A college has installed a farm-scale anaerobic digester in a project dubbed The Electric Cow.

Askham Bryan College, which specialises in agricultural education, installed the bioelectric equipment at its on-campus dairy farm.

Westfield Farm milks 170 cows and has a robotic milking parlour.

The new system is designed to convert organic waste - specifically slurry, a mixture of water and manure - from the college's dairy herd into renewable energy.

Anaerobic digestion breaks down the organic material in the absence of oxygen, generating biogas.

The biogas is then used to produce electricity and heat, reducing the farm's dependence on external energy sources and cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions associated with methane.

The introduction of the digester is part of the college's broader goals of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

The system's byproduct, known as digestate, can be used as a natural fertiliser and can replace chemical fertiliser.

The entire process can be studied by the college's students - from the collection of slurry to the production of biogas and the use of digestate as fertiliser.

Askham Bryan College has joined the Race to Zero, a global campaign in the education sector for a Zero Carbon World, and is committed to becoming a net-zero organisation by 2050.

Funding to support the college's net zero efforts has been allocated from the York and North Yorkshire Net Zero Fund.

The fund is led by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, using investment secured from the UK Government.

The college has detailed its commitments, and progress, at https://www.askham-bryan.ac.uk/publication-scheme-sustainability/

More information about bioelectric and dairy energy is available at www.dairyenergy.co.uk