§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give priority to research into alternative uses for straw as an energy source.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerStraw has been identified by my Department as being capable of making a contribution to the country's energy needs, and work on it is included in our research, development and demonstration programme.
Currently, only a limited amount of straw, either baled or chopped is being burnt as fuel, mainly on farms with specially designed or adapted boilers, and the Department is funding demonstration work in this area. However, the major constraint on the wider use of straw as a fuel is the high cost of baling, handling and transporting. Compacted straw offers the greatest potential for industrial energy use but also presents the greatest challenge.
Generally, current technology is not cost-effective, and there is a need for cheaper, efficient mobile compaction equipment which, ideally, would eliminate the need for baling. Some work has already been carried out at the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Silsoe, which identified novel compaction techniques that showed promise of low energy consumption at high production rates.
My Department is now exploring, with a number of interested manufacturers, how suitable compaction machines might be developed.