Government positive on biomass
12th March 2017 | Commercial Energy
A report commissioned by the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has found that using biomass instead of coal is playing a positive part in decarbonizing the power sector. The study is called “Use of North American woody biomass in UK electricity generation.” It reaffirms the positive impact of US biomass industry on US forests and carbon emissions.
Seth Ginter, Executive Director of the US Industrial Pellet Association, said, “This study confirms that biomass sourced from US forests is sustainable and carbon beneficial and that bioenergy plays a key role in reducing emissions and mitigating climate change as a low-cost replacement for fossil fuels.”
He continued, “This report can be added to a growing body of academic and scientific research, which shows that using biomass in place of coal can reduce carbon emissions by 74 per cent or more.”
Biomass
The report was commissioned by the UK Government to look at the carbon intensity of different supply chain models for the bionenergy industry and found that normal, widespread industry practices deliver major cuts in carbon emissions when compared to using coal for energy production.
According to the report’s authors, assertions from the environmental NGO community that wood pellet production and use leads to reduction in forest cover, increase carbon emissions, or changes forest management and harvest decisions are shown in this study to be unfounded.
“The report shows that using wood pellets for energy generation supports healthy forests and generates significant carbon savings at a lower cost. Thanks to a strong forest market, to which woody biomass contributes, forest inventory in southern US forests has continued to increase year over year for the last several decades.”
A Drax spokesperson said, “This report backs up what we have said for a number of years about biomass – sustainability sourced wood used for bioenergy is having a big impact on cutting carbon emissions. Sustainable biomass is a cost effective, flexible renewable energy source which is helping to get coal off the system in the UK.”
More information available on the website below
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/03/uk-government-report-positive-on-biomass.html