Re: Biomass Thread
Posted: Sun 19 Jul 2015, 17:26:40
That is a very good question. The controversy over biomass use is not restricted to the UK. The US has it's own issue with burning biomass in coal plants.
Biomass Industry Intensifies Fight For Carbon-Neutral Status As Obama Admin Carbon Rules Draw Near
desmogblog
Biomass Industry Intensifies Fight For Carbon-Neutral Status As Obama Admin Carbon Rules Draw Near
The science is fairly convoluted but also entirely clear: Bioenergy — burning wood and other forest biomass as a fuel source — produces more carbon emissions than coal.
Even if all the forests we fed into power plants were to one day regrow, in theory sucking all that carbon back out of the Earth’s atmosphere, it would be far too late to be any kind of solution to the global climate crisis.
Yet 21 members of Congress recently wrote a letter urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to “take action to remove regulatory ambiguities in the treatment of utility-scale biomass power as a renewable resource.”
Why would they do that, when scientists insist that if we’re to keep global warming below the 2-degree-Celsius threshold, biomass cannot play a significant role in how we generate electricity?
Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of Biomass Power Association, can explain that to you: “Each of the signers recognizes the significant role that biomass plays in his or her district, and the urgent need to preserve the industry.”
Cleaves is clear that by “preserving the industry” he means influencing how carbon emissions from bioenergy are accounted for in the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the final draft of which the EPA is expected to release in August.
In a statement, Cleaves boasted that, “This letter continues the momentum needed to ensure that biomass receives fair treatment in the Clean Power Plan and other regulations.”
desmogblog