A biomass team in the Berlin district of Pankow is developing plans to heat two greenhouses with biogas plants fired by local green waste. Although planning permission has not yet been granted, the demonstration project has received lottery funding due to its potential contribution to Local Agenda 21 in the city.

The British Embassy's environment team in Berlin report that the project to install a biogas plant in Pankow's botanical gardens would be the first case of a biogas plant replacing an existing oil heating system in Berlin. The project would cut the existing EUR110 000 annual heating cost for the two greenhouses by 90 per cent. The plans would be viable if biomass were collected within a 15 km radius of the greenhouses. This would include waste such as tree and hedge clippings, grass cuttings, weeds, market and restaurant waste and domestic organic waste.

The project has been developed by the Biomass Roundtable, which comprises 40 environmentalists, gardeners, scientists, Berlin civil servants and local businesses. The Roundtable has attracted ?10 000 in lottery funding from the Berlin IZT, which funds sustainable projects. The aim of the project is to prove that biomass use should not be restricted to the countryside. In the future, the Roundtable suggest that a large part of Pankow's energy needs could be met by locally-sourced biomass.

According to figures from mid 2002, Germany has 200,000 biomass plants powered by agricultural waste. The Environment Ministry predicts that growth in biomass output will be on a par with developments in the wind industry.