A small town in Hokkaido, Japan, is turning cow manure into hydrogen fuel, creating a new source of clean energy.
The Shikaoi Hydrogen Farm collects waste from local dairy farms and converts it into hydrogen, which can power vehicles and heat buildings. This project helps reduce harmful methane emissions while providing a sustainable fuel alternative.
Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island, produces more than half of the country’s dairy products, generating around 20 million tonnes of cow manure annually. If left untreated, this waste can pollute water sources and release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The Shikaoi Hydrogen Farm processes the manure in a special facility where bacteria break it down to create biogas. This biogas is then purified and converted into hydrogen.
The farm produces enough hydrogen each day to fuel about 28 hydrogen-powered vehicles, including tractors and forklifts. Some of the hydrogen is also stored in containers and transported to provide power to local businesses, such as a sturgeon fish farm and the Obihiro Zoo. Since large farm vehicles are difficult to run on batteries, hydrogen offers a cleaner way to keep them operational.
However, hydrogen has challenges. It needs to be stored in high-pressure tanks and requires extra safety measures due to its flammability. It can also be stored as a liquid, but that process requires extremely low temperatures and significant energy. Despite these hurdles, hydrogen is considered an important future energy source since it does not produce carbon emissions when burned.
Currently, the farm’s electricity comes from the national grid, but there are hopes to switch to renewable sources like wind and geothermal energy. While hydrogen production costs remain high, subsidies help keep fuel prices competitive with gasoline. Japan is also expanding hydrogen refuelling stations in major cities like Sapporo and Muroran.
