play: human nature.
Biogas is, to put it crudely, a garbage product. It is made from excrement, at worst, or, at best, waste organic material. The snobbery of western civilization dictates that we are repulsed by the ideal of using anything that is made from manure, or rotting trash. Worse, that we are expected to handle this raw sewage and effluent is many time more disgusting. The reality that we eat produce grow in animal crap, that we consume fungus and mould, intentional, every day, and that the waste that is used would naturally produce this methane energy anyway does not factor into our thinking. We simply decline to involve ourselves in the odious task of utilizing or handling garbage.
What is difficult to fathom, though, is that our capitalist economy has failed to recognize that garbage can be gold, and to market biogas systems with a fervour.
Not only can biogas be generated safely and cheaply from household waste, in every back yard, but the systems that could be constructed and sold could be marketed at a significant mark-up and a low input cost. This makes home-based biogas systems a win-win product. Yet, our governments ignore the chance to impact on the environment at the consumer level, businesses ignore the opportunity for profit in these systems and consumers ignore the chance to achieve energy independence in their own backyards, simply because we find the idea of recycling waste to be unpleasant.
The price that we pay is more unpleasant: a degrading environment, energy reliance on outside sources, and ever-increasing costs of energy.