Advisers urge UK govt to encourage biomass to power generation

(SeeNews) – Dec 8, 2011 – The UK needs a push into biomass if it wants to meet the government-set targets of reducing greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the Guardian said yesterday.

The CCC, which advises the government on climate change issues, said on Wednesday that 10% of the UK's overall energy should be generated from biological sources like wood, palm oil and waste, by 2050, against 2% currently.

Advisors also said that no public subsidies should be provided for building biomass plants from the scratch. Instead, they argued, coal-fired plants that come out of operation in the coming years can be converted into biomass facilities, thus resulting in lower greenhouse emissions.

Meanwhile, environmentalists warned that a biomass push may lead to deforestation. Kenneth Richter of Friends of the Earth, also asked the government to consider encouraging the use of small-scale biomass sources, such as slurry and food waste, instead of subsidising large power stations as envisaged by the CCC.

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