East Midlands Airport Have Planted a Willow Farm to Power Their Biomass Boiler
Just over an hour down the road from us here at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport is East Midlands Airport – and they have just given a clear indication of their plans to become a carbon neutral airport by planting their very own willow farm.
The willow farm will span 26 hectares – the equivalent of 52 football pitches – on land around the north of the runway, and the wood produced from the farm shall be used to power the airport’s own biomass boiler. Around 280 tonnes of wood is expected to be produced annually by the farm, which in turn is expected to save 350 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.
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 to be planted in three phases in order to ensure a continual crop of willow. The launch of the willow farm is the latest in a line of environmental achievements. 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.”
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