Farm Forestry New ZealandNew strategies for expansion of the bioenergy and biofuels market
Wednesday, August 17, 2016, Brian Cox's Blog
Recent work to identify the amount of greenhouse gas emission reductions that the bioenergy sector could contribute to achievement of the Paris climate change emission reduction targets has shown that under a business as usual scenario it would be around 1.1Mt CO2-e per year by 2040. However if Government and the sector work together in partnership to address some of the current barriers the greenhouse gas emission reduction from bioenergy solutions could be increased to around 5.2 Mt CO2-e. This is a very significant contribution to achieving the overall target of 47 Mt CO2-e by 2050.
The opportunity for switching from coal to wood fuel is large and in many niche situations is economic for heat users to do today. If the public good benefits such as climate change, regional economic growth and employment are taken into account then by working with Government to achieve these benefits a lot more fuel switching is likely to occur.
In the municipal solid and liquid waste areas there are opportunities by using biogas technologies for reducing the discharge of methane to atmosphere. Methane is like CO2 on steroids with regard to climate change as it is 23 times more significant than CO2 with regard to climate change.
With the results of this recent analysis showing the significance of bioenergy solutions to reducing climate change the Bioenergy Association will be seeking to work with government to identify and implement an agreed plan of action.
Brian Cox is the Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association
Disclaimer: Personal views expressed in this blog are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the NZ Farm Forestry Association.
NZFFA on facebook
No posts yet
Add a post