News
June 11, 2009
Key role for wood fuel in reducing carbon emissions
To achieve the extremely ambitious target laid down in the
Climate Change Act 2008 of reducing UK carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels) wood fuel along with other appropriate renewable energy solutions will have a full part to play, according to TRADA Regulations Consultant Rupert Scott.
TRADA's latest Construction Briefing,
Encouraging the Growth of Wood Fuel - Government Policies and Financial Incentives, says that to achieve this target will require not only an enormous reduction in heat and energy consumption, but also tremendous growth in renewable energy and in reality a contribution from nuclear energy.
The price of wood fuel already compares very favourably with other major fuel types such as gas and oil, but the upfront capital costs are typically much higher. So like all renewable energy alternatives, some positive intervention is needed to stimulate the market to grow fast enough to achieve the ambitious goals being set. ‘Whilst positive stimulation is welcome, we arguably have so many policies and incentives that it is quite bewildering to assess the likely impact on the market,' said Mr Scott.
A significant piece of legislation is the Energy Act 2008 which creates the powers to establish or strengthen a number of important financial mechanisms to incentivise equally both renewable energy and heat. Two of the incentives created under this Act and covered in the Construction Briefing and of particular interest to the wood industry are:
- Feed In Tariffs (FITs)
- Renewables Heat Incentive (RHI)
Both FITs and RHIs are planned to be introduced by summer 2010 and government consultation is taking place this summer. FITs have proved extremely successful in rapidly growing the market for renewable energy in countries like Germany, where the person or company generating the energy is paid a tariff for each unit of renewable energy.
The RHI will apply to a range of technologies, including biomass, heat from waste and microgeneration eg solar hot water. A payment would be made for every unit of renewable heat produced. The amounts, tiers and front-end weighting (required to help pay off the capital costs quickly) have yet to be decided.
Click here to view
Encouraging the Growth of Wood Fuel, the second in a suite of three Construction Briefings on wood fuel. Already issued is
Wood as a biomass fuel: the main issues to consider - click here. Waste wood as a biofuel follows later in the year.
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