image: indiana public media

Yesterday saw the end of the consultation on the new levels of support for different renewable electricity technologies proposed by the UK Government under the Renewables Obligation scheme. According to the proposal, more than £850m per year will be handed out to new large-scale biomass plants as well as to coal plants that convert to biomass or to co-fire it with coal, with the aim of achieving 30 to 40% of large-scale electricity generation from biomass in 2020.

Yesterday (7 December) the Committee on Climate Change, an independent advisory body to the UK Government, published a report stating that burning biomass could result in emissions “significantly higher than alternative forms of low-carbon power generation, and only slightly lower than those from gas-fired power generation”. The report comes at a time when the UK Government is consulting on its proposals to review public support levels for renewable electricity technologies under the Renewables Obligation scheme.

photo: ozgurmulazimoglu

Grow a tree, burn a tree, grow a tree, burn a tree – in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, it all evens out, right?  Wrong.