Tag Archives: earth
Renewable Energy Firms Accuse Activists Of Scaremongering Over Biomass
Trade association tells Greenpeace, RSPB and Friends of the Earth they are spreading misinformation over use of fuels Fiona Harvey , environment correspondent The Guardian , Thursday 2 May 2013 Drax, the UK’s biggest power station, which is converting three of its six 660MW units to burn biomass. Photograph: John Giles/PA Archive/Press Association Ima A major row has broken out between green campaigners and companies using wood, straw, waste and other “biomass” fuels to run power stations over how environmentally friendly such fuels are. The Renewable Energy Association has disclosed to the Guardian a letter accusing some of the UK’s biggest green NGOs of scaremongering over their vocal opposition to the use of biomass in generating energy. Gaynor Hartnell, chief executive of the trade association, which represents the biomass and other renewable energy industries, wrote to the heads of Greenpeace, RSPB and Friends of the Earth, accusing them of spreading “misinformation” and using data that is “not science” and arguments that are “half-baked”. She told them: “Some of what has gone on recently is not worthy of your stature … The companies we represent are engaged in practical actions to reduce carbon emissions, improve forestry management, protect biodiversity and provide energy.” She urged the green campaigners to work together in a “robust dialogue”. The letter was sent on 18 March, and requested a meeting with the organisations that has not yet taken place. Using biomass to generate electricity can produce less carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels, particularly coal, and has been encouraged by successive governments as a way to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. Biomass is made from living materials, usually plants, that absorb carbon dioxide during their life and act as carbon stores. When the material is burnt, the stored carbon is returned to the atmosphere, but this does not represent a net gain in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in the way that burning coal or gas does. Some biomass is grown for the purpose of burning, but many of the potential materials would otherwise go to waste, including waste wood, forestry offcuts and straw, which when discarded decompose and emit methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. However, depending on how the way in which the biomass is used, burning it can give rise to soot, which can contribute to global warming if it falls and discolours snow in the Arctic and other icy regions, turning the ice black and causing it to absorb more heat from the sun. There are currently 20 biomass-burning power stations in the UK, producing about 1GW of power or the equivalent of a large coal-fired power station, with another 29 – about 5GW – in planning and a further eight in the proposal stages. Some coal-burning power stations are being converted to run wholly or in part on biomass, including Drax, the UK’s biggest power station and biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, which is in the process of converting three of its six 660MW units to burn biomass. Drax said its biomass would come from sustainably managed forests in the US, where replanting exceeds the timber harvest. Companies using biomass receive renewable energy subsidies and need to surrender fewer carbon permits under the EU’s emissions trading scheme. Continue reading
Is There Life After ETS?
By Dave Keating – Today, 02:10 CET If the Emissions Trading Scheme does become an irrelevancy incapable of lowering emissions between now and 2020 (see above), then José Manuel Barroso’s declared ambition to put climate change at the top of the agenda during his presidency of the European Commission would be counted a failure. Although environmental campaigners are now among the loudest voices calling for the ETS to be saved, this was not always the case. When the idea of a market mechanism to address the problems of climate change was first proposed, many environmental campaigners were sceptical, to say the least. Then, as it became clear that the ETS was to become the law of the land, some environmental groups clambered on board, joining the business community. However, not everybody joined the party. Friends of the Earth, for instance, has always opposed using a market mechanism as the EU’s main tool for fighting climate change. Ahead of the European Parliament’s vote, a group of 36 global NGOs, including chapters of Friends of the Earth, Corporate Europe Observatory and FERN, the European forests campaign group, released a report calling for the ETS to be scrapped. “The vote on backloading is the wrong debate,” said Hannah Mowat of FERN. “No amount of structural tinkering will get away from the fact that the EU has chosen the wrong tool to reduce emissions in Europe.” The report says that rather than wasting time and energy fixing a broken system, the EU should instead shift to more direct policies for stimulating changes that lower emissions, such as feed-in tariffs for renewables, redirecting public subsidies away from the fossil-fuel industry and towards low-carbon infrastructure, and improving energy efficiency. Such a change of approach would not be straightforward. The ETS is now almost ten years old. For the past decade, the EU’s climate policy has been constructed with the ETS at its core. “I don’t see how [scrapping the ETS] would offer immediate solutions,” said Sam Van Den Plas of campaign group WWF. “That’s a process that would require many more years.” “Despite the disappointing news on backloading, ETS is still a directive in place,” he added. “It’s still a useful policy framework, but the parameters are incorrect. The real debate still lies in the structural changes [to be proposed by the Commission], regardless of whether backloading goes ahead or not.” But the backloading debate has left environmental campaigners in the awkward position of defending a market mechanism they were never keen on from the outset, while the centre-right politicians who devised the system are now silent as it crumbles. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, was a main proponent of emissions trading, but now she refuses to take a position on backloading. Barroso was also a champion, but has not come out with a statement on ETS since the Parliament’s vote. German centre-left MEP Matthias Groote, chairman of the Parliament’s environment committee, has criticised him for this silence. Quiet support Ville Niinistö, Finland’s environment minister, says that there is still support for the ETS as the main vehicle for emissions reduction, particularly because the alternative at this point would probably be 27 different national climate policies. The UK’s recent unilateral climate action, for instance, seems to be a troubling sign of things to come. But he says that the current sense of crisis around the ETS is alerting political and business leaders to the need for change if the ETS is to be relevant in the future. “There is still momentum behind making sure that the ETS works, but this is a good reminder that NGOs were right when they said that you cannot have a market-based mechanism and then make it too loose, because then there is no market,” Niinistö said. “The ETS is a big part of the European approach, and we should not leave it easily,” he said. “But we have a lot to prove – that this market mechanism works. European companies have a lot to prove – that they want this market mechanism to work. There seems to be quite a lot of discussion within the business world in Europe at this moment, that if they want the ETS to work they should be supportive of making sure it is the main vehicle for emissions reductions.” If no solution to the ETS crisis of confidence is found in the coming months, there could be big implications worldwide for other countries that are copying the EU system – the first and largest carbon market in the world. Australia’s system is set to begin trading in 2015 and has plans to link to the EU ETS. China is launching ETS pilot schemes and California has a fully functioning market. A collapse of the ETS might lead these countries to rethink their plans. Continue reading
Revelation 1:7- Message to the Seven Churches – February 4, 2013 11:32 AM
HA HA HA I SAID JANUARY/instead February LOL Revelation 1:7 New American Standard Bible (©1995) BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see … Continue reading
