As Aotearoa New Zealand looks to transition to renewable gas, there’s a lot of talk about biogas and hydrogen. But what is renewable gas and how will it energise our homes?

What is renewable gas?

It’s a clean energy source that doesn’t produce any additional emissions when used. It can be used for cooking, hot water and heating – just like today’s natural gas –so in the future you should be able to choose gas that works towards a healthier planet.

When you think of renewable energy, the first thing you think of might be wind, water or the sun? Did you know that food waste such as fruit and vegetable scraps have the potential to create energy too? That’s right, your decomposing kitchen rubbish can become a source of renewable power. When organic matter (such as fruit and vegetable scraps) starts to break down or decompose, it creates two gases – methane and carbon dioxide. This is biogas, a renewable energy source.

In this easy experiment for kids, we show you how food waste produces gas during decomposition to create biogas.

You can use any fruit or vegetable scraps for the experiment. We’ve used some common household fruit and vege to create our experiment but feel free to change it up. Maybe potato or carrot peels would work too

We’d love to see how you’re experimenting at home, make sure to share yours on Instagram and tag @thegashubnz. 

Before you begin

Before you get started, make a few predictions about what you think might happen:

• Which food scraps do you think will create the most biogas?
• What will happen to the food scraps throughout the week?
• What do you think is going to happen in our water bottle and balloon?