Speech for Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2009 - "Energy and Climate Change"

6.40.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 27th Sep 2009

Shas and local residents concerned about air quality demonstrating outside Rainbow Industrial Estate in Raynes Park

"Good afternoon Conference. I am delighted to see line 26 [Conference therefore calls for the halving of carbon intensity of global food production by 2050.] in the motion.

However, I would like to sound a note of caution about potential pitfalls of using waste food as fuel for anaerobic digesters.

Undoubtedly anaerobic digestion is a useful techology to reduce methane emissons from organic waste and is at the forefront of local authoities' plans to avoid the coming punitive landfill charges.

But, we must learn from the bitter experience of biofuels, where we incentivised large corporations to jump onto the sustainability bandwagon, trampling on anyone or anthing that got in its way, uncaring about the effect on world supply of basic foodstuffs. We are now trying to push back at powerful lobbies in order to protect vulnerable communities and precious biodiversity.

Let's not make the same mistake with anaerobic digestion. Let's recognise that gains made at the lower end of the supply chain would be nullified if at the top end we have unwittingly increased demand for food for use as fuel.

Let me give you an example of a local conflict in my constituency of Wimbledon.

A developer has consulted on proposals to site an anaerobic digester together with a CHP (Community Heat and Power) plant in an industrial estate in the heart of urban, residential Raynes Park. On the face of it it is a very green proposal; and the Rainbow Industrial Estate has been renamed " The Rainbow Eco Park" - good rebranding!

But when you start to scratch at the surface you find that the green wash quickly comes off:

- they are not proposing to restrict themselves to local food waste (contrary to guidelines in Merton's UDP or the London Plan) contracts will come from wherever they can get them

- Diesel vehicles will add to traffic congestion, increasing emission of particulates in an area already designated as being of poor air quality.

- The energy generated from this CHP is not destined to be used locally but fed into the national grid, with all the attendant inefficiencies of losses in transmission.

Laughably, they have no idea of what to do with the excess heat produced! There is no community element to this CHP.

Yet this scheme, with its false green branding, glossy brochures and slick salesmen who could sell ice cream to Eskimos was, we were told, in all likelihood going to be approved at the planning stage.

Well we fought it. "Sustainable Merton" a local green lobby group appear to be in favour of it, so we had to work hard to get across our message to Green voters, which we did. In the recent Euro elections the Greens in Merton came 4th.

We haven't quite seen off the developer yet, but we intend to fight it.

So let's just be aware of environmental pitfalls of producing energy from waste, and evaluate each application on its individual merits.

But above all, let's not allow energy from waste to divert our attention from the really sustainable forms of energy generation - renewables and microgeneration.

Please support this motion."

Ends.

NB. Written for the Lib Dem conference Sep 2009