Biogas
How we work with biogas producers
We do not want to affect food prices or land use in the name of carbon removal. That is why biogas is a great fit for us. Biogas facilities are already numerous around the world, and growing, for several good reasons: They produce renewable energy as well as taking care of our organic waste. Treating waste in an anaerobic digestion process has the ability to reduce methane emissions in the agriculture and it is a source of a nutritious organic fertilizer. We already have a potential carbon removal solution right in front of us, already built and in operation.
Why do biogas plants emit so much CO₂?
So why isn’t this CO₂ addressed today? How can all this pure CO₂ go to the air, completely under everyone’s radar?
This is best illustrated through the lens of a rotten apple. We need to consider that the CO₂ in question comes from organic waste and does not have a fossil origin. Take the rotten apple, if we leave it to rot on the street, it will emit CO₂. That CO₂ will be captured by trees, and their leaves will fall, and the CO₂ goes back to air. This is what is referred to as the natural carbon cycle. We don’t tax these emission sources that belong in the natural carbon cycle. This means that there are no incentives to address the CO₂ that arises either from an apple rotting in the street, or a rotten apple treated in a biogas process.
No politician in their right mind would penalize biogas production, as biogas plants do a very important job of treating our rotten apples, so they don’t have to lie in the street, as well as creating valuable renewable energy from this same waste.
The Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) market offers a gamechanger that
could enable humanity to make sure to get the CO₂ in question away from the atmosphere. At Inherit, we consider the CO₂ that stems from biogas production one of the lowest hanging fruits to durable carbon removal, and we will be working to get the CO₂ from our sewage, and organic waste away from the atmosphere.