Sludge Watch ==> Warming to Algae and sewage sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

EuropeanVoice.com

http://www.europeanvoice.com/archive/article.asp?id=28989


Warming to algae and sewage sludge

Vol. 13 No. 36 : 4 October 2007
By Jennifer Rankin

Many people know that a rippling field of wheat can be turned into fuel to 
fill up the car. But what about trees, algae, sewage sludge and industrial 
waste?

They all count as biomass, by-products from forestry and agriculture that 
can be used to provide heat, electricity and transport fuel. While this 
hotchpotch of products may not be as eye-catching as other forms of 
renewable power, such as solar panels and wind turbines, put together they 
make up the largest source of renewable energy – biomass accounts for 66% of 
renewables in the EU.
Biomass provides around 4% of the EU’s energy and that figure will grow 
rapidly if the EU is to meet a stretching target of deriving 20% of its 
power from green sources by 2020.
For the European Commission, biomass combines the holy grail of growth and 
jobs with saving the planet. The Commission’s Biomass Action Plan, drawn up 
in 2005, estimates that Europe will be using 150 million tonnes of oil 
equivalent (MtOE) of biomass by 2010 and expects plenty of positive 
spin-offs: a reduction of 209 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), 
250-300,000 new jobs, downward pressure on oil prices, reduced reliance on 
energy imports and giving Europe an edge in green technologies.
But it could all be too good to be true. Some industry bodies are doubtful 
about whether there will be enough: Giuliano Grassi, secretary-general at 
European Biomass Industry Association, thinks that 150 MtOE is not 
attainable by 2010. And environmentalists are sceptical about the green 
credentials of some types of biomass. They worry that a careless switch to 
the ‘wrong’ kind of biomass could put additional pressure on farmland, 
reduce biodiversity and counteract other environmental goals, such as 
greener farming or reducing waste. For instance, incinerating waste plastics 
made from oil (which can be counted as biomass) would do little to cut 
greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels also deserve a critical look. Some 
evidence suggests that first-generation biofuels (bioethanol) can generate 
more CO2 than petrol. Biofuels are also blamed for rising food prices.
The debate over biofuels has tended to overshadow biomass more generally. 
But biomass does not have to be bad for the environment. A study by the 
European Environment Agency has concluded that the EU has “an 
environmentally compatible biomass potential” of 190 MtOE in 2010 and 295 
MtOE in 2030. Professor Gail Taylor, who advises the UK Energy Research 
Centre, says that using biomass for heat and power is a more efficient use 
of plant power than bioethanol. She also thinks that agricultural residues 
and animal waste are underused: “It is a very valuable stream of energy that 
we are not capturing effectively.”
Currently, the UK and Germany are among the biggest users of biomass in the 
EU, although arguably the record of the Nordic countries and Latvia is 
better still, as they use more biomass per head. Still, the EU should look 
to America, which is leading the world in developing so-called 
bio-refineries. Analogous to an oil refinery, a biorefinery integrates 
different processes to extract the maximum value from a plant, so converting 
biomass into fuels, chemicals and power. Taylor imagines that biorefineries 
will be common in 20 years’ time. “Now, we are very wasteful in our use of 
plants,” she says, citing how wheat is grown for flour and stalks are thrown 
away; forests are chopped down for timber and the residue is ignored.
In future the full value of a plant will be squeezed out at a biorefinery.