In energy terms, 'biomass' refers to the use of a wide variety of organic material for the generation of heat, electricity or motive power.
Essentially, biomass can be viewed as a form of stored solar energy. The sun's energy is captured and stored via the process of photosynthesis in growing material. This energy is released directly, e.g. by combustion (burning), or is converted into intermediate products which are then converted to release the stored energy (e.g. refining, to produce liquid transport fuels or anaerobic digestion to produce 'biogas').
There are a wide variety of different resources that can be classed as biomass and there are an equally wide variety of different technologies that can be used to convert the energy stored in biomass. The technologies vary in maturity across the range from fully mature, commercial applications to early-stage R&D concepts.
The use of biomass energy has the potential to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Burning biomass releases carbon dioxide. However, when fossil fuels are burned they release carbon dioxide that was captured by photosynthesis millions of years ago— thus an essentially "new" greenhouse gas is being released into the atmosphere. Biomass, on the other hand, releases carbon dioxide that is largely balanced by the carbon dioxide that has been captured in its own growth, over a much shorter time period. Consequently, displacing fossil fuels with biomass should result in significantly lower net carbon emissions to the atmosphere.
In October 2005, the Carbon Trust published the Biomass Sector Review. This report represented over 6 months of detailed research and analysis into biomass in the UK. The review's primary aim was to develop a better understanding of the economics of biomass and to help identify where the Carbon Trust could be material in trying to accelerate the development of the sector.
The study identified that the Carbon Trust can be material in the biomass sector by running an acceleration project focusing on biomass for heating alone in the scale range 0.2-2MWth. This application and scale range offers the most cost-effective Carbon Savings in the absence of policy support and is also an area in which directed Carbon Trust activity can have the most material impact.
Following on from the conclusions of this report, the Carbon Trust has launched a new acceleration project. With a budget of up to £5m over a period of up to 5 years, the Biomass Heat Acceleration Project will be the largest Technology Accelerator ever undertaken by the Carbon Trust and represents a strong commitment to supporting development of the biomass heat sector in the UK.
The broad aim of BHAP is to help make the UK biomass heat market self-sustaining by reducing costs and addressing supply chain risks. The project aims to work with existing and new sites to develop benchmarks from robust case studies, identify and demonstrate cost reductions, and raise awareness amongst end users and other stakeholders.
As with other Technology Accelerator projects (such as the Carbon Trust work in the marine sector) BHAP will identify the key barriers to development of the biomass market. It will provide a clear fact-base to inform future Government policy and take steps to accelerate progress in this area.
If you are an existing user of biomass heating equipment, an installer of biomass equipment, are interested in the potential to use biomass or would like some further information on the project, please email biomass@carbontrust.co.uk or contact Keiran Allen on 020 7170 7041.
|