East Midlands Airport has set a UK first by planting its own willow farm to produce biofuel.
The willow farm will span over 26 hectares, with the total area planned to be planted by 2013.
The cuttings will be planted in three phases to ensure a continual crop of willow and will produce fuel for a biomass boiler, which will be situated in the terminal building. The willow farm is expected to produce around 280 tonnes of wood fuel annually, which in turn will save 350 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Neil Robinson, director of sustainability, East Midlands Airport, said: “This is a landmark day for East Midlands Airport and we are delighted that the willow farm has now been planted.”
The farm is located north of the runway on existing land owned by the airport. The launch of the willow farm is the latest in a line of environmental achievement. These include a commitment by the airport to making its ground operations carbon neutral by 2012, receiving planning permission for four on-site wind turbines, being the first European airport to offer WebTrak, an online facility to view aircraft operation in the airports airspace and successfully retaining ISO14001 for the past 7 years.
Most recently, the airport launched a trial to run an airport passenger transfer bus powered by liquid biomethane fuel (LBM), a carbon neutral fuel.
Neil Robinson added: “We believe we are leading the way for airports and this is the first step of an ongoing process that will take approximately five years to complete. By growing our own wood fuel we are taking another important step towards our overall goal to make our ground operations carbon neutral by 2012. The willow farm is one in a long line of projects that will provide energy for our on-site buildings and will help us to become more sustainable for the future.”
Matthew hunt, Bucks around 8 months, 1 week ago