Sen. White’s Denmark Fact Finding Trip

Photo of Sen. Becca White outside of a storage tank at a food and household waste processing facility in Denmark.

I had the privilege of being invited by the Danish Embassy and the Ministry of Denmark to join a North American delegation of policy makers and government officials to learn about biogas energy in their country.

I learned a lot about biogas, which is a term used to describe gas that is used as energy to power our lives made from organic materials, most often manure, deep litter (aka the straw and manure cows step on,) or food waste. The trip took us across Denmark, starting in Copenhagen and then traveling throughout the country to see the moral rural parts of the country and their farms, factories and universities.

Here is a map of our tour route of the country!

I went into the trip skeptical of biogas, or at times called renewable natural gas (RNG) but was impressed by the way the Danish people had converted their natural gas lines and district heating to this lower carbon intensity technology. While I agree that the way to respond to climate change is to STOP BURNING THINGS, I also think it is important to recognize the need for a transition over time.

Some of the companies we met were Renew Energy, Biogasclean, Ammongas, and Nature Energy. All major international players in the field of biogas are growing the Danish economy and supporting the climate goals of the nation.

I asked constant questions about the carbon output and implications of the local people and learned that the process of identifying a location for a biogas facility and it’s value are lengthy.