Biomass can be one of the solutions to reducing dependence on oil or gas for generating electricity. On a small scale, the wood can be locally sourced from sustainably managed forest areas within our own country. In Austria, for example, locally produced timber is being used in highly efficient combined heat and power plants or in small scale biomass boilers to heat homes and businesses. There is nothing to stop that happening here.
However, one company – Forth energy – is proposing to build 4 large scale biomass power stations at 4 Scottish Ports: Leith, Grangemouth and Rosyth on the Forth and Dundee on the Tay. There is not enough available forest on Scotland to support one of these never mind 4. The raw materials will need 4-5 million tonnes of wood per year, the vast majority sourced from elsewhere on the planet and transported here. How does this fit in with the Scottish Executive’s much vaunted Climate Change Act?
It doesn’t. Large scale biomass power plants can’t be ‘carbon neutral’. Industrial tree plantations, logging and transporting all require finite fossil use. There are greenhouse gas emissions from all this too. Plus, they destroy the lands and livelihoods of local communities as well as degrade further the local biodiversity and water resources of the area used.
These proposals need stopped by the Scottish Executive. And as this is an election year this subject will become an election issue.
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