Carbon as a Resource

Lichen's approach is to treat carbon as a resource, using municipal green waste and sustainably managed forestry to generate renewable energy and for creating artificial soil.

Lichen relies upon a continuous supply of carbon either from green waste in the form of wood from trees, brash, shrubs and grass collected by the council or from sustainably managed forestry. This is then combusted either with oxygen (gasified) or without oxygen (pyrolysed) to produce syngas for electricity. The material by-product, charcoal, is used to form an element in a 'designed soil' to grow the green infrastructure for the agreed end use whether crops, biomass or amenity planting.

How environmentally sustainable are we?

An analysis of the Lichen solution compared to other emerging waste treatment approaches in utilising carbon as a resource.

Wider environmental benefits for the region?

• Creates employment in forestry
• Supports sustainable woodland management
• Improves forestry assets through the removal of conifer plantation
• Improves soil conditions through conifer removal
• Helps achieve landfill diversion targets
• Helps achieve renewable energy targets
• Helps reduce domestic carbon footprint
• Treats carbon as a resource