Dr Elizabeth Lawson recently travelled to Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, to attend an international workshop on Renewable energy from anaerobic digestion in remote and off-grid applications. The workshop was a Cold/High Anaerobic Digestion (CHAD) event that was sponsored by the NATO Science for Peace Program, and hosted by the living laboratory of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab in Fairbanks. Workshop participants consisted of academics, industry professionals, practitioners and U.S. regulatory agencies.

The workshop included talks on the advancement of AD and wastewater treatment technologies, as well as presentations on the deployment of wastewater treatment technologies in remote rural communities in extreme cold environments (Alaska and Greenland). Dr Lawson shared an overview of the current access to decentralised technologies in rural areas and the islands of Scotland, and highlighted opportunities for improvements with regards to existing policy and governance frameworks.