Walk the Talk - Biogas

Turning words into action – walking the talk – is required in our work and commitment to questions of sustainability. At Linköping University we take these words extremely seriously, with our measures to ensure sustainability and efficient energy use.

We have chosen to showcase this work in an exhibition of the same name –  Walk the Talk – at both Campus Valla and Campus Norrköping. 

The exhibition is public, free of charge, and accessible all year round. Follow the exhibition pathway by following the points marked on the map at each campus. Map over the exhibition Walk the talk - station Biogas, Campus Valla.Map over the exhibition Walk the talk - station Biogas, Campus Valla. Photo credit LiU-Tryck

Map with coordinates

Biogas

Since the middle of the 1990s, Linköping University has had as a goal that all of our cars should only use renewable fuel and/or electricity. And we achieved this goal in 2014!

We managed this by using cars that can use bioethanol, biogas or electricity. Since 2004, LiU has purchased increasing numbers of biogas-fuelled cars for its fleet. The number of bioethanol-fuelled cars has also increased: bioethanol is also a fuel that is in balance with the natural cycle.

Location: Campus Valla, A Building – Logistics and Facilities Support Office

Biogas does not contribute to the greenhouse effect

The coal and oil that we take from the ground are comprised of carbon that was removed from the atmosphere millions of years ago. When we drill for oil or mine coal to use this carbon as fuel, we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where its concentration increases. This reinforces the greenhouse effect, and leads to global warming. Biogas, in contrast, is manufactured from waste, plants and animals who have lived in modern times, and that have bound in various ways currently available carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in their bodies or plant parts. In this way, they belong to a circulation that would be in balance – the amount of carbon absorbed by the plants is equal to the amount that is released when plants and animals die and through animal respiration – if we didn’t release the fossil carbon.

LiU cars

At LiU we use green cars.
One of LiU´s green cars. Anna Nilsen

Biogas in the LiU cars

Some people claim that neither biogas, ethanol or electricity are truly clean or climate-sensitive fuels. This is partially true – depending on how these fuels are produced it may be the case that so much fossil fuel is used during the production that the climate benefit is reduced. This may be particularly true for electricity, which in many parts of Europe is produced in coal-fired power stations. Even so – biogas is currently the vehicle fuel that is most sensitive to the environment, and the biogas produced in Linköping has a very advantageous environmental profile. This is why we plan to continue to use biogas in the LiU cars.
 
More information is available in Swedish at Svensk Biogas.

Research area

Walk the Talk