U.K. Task Force Urges Government to Rely on Biomass for Heating

The U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) recently announced that the Biomass Task Force -- a body commissioned by Defra and the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in October 2004 to help the British government and industry develop biomass energy in support of renewable energy targets and sustainable farming and forestry and rural objectives -- has concluded in a new report that biomass could reduce the nation's carbon emissions by nearly 3 million tons per year if used to provide heating.

According to Defra, Biomass Task Force chairman Sir Ben Gill presented the findings of the body's year-long study to Defra and the DTI, whose secretaries of state jointly commissioned the report.

"We estimate there could be 20 million tons of biomass available annually," said Gill. "The challenge for the government now is to unlock this vast potential. Heat has been the forgotten part of the energy debate -- enough waste heat is emitted from our power stations to heat the country one and a half times over -- but our findings show that producing heat either alone or in combined heat and power plants is by far the most efficient way of using biomass. There are many renewable sources of electricity but biomass is the only widely available source of renewable heat. At a time of rising oil prices, biomass heating is fast becoming an attractive option."

In the report, the Task Force makes 42 recommendations, including calling for the introduction of capital grants to fund more biomass heating boilers and identifying public buildings as an ideal place to begin the expansion. Additionally, the report provides examples of where biomass boilers are already operating successfully.
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The Task Force concludes that one of the biggest barriers to progress is ignorance and recommends that the government acts in the next six months to create a single information point on biomass for the country as a whole as well as delivers on its promise in the 2003 Energy White Paper to lead by example in its own building stock