U.K. investing in landfill gas for power

Investments in technology needed to turn landfill waste into energy suggest there's a good business opportunity in green energy, a British official said. British supermarket chain Sainsbury's is among investors, which also include Prince Charles, spending around $100 million in start-up Tamar Energy that will produce energy from organic waste in the country. Tamar aims to develop a regional network of more than 40 plants that would use microbes to convert organic waste into gas that would produce around 100 megawatts of electricity within five years. Caroline Spelman, U.K. secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, said investments like these show green energy is starting to make good business sense. "This investment shows there are great business opportunities in this technology, creating heat and power to run homes and businesses and reducing the amount of organic waste that would otherwise lie rotting in landfill," she was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying. British Energy Minister Charles Hendry said the country aims to get 15 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020. To do this, London needs to attract investors to the green energy sector. "There is good reason to believe we can achieve the kind of investment we need, provided that we get policy right as we go forward," he said in a statement.