Trial to turn district’s grass cuttings into green biofuels
Horsham Green Spaces was set up to act as a community forum linking volunteer groups across Horsham and, with green issues in mind, aims to enhance, connect, and protect nature.
In its couple of years of existence, it has developed into a focal point for general green questions and has gained the ear of both councils, here locally at Horsham District Council and countywide at West Sussex County Council.
Indeed, at a recent meeting it was WSCC who gained most attention at a crowded session when a representative announced that Horsham had been selected as the site for an experimental trial of a new green effort.
WSCC will evaluate the possibility of turning grass cuttings, or arisings, into biofuels.
Some research nationally is going into this field with two methods gaining prominence.
Pyrolysis involves treating grass cuttings with microwaves in an airless container while the other concentrates on employing bacteria such as yeast to break down the arisings into ethanol.
The fuel from either method will probably have to be mixed with standard fossil fuels to be used commercially.
The advantages are that fuel from this source burns with lower pollutant products, it saves some fossil fuels, and it makes good use of a waste byproduct.
Why does WSCC focus on Horsham for its trial?
It seems that Horsham has more verges and open spaces than any other part of the county, within such a confined area, and either WSCC or HDC is responsible for a lot of grass cutting.
Many of these areas are easy to bring to mind: the verges along suburban streets (e.g. North Parade), wider banked areas (e.g. where Harwood Road passes allotments), Horsham Park of course, and many other greenspaces.
We have yet to see how practical this endeavour will prove to be, and it is likely that most readers will hope for a successful outcome.
The more green spaces of course, the greater the green acreage to harvest for potential biofuel.
That raises two questions: how are open spaces designated, and how often should the grass be mown?
Taking the frequency issue first, there are differing views on the subject.
Some residents are wedded to the image of neat, manicured lawns while others are more tolerant of the natural appearance of a wild meadow.
The latter may be mown only twice a year and gives more habitat to wildlife.
The allocation of new open spaces is a much trickier problem. Many open areas are in fact the remaindered land from a housing development and remains private property in the possession of the developer.
It has happened that after years of dormancy a wholly surprising planning application has appeared from nowhere much to locals’ annoyance, as the residents of Hadmans Close have discovered twice in recent years.
However HDC chooses to proceed, only caution can be urged with nature’s best interest at heart.
For more information see www.horshamsociety.org