Renewables

Biomass

Biomass is generally accepted as a ‘green’ fuel for energy production because CO₂ emissions are greatly reduced compared to fossil fuels. This is because the CO₂ released on conversion equals the CO₂ sequestered as the plant grows. Other emission from biomass plant are generally lower than from fossil fuels plant. Nevertheless there are issues, noticeably with NO_x and VOCs from all biomass plant. These emissions can all be abated using available technology.

Biofuels are liquid and gas fuels produced from plant matter, also known as biomass, taken from farming, forestry or biodegradable waste. They can be used in pure form or blended with conventional petrol or diesel to power vehicles. There are several types of biofuels, but the main ones are:

Biodiesel - the only type of biofuel currently on sale in the UK. Biodiesel is currently available at over 100 filling stations in the UK; however, biodiesel sales currently make up less than 0.1% of total diesel sales. It can be produced from a number of sources, including recycled waste vegetable oil and oil crops such as rapeseed and palm. A 20 pence per litre duty incentive on biodiesel has been in place in the UK since July 2002.
Bioethanol - can be blended into petrol, where it offers air quality benefits as well as carbon reduction. It can be produced from a number of crops including sugar beet, wheat and barley. Future technologies may allow bioethanol to be produced from other woody materials including straw and green waste. The Treasury will introduce a 20 pence per litre reduction in duty for bioethanol from January 2005 and have guaranteed this for 3 years on a rolling basis. All petrol cars in Brazil are already designed to run on bioethanol.
Biogas - can be used instead of compressed natural gas to power vehicles, offering excellent air quality benefits as well as carbon savings.

Studies have considered the potential impact of the increased use of biofuels. Their main conclusions include:

Substantial carbon savings compared to fossil fuels.
Air quality benefits, provided the fuel used is of appropriate quality.
The amount of suitable land available for cultivation of biofuels crops may be limited to ensure no adverse impact upon biodiversity.
There may be environmental issues are right to the origin of imported fuel supplies, where concerns have been raised about tropical forest being felled for the production of palm oil.

Research suggests that 2-5 farming jobs would be created or sustained for each 1,000 tonnes of biofuels produced. A 100,000 tonne processing plant could therefore create and sustain around 60-80 jobs directly and as many as 550 jobs in agriculture. (Source: RegenSW)

The EU Biofuels Directive requires member states to set indicative targets for biofuels sales for 2005 and 2010. The Government’s support for biofuels has been through fuel duty incentives. The Budget 2004 confirmed that the current duty incentives would remain in place for the next 3 years. It is widely recognised that the fuel incentives alone are too low for the UK to meet its indicative target of 5.75% by 2010. As a substitute for conventional fossil fuels, biofuels offer benefits in terms of the UK’s fuel security and diversity of supply.

Economic analysis indicates that the cost of the electricity from biomass schemes is higher than current prices using conventional fuels, unless grant support and Renewables Obligation (RO) is taken in to account.

The economic analysis indicates that the RO and other Government initiatives are likely to be highly influential in the development of biomass fuel. The RO has stimulated a lot of immediate interest in co-firing. In the short to medium term the Bioenergy Capital Grant Scheme will bring a number of heat and power schemes using state-of-the-art and advanced conversion technologies.