Renewable Energy
from Food Waste
for Sustainability Education
at Airfield Estate, Dublin
The Challenge
A 38-acre working farm and gardens, Airfield Estate in Dublin is dedicated to sustainable food and education. It is on a mission to be Dublin’s sustainable food hub, as a space to inspire and connect, to get you know your food.
Airfield is a centre of lifelong learning, working with early childhood care, primary and secondary schools, as well as third level institutions across Ireland, building knowledge around food-seasonality, growing and cooking, embracing sustainability and nature.
MyGug is generating renewable energy from food waste on-site and at source, to support sustainability education at Airfield.
The Solution
Circularity at work – resilient micro circular economies – food waste is converted to energy for cooking and growing.
A MyGug for Schools small biodigester is showcasing climate action and sustainability in practice at Airfield Estate. MyGug uses the process of anaerobic digestion and a unique small digester technology to generate renewable energy from unavoidable food waste (including plate waste and liquids), cutting greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. MyGug also generates valuable plant liquid for growing and gardening. The plant liquid offsets carbon by giving back to the soil (carbon sequestering).
The green technology addresses multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – SDG4 for quality education, SDG7 for affordable and clean energy, SDG9 for innovation and infrastructure, SDG11 for sustainable cities and communities, SDG 12 for responsible consumption and SDG13 for climate action.
Claire McEvilly, CEO at Airfield Estate comments: “We are thrilled to have a MyGug here at Airfield Estate enabling the generation of renewable energy on-site and enhancing our education offering. We can show our visitors that food waste is not waste but a resource. This is an important part of our journey to becoming Dublin’s sustainable food hub, and helping people understand all elements of food sustainability.”
MyGug combines practical research and active learning with positive climate action to embed sustainable practices in the everyday, empowering everyone with a positive impact for future generations.
Deirdre Cuss, Education Manager at Airfield Estate says: “MyGug is a great success. Teachers tell me that they are blown away by it! Students love seeing how it works too. We can show them how the ‘ food waste’ can be used to fry an egg or to feed plants.”
MyGug digesters are installed in a number of schools in Cork as well as third level institutions across Ireland and the UK, supporting positive outcomes for staff and students in sustainability education, circularity and positive climate action.
Key Benefits
Research Value
This MyGug for Schools unit at Airfield Estate can treat up to 1 tonne
of food waste per year (1.5kg of food waste per day)
which produces up to 300L of biogas per day
(up to 1.5 - 2 hours cooking time per day).
