What is bio-energy
Bio-energy is a renewable source of energy derived from plants and animal manure. Bio-energy is derived from a range of sources, including forestry, farming and industrial by-products, municipal waste, and biomass crops. Examples of biomass include sawdust, bark, olive pits, nutshells, animal manure, wheat straw, rice husk, corn stover and cooking oil, willow, poplar and Miscanthus grass.
Bio-energy provides farmers and industry with additional margins, making their main products more affordable or making many activities economically feasible in the first place. For example, in years of very low wheat prices, the sale of wheat straw helps the farmer to recoup his investment in planting and cultivation. Farmers with fields prone to flooding, areas that are otherwise unsuitable for other crops, can cultivate more resilient Miscanthus ensuring the continuity of their farming activities.
Bio-energy is Europe’s number 1 renewable energy source
Sustainable bio-energy represents the most significant renewable energy source in Europe, accounting for 56% of all renewable energy and 13% of gross final energy. Bioenergy provides crucial indigenous base load capacity to the electricity grid and reliable heating in district heating networks, contributing to Europe’s energy independence during the winter months. The conversion of coal-fired plants, the dirtiest way of producing energy, has been made possible due to the availability of biomass in their surrounding areas
Why is bio-energy important to all of us
70% of the EU’s energy (electricty, heating, transport, industry) still comes from fossil fuels, emitting 8 billion tonnes of CO2e per year. But the tide is turning: by 2020, the use of bio-energy has have saved 289 Mt CO2e, more than the entire annual greenhouse gas emissions of Italy.
Bio-energy is Europe’s most important source of renewable heat, accounting for 85% of the total and supplying 66 million households with heat.
The bio-energy sector is a true European asset, contributing €50 billion to GDP and providing nearly 1 million jobs. Each additional Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) increases GDP by €359 million and creates more than 7,000 jobs.
95% of bio-energy is produced locally. Only 5% are imported and these sources are managed by trusted allies. If more is grown locally these imports can be reduced.
Bio-energy helps Europe become more energy independent.
Bio-energy contributes 50 billion euros to Europe’s GDP. This will grow to 70 billion euros by 2050.
Bio-energy is important for European business.
Bio-energy provides 1 million local jobs in forestry, farming and industry. This number will grow to 1.5 million by 2050.
Bio-energy jobs cannot be off-shored or relocated.
Europe is the world leader in bio-energy technology. Europe is home to 70% of the world’s bio-energy technology suppliers, a vast and growing industrial sector.
What makes biomass a eenewable and sustainable energy source?
When trees and crops are grown sustainably, they absorb carbon dioxide, helping to offset emissions. In some bio-energy processes, the carbon absorbed can even exceed the emissions produced during fuel production or use. Many biomass feed-stocks, such as Miscanthus, can be grown on less productive land, avoiding competition with food crops. Agriculatural plants regenerate quickly and are reliably and locally available and can be managed sustainably.
However, not all crops are grown sustainably – if fertilisers are used or forests are not replenished quickly, biomass can lose its renewability. While biomass can offset carbon emissions, its sustainability depends on responsible land use and and good farming practices. Second generation biomass feed-stocks, such as Miscanthus, can be grown on less productive land, avoiding competition with food crops.
To ensure that biomass is managed sustainably governments have established a basic set of rules. In the EU, RED II (Renewable Energy Directive, soon to be RED III) ensures that biomass is traceable and meets strict sustainability criteria throughout the supply chain, from sourcing to use. It requires greenhouse gas emission savings, certification schemes and regular reporting to verify compliance and promote transparency. In the UK, biomass sustainability is primarily regulated through the Renewables Obligation (RO) and Contracts for Difference (CfD) schemes, alongside specific sustainability criteria such as the Biomass Sustainability Reporting Obligation.
Biobased CO2 removals are necessary to go carbon negative
The UK and the European Union have committed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach climate neutrality by 2025. But there are some unavoidable residual emissions which need to be adressed by carbon dioxide removals technologies
“The deployment of carbon dioxide removals to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions is unavoidable if net-zero are to be reached.” Inter-govermental Panel on Climate Change
Bio-energy with Carbon Capture (BECCS) and Biochar (BCR) are the only carbon dioxide removal technologies that do not consume but produce energy, are available now and offer low enough costs to be economically feasible on a large enough scale.
BECCS – Bioenergy with Carbon Capture
BECCS captures the CO2 emitted in energy and heat generation as well as in industrial processes and then transported via pipelines deep into the bedrock where it is permanently stored and mineralised over time Alternatively the CO2 can be used as a base component for the chemical industru and other material uses (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Use – BECCU)
BCR – Biochar
Biochar, a stable form of carbon resulting from a thermo-chemical transformation of biomass can also be produced with creating bio-energy. Biochar cannot be used by microorganisms and can be used in water filtration and water management as a soil additive to increase arereation and fertility or as bio-based alternative in the construction sector as well as other chemical processes such as steel making or paint and colour production. (See reverse coal).
Biomass is CO2 neutral and with the help of new technologies remove CO2 permanently from the atmosphere
Unlike other renewable energy sources, bio-energy absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere. The Climate Change Committee says that bio-energy needs to triple to reach European Net-Zero by sequestering the CO2, resulting in permanent negative emissions.
Links:
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/biomass-energy/
https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/biomass-in-a-low-carbon-economy/
Reverse coal
International Energy Association
Climate change committee
International Panel of Climate change