Today’s Bwahahaha Moment
In an effort to save the planet, many people have begun using a composting technique for processing kitchen wastes. The leftovers are put into bins full of red worms. The worms digest the organic matter in an extremely efficient way, leaving behind valuable compost. Sounds peachy, right? Well, it seems that the worms also produce something else besides the fertilizer.
Enormous quantities of greenhouse gas – and not CO2. Oh, no. They produce nitrous oxide and methane, which are 296 and 23 times more efficient greenhouse gases than lowly carbon dioxide. How bad is it? Bad enough that landfills are actually better at taking care of wastes than the "green" solution.
Worms may not be as environmentally friendly as the growing number of gardeners who use them to help compost their kitchen scraps and grass clippings believe, say scientists.
In fact, the greenhouse gases emitted by a large commercial worm composting plant may be comparable to the global warming potential of a landfill site of the same scale, according to the Open University.
This is because worms used in composting emit nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas 296 times more powerful, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide.
Landfill sites produce methane which is 23 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Jim Frederickson, senior research fellow at the Open University's faculty of technology, said: "We know from research in Germany that a third of the nitrous oxide emissions coming from the soil are associated with worms.
"What we found from looking at large worm composting systems is that their emissions could be comparable in global warming potential to the methane from landfill sites."
The Government has said it wants to increase the amount of waste that is composted to 40 per cent by 2010 and 45 per cent by 2015 – which is likely to involve more commercial scale worm composting plants……
……Mr Frederickson told Materials Recycling Week said: "Everybody loves worms because they think they can do no harm but they contribute to global warming.
"The amount of worm composting is very, very small and the amount of landfill is huge. But landfill sites are quite well run these days and it is possible to extract about half the gas they generate and use it for electricity generation.
"So the amount of nitrous oxide emitted by large scale worm composting is something we should be looking at before we go further down that route."
Just as the rush to produce biofuels is eradicating orangutans (and people) and causing skyrocketing food prices, the "green" solution of red worm composting turns out to be not at all beneficial overall. The unintended consequences of this rush to "do something" is in fact, causing more harm than good. Bjorn Lomborg – who does believe that global warming is happening – also believes most of the quick-fix solutions touted by the likes of Al "Gorezilla" Gore and his sycophants are bogus. This little item tends to prove that point rather well. Then again, Gore is probably figuring out how to sell more carbon offsets to people using red worms at this very moment.
Environment, Junk Science, Left Wing | Gaius July 6, 2007
By feeblemind, July 6, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
I think a more efficient solution would be to keep a hog in the back yard. They are very effficient composters and they will eat anything. Best of all you get to eat them when they get big.
By Quilly Mammoth, July 6, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
Clearly it’s time to spray vast quantities of DDT on the soil to stop these Earth Pillagers.
DDT…it’s the only way to be sure.
By Sam L., July 7, 2007 @ 8:12 am
The easy solution? Go fishing with worms. Ban fly-fishing as environmentally bad.
By ff11, July 7, 2007 @ 8:35 am
That still makes them a significant net positive. Yes, they produce the same amount of greenhouse gas as a landfill, but they reduce the total volume of waste that needs to be stored and leave you with fertilizer that can be used to grow plants (which will actually reduce greenhouse gases).
By Gaius, July 7, 2007 @ 9:15 am
That is not at all what the quoted scientist is saying. If you landfill it, capture the methane produced and burn that to produce energy, you are making less impact than releasing large amounts of methane and especially nitrous oxide.
By Sylvia, July 7, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
So, I need to rig a balloon over the worm compost bin to capture the methane, eh? Then I can sell it to Gore’s offset company, right??? I’m actually rather fond of my worms. The bin has a tap and the brown scunge that drips out is really splendid fertilizer. Does wonders for the roses.
By Purple Avenger, July 7, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
grow plants (which will actually reduce greenhouse gases)
What happens when those plants die and rot? All that carbon locked up in them gets released again. You need to study the carbon cycle again.
By ff11, July 8, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Gaius, while the effort to capture and reuse half of the methane generated by landfills is admirable, it would be far easier to capture the much smaller quantities of nitrous oxide from composting.
Purple Avenger, I think you need to study the carbon cycle yourself. “All those plants” won’t die simultaneously, as some die, others grow to take their place and trap the carbon. Unless ALL the plants in the world happen to die at the same time, in which case global warming is THE LEAST of our problems!!!
By Gaius, July 8, 2007 @ 10:24 am
So a nitrous oxide capture rig on each and every worm bin? One assumes you are not an engineer. Even if such a thing could be constructed – which is questionable – what in the world do you do with all the captured gas?