An investigation of the potential adoption of anaerobic digestion for energy production in Irish farms

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dc.contributor.authorO'Connor, Sean
dc.contributor.authorEhimen, Ehiaze
dc.contributor.authorPillai, Suresh C.
dc.contributor.authorPower, Niamh
dc.contributor.authorLyons, Gary A.
dc.contributor.authorBartlett, John
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-10T11:14:14Z
dc.date.available2021-05-10T11:14:14Z
dc.date.issued2021-01-27
dc.descriptionPublished online: Accepted - 20 January 2021; Published online - 27 January 2021en_US
dc.description.abstractAnaerobic digestion (AD) has been recognised as an effective means of simultaneously producing energy while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Despite having a large agriculture sector, Ireland has experienced little uptake of the technology, ranking 20th within the EU-28. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the general opinions, willingness to adopt, and perceived obstacles of potential adopters of the technology. As likely primary users of this technology, a survey of Irish cattle farmers was conducted to assess the potential of on-farm AD for energy production in Ireland. The study seeks to understand farmers’ motivations, perceived barriers, and preferred business model. The study found that approximately 41% of the 91 respondents were interested in installing AD on their farming enterprise within the next five years. These Likely Adopters tended to have a higher level of education attainment, and together, currently hold 4379 cattle, potentially providing 37,122 t year−1 of wastes as feedstock, resulting in a potential CO2 reduction of 800.65 t CO2-eq. year−1. Moreover, the results indicated that the primary consideration preventing the implementation of AD is a lack of information regarding the technology and high investment costs. Of the Likely Adopters and Possible Adopters, a self-owned and operated plant was the preferred ownership structure, while 58% expressed an interest in joining a co-operative scheme. The findings generated provide valuable insights into the willingness of farmers to implement AD and guidance for its potential widespread adoption.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), with match funding provided by the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland) and Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Republic of Ireland), grant number IVA5033. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/254
dc.identifier.citationO’Connor, S., Ehimen, E., Pillai, S. C., Power, N., Lyons, G. A. and Bartlett, J. (2021) ‘An Investigation of the Potential Adoption of Anaerobic Digestion for Energy Production in Irish Farms’, Environments. MDPI AG, 8(2), p. 8. doi: 10.3390/environments8020008.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2076-3298
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/environments8020008
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMDPIen_US
dc.rightsCopyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).en_US
dc.subjectanaerobic digestionen_US
dc.subjectfarm-scaleen_US
dc.subjectdecentraliseden_US
dc.subjectbiogas productionen_US
dc.titleAn investigation of the potential adoption of anaerobic digestion for energy production in Irish farmsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2021-01-20
dcterms.dateSubmitted2020-11-30

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