Terravesta is delighted to be involved with the Innovations in Energy Management Conference which takes place at Salford University. The conference offers delegates the opportunity to hear from an impressive line-up of expert speakers, who will explain the latest developments in the energy industry.
By signing the Paris agreement, the UK has committed to reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable energy use.
With energy demand predicted to grow year-on-year, energy firms are now investing heavily in renewable energy, and this event brings speakers from every corner of the energy industry, to debate the sustainable future of the sector. It’s important that Terravesta and miscanthus is at the forefront of this discussion.
Headline speakers at the event include:
- Lord Redesdale: CEO of the Energy Managers Association (EMA), Carbon Management Association (CMA) and Low Energy Company (LEC). In 2009 Lord Redesdale founded the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) which now has over 260 member companies and he is a former energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats for the House of Lords, 2000-2008
o He will be speaking on global warming and the vitality of the international consensus - Professor Alice Larkin: Climate Change Science and Energy Policy, University of Manchester
o Presenting on how to effectively engage with policy and decision makers to enable change - Dr Phil Coker: Lecturer in Renewable Energy, University of Reading
o Supporting industry partners to access new opportunities in a rapidly changing power system
My presentation is titled: ‘Miscanthus – delivering renewable energy today, a growing part of the solution to climate change’. I’ll discuss how the perennial energy crop, miscanthus, can deliver sustainable, carbon positive heat and power in the UK.
The national annual crop is currently around 60,000 tonnes, and there’s an opportunity for this to expand a hundredfold by 2030.
Agriculture is seen as a significant carbon net emitter and a lot of the big buyers and retailers pass on carbon reduction goals back to the supplier. With miscanthus, what you have is a proportion of land that’s a net carbon absorber.
There is no net increase of CO2 into the atmosphere, because miscanthus takes up more carbon than is released when it’s burnt, while some additional carbon is sequestered into the soil from root and rhizome, which helps to mitigate against greenhouse gas emitted by the land use sector – which amounts to 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Not only is miscanthus carbon positive, it’s also a key player in balancing the food energy debate, as it complements arable production. The crop yields well on poor grade land that’s difficult to produce cereal crops on – areas that are prone to flooding or blackgrass in particular.
As well as outlining the benefits and opportunities miscanthus offers, I’ll be speaking about Terravesta, and how the company manages a totally sustainable miscanthus supply chain.
The topics I’ll cover include:
- Energy Crops and Indirect Land Use Change – a positive role in sustainable food production
- Terravesta – managing a totally sustainable end-to-end fuel supply chain
Making wise decisions on resource deployment – the balance between heat and power - 2 – 30MW heat – is UK overlooking a great renewable opportunity?
For more information about the conference click here and make sure you read the April newsletter for a conference overview.
