UK biomass report calls for Government support
The UK’s Environment Agency has released a new report that highlights how biomass energy could play a key role in delivering greenhouse gas emission targets but only if it is supported by the Government and action is taken to ensure it is genuinely low carbon.
'Biomass – carbon sink or carbon sinner?' finds that using energy crops or waste materials as fuel for generating electricity and heat could play an important role in meeting the UK’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
Using biomass to generate electricity and heat can deliver large greenhouse gas emission savings compared with using gas or coal but only if the fuel is produced in an environmentally sustainable way and used efficiently.
Best practice can deliver up to 98% less emissions than using coal but worst practice can result in more greenhouse gas emissions overall than using gas. The report estimates that greenhouse gas emissions of over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year could be saved by 2020 if good practice is followed.
To deliver these emissions reductions, the Environment Agency is urging the Government to ensure all generators publicly report the greenhouse gas emissions from producing, transporting and using biomass fuels and be ready to set minimum standards if required.
It is also urging the Government to provide greater incentives for combined heat and power than for electricity only plants, through the proposed renewable heat incentive.
Overall the best performing biomass schemes in terms of greenhouse gas emissions are those that deliver combined heat and power rather than just electricity, which is the current trend. They use wastes or energy crops that have not been transported too far.
The worst performing schemes are those where energy crops are grown on what was previously grassland using a lot of nitrogen fertilisers. They expend energy in processing the biomass, for example into fuel pellets, and the fuel is transported thousands of miles and burned to generate electricity only.
Biomass heat and power is currently the largest source of renewable energy in the UK accounting for 2.3% of the UK’s electricity generation and 1% of its heat needs. It can be a low carbon renewable energy source because it is either based on wastes which would otherwise go to landfill or on energy crops and forestry that, after being harvested, continue to grow and absorb the carbon emitted when they are burned.
The Government’s renewable energy strategy envisages huge growth in energy generation from biomass so that by 2020 it provides about 30% of renewable electricity and heat towards the UK’s overall target of 15% renewable energy.
'Biomass – carbon sink or carbon sinner?' finds that using energy crops or waste materials as fuel for generating electricity and heat could play an important role in meeting the UK’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
Using biomass to generate electricity and heat can deliver large greenhouse gas emission savings compared with using gas or coal but only if the fuel is produced in an environmentally sustainable way and used efficiently.
Best practice can deliver up to 98% less emissions than using coal but worst practice can result in more greenhouse gas emissions overall than using gas. The report estimates that greenhouse gas emissions of over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year could be saved by 2020 if good practice is followed.
To deliver these emissions reductions, the Environment Agency is urging the Government to ensure all generators publicly report the greenhouse gas emissions from producing, transporting and using biomass fuels and be ready to set minimum standards if required.
It is also urging the Government to provide greater incentives for combined heat and power than for electricity only plants, through the proposed renewable heat incentive.
Overall the best performing biomass schemes in terms of greenhouse gas emissions are those that deliver combined heat and power rather than just electricity, which is the current trend. They use wastes or energy crops that have not been transported too far.
The worst performing schemes are those where energy crops are grown on what was previously grassland using a lot of nitrogen fertilisers. They expend energy in processing the biomass, for example into fuel pellets, and the fuel is transported thousands of miles and burned to generate electricity only.
Biomass heat and power is currently the largest source of renewable energy in the UK accounting for 2.3% of the UK’s electricity generation and 1% of its heat needs. It can be a low carbon renewable energy source because it is either based on wastes which would otherwise go to landfill or on energy crops and forestry that, after being harvested, continue to grow and absorb the carbon emitted when they are burned.
The Government’s renewable energy strategy envisages huge growth in energy generation from biomass so that by 2020 it provides about 30% of renewable electricity and heat towards the UK’s overall target of 15% renewable energy.
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