A life-size ‘cow lamp’ has appeared in front of the Houses of Parliament – to draw attention to the potential of on-farm livestock’s poo being used as a renewable energy source.
Passers-by did a double take at the unusual replica of a Victorian sewer lamp connected to a cow in central London.
Following the government’s announcement last month of a major new strategy to deliver energy security and net zero, the UK’s largest dairy cooperative is looking to highlight the untapped potential of biogas, which is derived from cow poo and food waste as a renewable energy source.
Biogas was once a staple of Victorian Britain after Birmingham engineer, Joseph Edmund Webb, patented a sewer gas destructor lamp fuelled by emissions from London’s sewers.
And today it has been suggested poo could help solve the UK’s energy security crisis with a nationwide strategy for anaerobic digestion of farm and food waste.
James Pirie, vice president of logistics at Arla, which is behind the cow lamp stunt said: “Dairy farmers have the potential to play a major role in the future of the UK’s energy security, using natural resources to provide more energy independence.
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