DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Project RICE (Renewable, Inclusive, Carbon-positive Energy)

Project disclaimer

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Description

PROBLEM Modern agriculture is so critically dependent on fossil fuel inputs that they often outweigh energy outputs from the food produced. Hence modern farming has been described as "the use of land to convert oil into food". Undoubtedly, diesel-powered mechanisation has greatly reduced backbreaking drudgery for countless millions of farmers, and conversion of natural-gas into ammonia/nitrogen fertilisers is currently feeding a third of humanity. Nevertheless, the downsides are painfully obvious: Input Costs: Centralised production/distribution of fossil fuels mean farmers in remote areas across Africa and Asia often pay more than double for diesel-fuel/N-fertilisers. Those who cannot afford them are stuck in cycles of hard labour/low-yields/poverty. Those who can afford them lose around 60% at point-of-use(waste-heat from engines, or leaching/volatilisation from N-fertilisers). Food Prices: Food uses around a third of all energy globally, so when fossil-fuel prices rise, food prices follow, creating political instability and hardship for the world's most vulnerable(urban-poor and farmers in developing countries). Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emissions: Agricultural emissions continue to rise, accelerating climate change, disproportionately impacting farmers in developing countries. VISION Development of efficient agricultural technologies powered by renewable energy to lower emissions whilst increasing farmer productivity and profitability in developing countries. Our focus is on the world's number 1 food crop: rice. Known as a "Poverty Crop"(low-margins for smallholder-farmers). Responsible for 48% of all crop GHG emissions. 91% of rice is produced/consumed in Asia. Straw Innovations("SI") (British SME operating in the Philippines) has pioneered a suite of technologies for collecting rice straw at harvest-time, avoiding field-burning/rotting that accounts for almost half of rice emissions. In this project, they will convert their "straw-catcher" machine to run on solar-PV electricity/batteries instead of diesel. Takachar(multi-award-winning Indian SME) has developed a cost-effective mobile biochar production unit that can transform rice straw from a major pollutant into a vast carbon sink. They will make a 10x scaled-up version and send it to SI, who will tap the waste process heat for the first time to dry rice, instead of diesel/kerosene. The char will then be returned to the farmers' fields as a more efficient fertiliser/soil-amendment, incorporated by the same SI electric "rice/straw-collectors" that harvested it. SI will also send their machines from the Philippines to India mid-project and the two countries will test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. Aston University(home of SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub) leading sustainability specialists will invite stakeholder feedback and also calculate GHG savings from the new system.

Objectives

PROBLEM Modern agriculture is so critically dependent on fossil fuel inputs that they often outweigh energy outputs from the food produced. Hence modern farming has been described as "the use of land to convert oil into food". Undoubtedly, diesel-powered mechanisation has greatly reduced backbreaking drudgery for countless millions of farmers, and conversion of natural-gas into ammonia/nitrogen fertilisers is currently feeding a third of humanity. Nevertheless, the downsides are painfully obvious: Input Costs: Centralised production/distribution of fossil fuels mean farmers in remote areas across Africa and Asia often pay more than double for diesel-fuel/N-fertilisers. Those who cannot afford them are stuck in cycles of hard labour/low-yields/poverty. Those who can afford them lose around 60% at point-of-use(waste-heat from engines, or leaching/volatilisation from N-fertilisers). Food Prices: Food uses around a third of all energy globally, so when fossil-fuel prices rise, food prices follow, creating political instability and hardship for the world's most vulnerable(urban-poor and farmers in developing countries). Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emissions: Agricultural emissions continue to rise, accelerating climate change, disproportionately impacting farmers in developing countries. VISION Development of efficient agricultural technologies powered by renewable energy to lower emissions whilst increasing farmer productivity and profitability in developing countries. Our focus is on the world's number 1 food crop: rice. Known as a "Poverty Crop"(low-margins for smallholder-farmers). Responsible for 48% of all crop GHG emissions. 91% of rice is produced/consumed in Asia. Straw Innovations("SI") (British SME operating in the Philippines) has pioneered a suite of technologies for collecting rice straw at harvest-time, avoiding field-burning/rotting that accounts for almost half of rice emissions. In this project, they will convert their "straw-catcher" machine to run on solar-PV electricity/batteries instead of diesel. Takachar(multi-award-winning Indian SME) has developed a cost-effective mobile biochar production unit that can transform rice straw from a major pollutant into a vast carbon sink. They will make a 10x scaled-up version and send it to SI, who will tap the waste process heat for the first time to dry rice, instead of diesel/kerosene. The char will then be returned to the farmers' fields as a more efficient fertiliser/soil-amendment, incorporated by the same SI electric "rice/straw-collectors" that harvested it. SI will also send their machines from the Philippines to India mid-project and the two countries will test out different business models for farmer adoption/benefit. Aston University(home of SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub) leading sustainability specialists will invite stakeholder feedback and also calculate GHG savings from the new system.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Philippines

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