A UK company that is a leader in underfloor heating is using the same technology to convert grass and sugar beet into gas to fire the boilers that heat the greenhouses where tomatoes, sold in our major supermarkets, are grown.
“It may sound a little bazaar,” says Matthew Lowe, managing director of Giacomini UK, “but true and all the excess gas is then sold back to the grid.”
Giacomini’s underfloor heating is used in homes and buildings throughout the UK, including the viewing platform at London’s iconic Shard. It’s a different story at a selection of farms and nurseries across the country where Giacomini’s underfloor heating is being used to grow tomatoes on a large scale for some of the UK’s leading supermarket chains.
The fruits are grown in very large greenhouses heated by gas-fired boilers at both Spring Hill Nursery in Worcestershire and Rotherdale Farm in Pershore. The technology has been built-in to a series of giant covered concrete tanks or digesters. Each tank has approximately 3000 linear metres of heating pipe in each.
In addition to tomatoes, the farmer also grows sugar beet and grass. These are harvested and turned into silage. This is mixed with water and piped into the giant digesters where it is agitated as it is heated to 40C, creating methane gas.
Matthew Lowe explains: “The raw methane is forced through a series of cleaning membranes before being finally heated and treated to create methane gas that is free from any impurities and is suitable to fuel the boilers that heat the greenhouses in which the tomatoes are grown. Our heating system is the catalyst that makes it all work.”
Any excess gas is sold back into the national grid and the remaining silage is used on the farm to fertilize the ground in which the sugar beet and grass is grown. Surplus amounts are bagged and sold commercially.
“It is the perfect example of a virtuous circle,” says Matthew Lowe. “Our heating system is the catalyst that makes it all work, whilst working in harmony with other technology to complete the process. It really is green energy in every sense of the word.”