Japanese town turning cowpats into clean fuel                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

In snowy Hokkaido, an island in the north of Japan, dairy farmers are turning a commonly found animal waste product into clean energy; transforming cowpats into hydrogen fuel.

Hokkaido, known for its dairy farms, produces 20 million tonnes of cow manure each year which - if left untreated - can risk environmental issues, especially locally; contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and the potential degradation of water quality in the area.

The Hydrogen Farm Project

The Hydrogen Farm Project, however, sees companies such as Air Water working with dairy farms in Hokkaido - particularly Shikaoi, a town in central Hokkaido - to turn agricultural byproducts into hydrogen to supply the local, rural community in a circular economy.

Shikaoi is significant as the town accounts for 30% of Hokkaido’s cow waste and urine, making a great hub for an experimental project such as this one.

Initiated by the Japanese government in 2015, the project sees cow manure and urine collected from local dairy farms and used as feedstock for an anaerobic digestion plant where it is turned into both biogas and a liquid fertiliser. The biogas is then ‘scrubbed’ and the methane used to produce hydrogen.

Most impressively, the AD plant now has a hydrogen capacity of 18,500 gallons, with an onsite fuelling station that can fill 28 vehicles a day (where hydrogen fuel cells are fitted), with a particular focus on agricultural vehicles.

Cattle-made-hydrogen is also stored in canisters that are used to provide power and heat to other facilities in the area, including a local sturgeon fish farm and Obihiro Zoo.

The state of renewable energy in Japan

This project is significant as Japan currently relies on fossil fuels to produce 70% of its power, where the Japanese government aims to shift 40-50% of its electricity production to renewable energy by 2040.

To put this into context, as of January 2025, renewables accounted for just over 42% of the UK's energy mix.

Adding to this, where there are around 723 anaerobic digestion plants generating 10.7 TWh of energy per year, there are only approximately 100 in Japan, where 70 of those are based in Hokkaido and, in 2023, the generation capacity of anaerobic digestion facilities in Japan reached 108 megawatts, which is an historically high amount for the country.

Hydrogen as a fuel

The project in Japan is also significant because using hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles is still a fairly new concept; as hydrogen fuel technology, infrastructure and transportation are considered to be both expensive and complex.

However, there are many well-known automobile brands aiming to bring hydrogen fuel cell technology to their newest fleets in the next few years, including BMW who are planning to introduce their first series vehicle with a hydrogen drive to the market from 2028.

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In short, this is a fantastic initiative for Japan and an innovative way to use animal byproducts, not only to produce renewable energy for the local community, but to power local agricultural vehicles; making an example for the rest of the world and a meaningful step towards a greater renewable future for the country.