Over 20 South Pennines community centre representatives enjoyed the “Community with Energy” event in Mythmolmroyd on 24th April, where they found out about a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy methods to make community centres greener and cheaper to run.
Biomass power is far from green.
New biomass regulations from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources disqualify stand-alone biomass power facilities from receiving the US equivalent of the subsidies called Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) that UK biomass power plants are eligible for. Combined heat and power biomass facilities with an efficiency of at least 50 per cent are still eligible for the subsidies.
The new Massachusetts regulations come in response to widespread public opposition to biomass incinerators, and to a study that showed that biomass power generation is not carbon neutral.
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2CO energy says that it will apply for funding from the government’s new Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) development fund to build a Don Valley Carbon Capture & Storage Power Project.
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In 1998, the people of Saussi in Papua New Guinea heard that a sugar & oil palm company, Ramu Agri-Industries, was seeking to expand its oil palm plantations into customary land owned by the Saussi.
The Saussi organized several neighboring communities and formed the Ramu Valley Landowners Association (RVLOA). They began a five year battle against Ramu Agri Industries.
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Corporate Watch summarises the developing biomass industry in the UK.
“Corporate developers of biomass stand to gain vast amounts of money – one, Renewable Energy Systems (RES) will make between £43 and £58 million a year in subsidies from it, for example – so they tend to claim that it is green, clean, and provides jobs. Companies involved in developing biomass – British Sugar, Drax, E.ON, Future Biogas, Estover Energy and RES Group – have launched a campaign to persuade the UK Government to provide even more support for biomass. Their campaign has been endorsed by the Renewable Energy Association, the body which represents renewable energy producers in the UK.”
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Blackshaw Head-based Pennine Community Power has won a grant of £30,000 from Village SOS, part of the Big Lottery Fund. The grant will part-fund a 10kW Bergey community wind turbine, to be erected on a 12 metre lattice tower at Blackshaw Head. It recently received conditional planning permission from Calderdale Council.
BEAT wind turbine will look like this
I read some news that a Cambridge company has produced a very low-energy component for use in smart electricity meters and other digitally interactive devices – like fridges, washing machines, freezers, tumble driers, kitchen equipment and other consumer goods.
As all these things become digitally interconnected, they form part of the “internet of things” – a network of wireless frequencies which allows any smart (radio frequency identification tagged) object to be located, logged and monitored.
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Euractiv reports that on 29 March the European Parliament in Brussels was asked to reconsider whether biomass fuels should continue to be included in the European Union target for using at least 20% renewable energy by 2020. This is because, in the rush to meet the target, large amounts of forest are being cut down. It will take between 30-70 years for the trees to grow to maturity and absorb the carbon emissions from the burnt timber. So in the meantime, carbon emissions will increase by large amounts, and make climate change worse.
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BusinessEurope, a lobbying group representing 41 leading industrial and employers’ federations from 35 European countries – including the Confederation of British Industry, is lobbying against the European Union Energy Efficiency Directive’s targets for industry to reduce its energy consumption.
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This EDM calls on the Government to remove the existing financial incentives for biomass and bioliquid electricity in the Renewables Obligation when the forthcoming review of banding is implemented in April 2013 so that this support can be directed towards other renewable energy sources.
It is sponsored by Caroline Lucas (Green Party) but Craig Whitaker hasn’t supported it. You can email him to ask him to support it, if you think that increasing the use of bio-energy generation for electricity is leading to food shortages, land grabs, large carbon debts and distracting attention from effective ways of reducing climate change.
This is an artist’s impression of the proposed Resource Recovery Facility in Bradford, which includes a household waste incinerator/electricity generation plant. It will run on household waste residues (what’s left over after recycling) from Calderdale and Bradford.