Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

“The use of biomass energy has benefits not only for climate change but also offers new opportunities for UK agriculture and forestry and increases the security of the UK's energy supply. The government has recognised this and has attempted to stimulate the sector through a range of policies, but the policies so far have failed to integrate the supply chain and support viable technologies. I am disappointed that energy from biomass has not developed as quickly in the UK as elsewhere in Europe. Biomass energy could make a vital contribution to the UK's targets for combating climate change, but is failing to develop under fractured and misdirected government policies for this important energy source. Our recommendations are directed at remedying this.”

said Sir Tom Blundell, the Commission’s Chair¹ at the launch of the special report Biomass as a renewable energy source ² . Biomass differs from other renewable energy sources in two important respects: it is controllable and it can provide heat as well as electricity.

“Changing government policy to encourage the use of biomass fuels for both heat and power could provide the impetus that the sector needs”

The report calls for:

• A new renewable heat obligation that would bring encouragement to the generation of heat rather than just electricity.
• The formation of a new government/industry biomass forum.
• Biomass fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) in all new-build developments.

There are significant existing resources of biomass in the UK that could be exploited for immediate progress on carbon dioxide reduction. Use of these resources would offer additional income streams for farmers and foresters and initiate the development of an infrastructure for biomass supply. Co-firing with wood in existing power stations could be a useful step in the development of the sector, but even here ill-designed policies have inhibited the use of biomass. In the longer term, the use of biomass for energy would depend largely on the production of energy crops (such as willow). This would require a significant change in agricultural land-use by 2050, and the Royal Commission³ recommends approaching this change in four distinct stages that provide opportunities for periodic assessment of the environmental impacts, the social acceptability and the economic viability of biomass utilisation. Following this approach, biomass could provide 10–15% of the UK’s energy by 2050.

Biomass conversion technologies are adaptable; the scale, type of fuel and heat to power output ratio can all be varied according to local supply and demand. Distributed generation offers opportunities to engage local communities and to develop a sense of ownership of, and responsibility for, localised energy production.

Heat

Heating systems using biomass are common elsewhere in Europe and serve as positive examples of integrated development that we need to see here. Our report calls for government support to exploit biomass’ value as a source of both heat and power. The introduction of a ‘green heat’ credit would help to raise the profile and profitability of schemes that use biomass. Use of biomass for heat or co-generation of heat and power (CHP) would also encourage better efficiency in energy generation (from typically 30% to 80%), and increase the CO2 savings of the UK energy sector. Failing to recognise the value of renewable heat, and dividing responsibility between government departments with resultant inconsistencies in policy, are hindering the development of a sector vital to the government’s climate change strategy.

The Commission was encouraged by the release of The Government’s Strategy for Combined Heat and Power to 2010, but our report recommends that the government take things even further. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Sustainable Communities programme will require the construction of almost 1.2 million new homes by 2016. The Sustainable Communities programme cannot be truly sustainable without some degree of renewable energy supply. Biomass could be a part of this if sufficient material is available (e.g. from existing parks and woodlands) or if the water and land availability for energy crop growth and other environmental factors are favourable. In our view, if the ODPM programme goes ahead the use of sustainable energy production should be an integral part of the design.

Government policy

In the UK, there are already substantial resources in the form of agricultural residues, forestry materials and municipal arisings (park and tree cuttings) as well as dedicated energy crops. The failure to realise the potential of these resources is due to a lack of effective, co-ordinated government policy to establish investor and farmer security and to develop the supply chain. Sir Tom Blundell said:

“The government is missing out on an opportunity for cross-departmental policies to have a real, long term impact on climate change. At the Climate Group launch earlier this month, Tony Blair highlighted the importance of climate change policy during the British chairmanship of the G8 next year. This will be impossible in our current position - some ten years behind other Northern European countries. If Britain is to take the lead on climate change, renewables policy must be reviewed immediately.”

One of the first steps in developing the biomass sector would be to establish a government/industry forum to encourage the sharing of ideas and expertise and to provide support to early-stage projects. This forum should be open to all stakeholders including farmers, construction companies, local councils, power generators and environmental Non Governmental Organisations.

Conclusion

Biomass energy and heat should be supported by the introduction of renewable credits for heat as well as electricity and by positive planning regulations. Biomass energy should be favoured in all new-build and retrofit projects. The assumption should be in favour of biomass energy in all projects; construction companies and councils should have to justify any decision not to adopt this option.

Because of the considerable uncertainties that exist in this early stage of biomass development in the UK, a strategy for increasing energy crop production must include both regular assessment of fuel sources and rigorous monitoring of impacts, with detailed assessments of social and environmental consequences at each stage.

We invite the government to improve measures to encourage biomass as a long-term, stable and secure option for renewable energy. We recommend an investigation be carried out into the potential for green heat production and the use of policy measures outlined in the Royal Commission’s study to make real progress towards the establishment of this sector. The opportunities for using biomass to reach CO2 reduction targets for the UK are significant; energy policy should promote the development of the biomass sector to help a low-carbon economy.

PREVIOUS ROYAL COMMISSION REPORT ON RENEWABLE ENERGY

The Commission’s Twenty-second Report, Energy – The Changing Climate, was published in 2000. It called for the UK to take a lead role in international negotiations to combat climate change and to set an example by aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. In particular we recommended that by 2050 up to 16 Gigawatts (up to about 12%) of the nation’s energy should come from biomass. This would be a clear but not dominant role for biomass within a larger, diversified energy portfolio. Our Twenty-second report illustrated four possible scenarios for the future of UK energy generation, all of which required some degree of biomass generation to meet the 60% CO2 reduction target. The government accepted this recommendation and stated in the White Paper Our energy future – creating a low carbon economy that ‘the UK should put itself on a path towards a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of some 60% from current levels by about 2050’. The new Royal Commission report offers policy-based guidance on some of the measures necessary to achieve this.

BIOMASS AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE

There are three types of indigenous biomass fuel: forestry materials - where the fuel is a by-product of other forestry activities; energy crops, such as short rotation coppice (SRC) willow or miscanthus, where the crop is grown specifically for energy generation purposes; and agricultural and municipal residues, such as straw or chicken litter and park tree cuttings. Biomass may also be imported, mainly in the form of pelleted sawdust.

Wood is a renewable fuel; its production and use is almost carbon neutral. Trees absorb CO2 to photosynthesise organic compounds using solar energy. The energy is stored chemically and released when the wood is subsequently destroyed – whether by natural decay or combustion. Hence, although CO2 is released to the atmosphere when wood is burnt, an equivalent amount of CO2 has been taken from the atmosphere during growth.

NOTES TO EDITORS

¹   Sir Tom Blundell is Sir William Dunn Professor and Head of Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow of Sidney Sussex College.

²Biomass as a renewable energy source is available in printed form, or can be downloaded from the Commission’s website. Copies of the printed version are obtainable without charge from Rosemary Ferguson (tel: 020 7799 8972, fax: 020 7799 8971, email: rosemary.ferguson@rcep.org.uk).

³The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution is an independent body, appointed by the Queen and funded by the government, which publishes in-depth reports on what it identifies as the crucial environmental issues facing the UK and the world. The Royal Commission’s full reports are presented to Parliament. This Special Study has been carried out over a much shorter timescale than full reports, but it is based on reports that the Royal Commission has published in the past, together with some new material.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Press enquiries should be directed to Guy Mawhinney, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 5-8 The Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3JS (telephone 020 7799 8986; email guy.mawhinney@rcep.org.uk).

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