Biofuels Have A Horrific Problem
Biofuels Have A Horrific Problem
It's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
In theory, biofuels are incredible. A cheap and readily available energy source that just so happens to be carbon-neutral. In a world where we desperately need to curb emissions, this technology should be a game-changer. Indeed, many governments are pushing for widespread biofuel adoption. But, dig a little deeper, and biofuels look more like a climate menace than a climate solution. In fact, BBC’s Panorama recently found this out when they revealed that the UK’s largest biofuel power plant has been driving rampant deforestation of the world’s most vital primary forest. So, just how bad are biofuel power plants? Well, let’s take a look.
Almost all biofuel power stations burn wood. As anyone who has tried to cook on an open wood fire will tell you, they burn dirty and emit far more than just carbon dioxide. In particular, the soot and carbon particulate matter pumped into the atmosphere by burning wood is horrific for our health and the environment’s. In fact, in 2018, particulate matter pollution was responsible for about 379,000 premature deaths in the EU, and wood burning is by far the largest source of this pollution in the EU.
To add insult to injury (or, in this case, hundreds of thousands dead), in reality, biofuel energy is far from carbon-neutral. It can take decades, or even centuries, for the forests to grow back and absorb the same amount of carbon emitted by the trees logged and burned for bioenergy. That’s if the forests grow back. Many countries import their biofuel wood, and many countries that export wood don’t regrow forests and instead use the new land to expand farmland. In short, biofuel energy is far from carbon-neutral as no proven reliable mechanism exists to reabsorb the carbon it emits. This problem is compounded by the fact that wood takes far more carbon emissions to produce the same amount of energy as it does with oil or gas.
So, the fact that biofuel energy accounts for 35% of the EU’s renewable energy mix and literally billions of dollars worth of public clean energy funds are being channelled into them each year is a huge problem. This false solution is taking up funds that should be going towards more solid low carbon energy sources, like solar, wind and nuclear.
This is where the BBC’s recent revelations about the Drax power plant come in. This biofuel power plant has received £6 billion in green subsidies over the years and produces around 5% of the UK’s energy. However, the Beeb obtained documents from British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests that show that the wood Drax sourced for this plant came from “old growth” forests. Old-growth is some of the oldest forests, providing “unique habitats, structures and ecological functions”. In fact, one of the locations Drax bought wood from contained 90% “priority deferral area.” This category is for old-growth forests that are “rare, at risk and irreplaceable.” All in all, it looks like a significant portion of the wood Drax uses is driving deforestation of some of Canada’s most precious, slow growing and ecologically significant forests.
For those of you paying attention, this also means Drax is importing wood from 5,000 km away from the power plant. In fact, all the 6.5 million tonnes of timber Drax burns each year is imported from Canada and the US to the UK. This shipping isn’t carbon-free. My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that shipping wood across the Atlantic each year to this single power station emits around 430,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide! That doesn’t sound very carbon-neutral, does it?
When will we learn that there is no shortcut? We can’t keep raping nature and pillaging its resources without planetary karma biting us back hard. We need to stop kidding ourselves, move away from this arcane method of power production, and embrace wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal, tidal and wave power.
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Sources: BBC, Science.org, Our World In Data, Clean Air Hub, Green Peace, The Guardian, Statista